Rights groups, advocacy organisations oppose Nauert as America's next envoy to UN

Some rights and advocacy groups have opposed President Donald Trump's decision to nominate chief State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert as America's next envoy to UN, saying she is unqualified and lacks the foreign policy experience crucial for the post.

Trump on Friday picked Nauert to succeed Indian-American Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organisation, called on the Trump administration to withdraw its nomination of Nauert for the position of UN ambassador.

CAIR said Nauert promoted "Islamophobic smears" while employed as a Fox News anchor. It said, in 2013 she criticized special swim classes for a group of Somali-American girls, describing the classes as the "minority becoming the majority at one community pool. Sharia law is now changing everything."