Real estate investor and philanthropist Steven Witkoff, new special envoy to the Middle East
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the selection of Army veteran and host of the conservative FOX News channel Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense.
“I have the honor to announce that I have nominated Pete Hegseth to serve on my cabinet as Secretary of Defense. Pete has spent his entire life as a warrior for the troops and the country,” he said on his Truth Social platform.
Trump said of Hegseth that he is “a true believer in ‘America First’,” alluding to the Republican’s 2016 campaign slogan to defend a less interventionist foreign policy. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice: our Armed Forces will be great again and America will never back down,” he warned.
The Pentagon chief is a veteran of the US Army, with whom he has served in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He has been decorated on several occasions for his actions in combat and has led two veterans’ defence organisations: “No one fights harder for the troops and Pete will be a brave and patriotic defender of our policy of peace through strength,” said Trump.
A graduate of Princeton University and a postgraduate from Harvard, Hegseth has been a presenter for eight years on the conservative American channel FOX News, considered Trump’s favourite.
His recent book ‘The war on warriors’ spent nine weeks on the ‘New York Times’ best-seller list. In it, he reveals “the betrayal of the left to our warriors and how we must return to our Armed Forces meritocracy, lethality, responsibility and excellence,” said the man who will be the new head of the White House.
HE CONTINUES TO ANNOUNCE APPOINTMENTS
Shortly before Hegseth’s nomination, Trump confirmed that the future special envoy of the United States for the negotiations in the Middle East will be Steven Witkoff, “a great friend (of his)”, in the words of the tycoon.
“Steve is a highly respected leader in business and philanthropy, who has made all the projects and communities in which he has participated stronger and more prosperous. Steve will be a relentless voice in favor of peace and will make us all feel proud,” he said on the aforementioned social network.
In his message, Trump highlighted the business leadership of Witkoff, who founded his real estate company in 1997 and since then, has successfully managed “more than 70 properties in the main business districts in the US, as well as abroad and with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Miami.”
Previously, he co-founded another real estate company and practiced law representing “large developers and investors.” Trump has highlighted Witkoff as a “highly sought-after speaker on global real estate trends.”
