Incoming President Donald Trump has named pro-Israel former State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus as Deputy Mideast Peace Envoy in his new administration.
Ortagus will serve with Jewish pro-Israel Mideast Peace Envoy pick Steve Witkoff, a close friend and confidant of the president-elect.
Ortagus is not new to politics: she served during Trump’s first term in office, from 2019 to 2021, as the State Department spokesperson under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an unapologetic Israel supporter. She was a member of the president’s historic Abraham Accords team during her tenure and has remained close to Jared Kushner, a lead member of the team and presidential son-in-law.
Ortagus also served as Deputy US Treasury Attache to Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2011, and as a financial intelligence analyst at the Treasury Department.
She is also an active US Navy Reserve intelligence officer, and is close to top Republicans, such as incoming National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, incoming Presidential Envoy for Special Missions Ric Grenell, and US Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Axios reported.
In addition, Ortagus is a general partner at Mare Liberum, and founded POLARIS National Security, a nonprofit think tank on American foreign policy. She also hosts a show on Siriux XM focusing on US national security.
Despite all the above, Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform Friday afternoon that he was not sure Ortagus will last.
“Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson,” Trump wrote. “These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them. Let’s see what happens … We seek to bring calm and prosperity to a very troubled region. I expect great results, and soon!”
