US President Donald Trump has nominated a conservative activist and media critic as his next Ambassador to South Africa.

Leo Brent Bozell is the founder of the Media Research Centre, an organisation that works to identify liberal media bias. While President Trump has yet to make the announcement, the nomination was confirmed by a Congressional website, indicating that the nomination was received in the Senate and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations.

Bozell’s name was reportedly submitted to the Senate earlier Tuesday and will now go through the confirmation process before his Ambassadorship becomes official.

His future role in South Africa comes at a time of frayed relations between Washington and Pretoria, just days after the expulsion of South African US envoy Ebrahim Rasool.

According to the New York Times, Bozell is the founder and president of the Media Research Centre, a watchdog group that targets liberal media bias. His son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, was among the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6th, 2021.

He was sentenced last year to four years in prison for attacking Congress but received a pardon from President Trump this year.