Trump teases appointment of North Dakota Gov Doug Burgum as Interior Sec

Fox News reported that Trump said during his speech at the Americans For Prosperity Gala at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday, "He's going to be announced [Friday]…I look forward to doing the formal announcement, although this is a pretty big announcement right now, actually. He's going to head the Department of Interior, and he's going to be fantastic."

Trump added, "We're going to reduce regulation waste, fraud, and inefficiency. We're going to clean out the corrupt, broken and failing bureaucracies. And we're going to stop child sexual mutilation. We're going to stop it because it's time."

Two-term Governor Burgum is a multi-millionaire former software company CEO who ran for president in 2023 making energy and natural resources a focal point for his campaign for the GOP nomination.

Burgum participated in the first two Republican presidential debates but failed to qualify for the third and shortly thereafter dropped out of the presidential race in December 2023. The next month, he appeared in Iowa with Trump and endorsed the former president for the Republican nomination, becoming a surrogate for

the campaign.

He was reportedly in the running to be Trump’s vice presidential nominee before Sen. JD Vance was picked at the former president’ running mate.