Saturday 16,Nov, 2024 {HMC} U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum to run the Interior Department, as his new Cabinet continues to take shape. He also named two people to positions in the White House.
The transition team officially announced the choice of Burgum on Friday, though Trump first announced the selection late Thursday during a dinner at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago.
Additionally, Trump announced Friday that Burgum also will lead a newly created National Energy Council that will be established to help the U.S. achieve “energy dominance” around the globe.
In this role, Burgum will direct a panel that crosses all executive branch agencies involved in energy permitting, production, generation, distribution, regulation and transportation, Trump said in a statement. As chairman of the National Energy Council, Burgum will have a seat on the National Security Council, the president-elect said.
Burgum briefly ran against Trump as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2023 before dropping out and throwing his support behind the eventual president-elect.
The Trump-Vance transition team announced Steven Cheung will return to the Trump White House as communications director. He held the same position for the Trump-Vance 2024 presidential campaign and served in the White House during Trump’s first term as director of strategic response.
Friday evening, Trump announced that his campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, would be his White House press secretary. She had served as assistant press secretary in his previous term in office.
Trump has swiftly named an array of political loyalists to key Cabinet positions. They remained vocal supporters during his four years out of office, and most of them are likely to win quick Senate approval after confirmation hearings.
Having won majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, Republicans are set to take full control of the U.S. government by the third week in January.
Source VOA NEWS
