President-elect Donald Trump has chosen former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao for Transportation Secretary. Chao served as Labor Secretary under George W. Bush and deputy secretary of transportation under George H. W. Bush. She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Chao met with Trump last week at Trump Tower where they discussed “labor and transportation issues with a particular focus on America’s long-term infrastructure needs, and reducing or eliminating burdensome regulations.”
The Wall Street Journal reports:
Ms. Chao, 63 years old, was the first American woman of Asian descent to be appointed to the cabinet when she was named secretary of labor by then-President George W. Bush in 2001. She served all eight years that Mr. Bush was in office, and was his only cabinet member to do so.—A Harvard Business School graduate, Ms. Chao was a banker at Citigroup and president and chief executive officer of the United Way of America before she joined the Bush administration. In 2009, she returned to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, as a distinguished fellow and joined several corporate and nonprofit boards, including Wells Fargo, Dole Food Co. and the National World War II Museum. She also is a board member of News Corp., the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.
The Trump team said the Transportation pick will come on Tuesday:
Trump transition team spokesman Jason Miller told Fox Business Network earlier Tuesday that the president-elect will make an announcement about his pick for the next Transportation Secretary on early Tuesday afternoon.”We’re excited with how the administration is coming together and we think this is gonna be a great day,” Miller said. “And don’t forget we also have another cabinet selection coming early afternoon today as the pres-elect continues to move forward.”When pressed on which cabinet position will be announced in the afternoon, Miller simply replied, “Transportation.”
Interesting piece of trivia:
We will update this post once the Trump team releases more information.
[Featured Image: Elaine Chao at Trump Tower Elevators, , November 21, 2016, via @HowardMortman]
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY