Posts
On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump announced that Morgan Ortagus, who was the State Department spokesperson during his first term, will serve as the deputy special presidential envoy to the Middle East.
Ortagus will be working under Steve Witkoff, who was one of Trump's initial selections for his new administration. Both Ortagus and Witkoff are Jewish.
“She will hopefully be an asset to Steve, a great leader and talent, as we seek to bring calm and prosperity to a very troubled region,” Trump stated in a post on Truth Social. “I expect great results, and soon!”
Trump noted that Ortagus, who is also an active Navy Reserve intelligence officer, was involved in negotiating the historic Abraham Accords during his previous term, which facilitated diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab nations including Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates.
“Early on, Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson,” Trump wrote, without going into specifics.
Ortagus had previously criticized Trump during the 2016 Republican primary, describing his foreign policy as "isolationist" and his behavior as "disgusting" and "not serious." However, she later became a supporter after Trump won the party's nomination.
“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,” Trump wrote. “Let’s see what happens.”
