CV NEWS FEED // President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that he is nominating Howard Lutnick to lead the Department of Commerce and Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education, which he plans to eventually close.
Both Lutnick and McMahon are successful business leaders who currently serve together as the two co-chairs of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition.
The president-elect on Tuesday afternoon announced his nomination of businessman and philanthropist Howard Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, for the role of Secretary of Commerce.
Trump specified in a statement that Lutnick “will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”
Trump highlighted Lutnick’s “embodiment of resilience in the face of unspeakable tragedy” in the statement, adding: “Tragedy struck on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, and Cantor Fitzgerald lost 658 of its 960 New York-based employees, including Howard’s brother and his best friend.”
Trump noted that amidst the grief, Lutnick emerged with a “sense of purpose to rebuild the firm to honor those lost, support their families, and become a beacon of hope for those who remained.”
“He was an inspiration to the World,” Trump continued:
Howard and the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund donated $180 Million Dollars to his 9/11 families. He remains deeply committed to philanthropic endeavors, donating more than $100 Million Dollars to victims of terrorism, natural disasters and other emergencies around the world.
According to its official government website, “The Department of Commerce’s mission is to create the conditions for economic growth and opportunity for all communities.”
Later on Tuesday, Trump stated that he plans to make McMahon, a convert to the Catholic faith, the U.S. Secretary of Education, and quite possibly the last ever person to hold this position.
“For the past four years, as the Chair of the Board of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), Linda has been a fierce advocate for Parents’ Rights,” Trump wrote in a late Tuesday statement.
“Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers, and make America Number One in Education in the World,” he added. “We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
Shortly after winning the presidency for a second time earlier this month, Trump announced that he would at some point after taking office close Education Department in Washington, DC, and send “all education and education work and needs back to the states.”
School choice advocate Corey DeAngelis praised Trump’s reported selection of McMahon on X (formerly Twitter), writing that she “supports education freedom.”
DeAngelis pointed out that McMahon had written on X last year:
SCHOOL CHOICE is a mechanism to escape failing public schools. “School Choice” will level the playing field by breaking down barriers of Economic Disadvantage and offering parents CONTROL over their children’s education
Conservative scholar Christopher Rufo also congratulated McMahon on X.
“We’re ready to help you shut down the Department of Education and return authority and funding to states, cities, and families,” Rufo wrote. “It’s going to be a fight—but we will win.”
McMahon, along with her husband Vince, is best known for co-founding the company that grew into World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and served as its CEO for over a decade.
In addition, McMahon is a former two-time candidate for the U.S. Senate and won the Republican nomination to represent Connecticut in the upper chamber in both 2010 and 2012. She lost in the general election both times.
During Trump’s first administration, McMahon served as Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) – a Cabinet-level position she held from 2017 to 2019.
Like all of Trump’s other picks for Cabinet Secretary positions, Lutnick and McMahon’s nominations are pending confirmation by the U.S. Senate, which, starting in January, will be controlled by Republicans.
>> READ ABOUT TRUMP’S OTHER CABINET PICKS HERE <<
Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Lutnick was also reportedly in the running to be Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury – which as of Tuesday evening remains the top unfilled position in the incoming president’s cabinet.
Hailing from Nassau County, New York, Lutnick is the second Long Island native nominated to a cabinet-level position in the next Trump administration, following Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-NY, the president-elect’s nominee for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator.
McMahon meanwhile is slated to be the second person to serve in Cabinet-level roles during both of Trump’s terms.
Last week, Trump picked former Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-TX, who served as Director of National Intelligence (DNI) for part of the first Trump administration, to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
If confirmed by the Senate, Ratcliffe will be the first person in American history to serve in both of the country’s top intelligence-related roles.
As of early this week, Trump has already nominated personnel to fill over half the cabinet-level roles for his second term – making nominations at a notably rapid pace that FOX News has characterized as “breakneck.”
On Monday, Trump nominated former Rep. Sean Duffy, R-WI, a Catholic husband and father of nine, to be the next Secretary of Transportation. Over the weekend, Trump announced hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) company CEO Chris Wright as his pick to head the Department of Energy.
