President-elect Trump taps new US ambassador who ‘loves Israel’
US President-elect Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he has tapped a new American ambassador to Israel.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was nominated by Trump, who will be sworn in as the 47th US president on January 20.
“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement.
He added that Huckabee would work “tirelessly” to bring peace to the Middle East.
Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is currently the governor of Arkansas. She served as the White House press secretary under Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2019.
Middle East Special Envoy
Later Tuesday, Trump announced that Steve Witkoff would be his special envoy to the Middle East. “Steve will be an unrelenting Voice for PEACE, and make us all proud,” Trump said in a statement.
Witkoff currently serves as the chairman and CEO of Witkoff firm.
Defense Department
Trump named military veteran and Fox News host Pete Hegseth as his incoming defense secretary.
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” he said in a statement.
Hegseth is an Army National Guard veteran and according to his website served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Hegseth has said he left the Army in 2021 after being deemed an extremist by an Army that didn’t want him anymore.
“The feeling was mutual — I didn’t want this Army anymore either,” Hegseth said in his book “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.”
Department of Government Efficiency
Trump said Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency.
Musk and Ramaswamy “will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” Trump said in a statement.
National security advisor
Trump separately named congressman Mike Waltz, a former special forces officer, as his incoming national security advisor.
Waltz has hawkish views on China and is not considered isolationist, despite desire in some Trump circles for the United States to retreat from foreign engagements and cut obligations to allies like NATO.
CIA director
Trump on Tuesday also announced he was choosing a close ally, his former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe, to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
“He will be a fearless fighter for the Constitutional Rights of all Americans, while ensuring the Highest Levels of National Security, and PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH,” Trump said in a statement.
On the domestic front
Trump has signaled he will back up his extreme election campaign rhetoric aimed at stirring fear and anger against illegal immigrants ahead of promised mass deportations.
On Monday, he named veteran hard-line immigration official Tom Homan as the country’s “border czar.”
US media also reported that Stephen Miller, author of Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” immigration policy during his first term, will hold a powerful position as deputy chief of staff.
Rounding out Trump’s immigration team, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been tapped to head the massive Department of Homeland Security, CNN reported.
Trump has also picked Lee Zeldin to head the Environmental Protection Agency, with a mandate to slash climate and pollution regulations that Republicans say are slowing down business development.
Meanwhile, US media reported that Florida’s Senator Marco Rubio would be nominated to the key position of secretary of state, a statement not confirmed by Trump.
