(Bloomberg) -- When President-elect Donald Trump announced his choice for No. 2 Middle East peace envoy, he made it clear that he wasn’t thrilled about it.
Trump, in an unflattering post naming Morgan Ortagus as deputy to Steve Witkoff, indicated she’d been disloyal and pointed out that she’d worked for former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who’s fallen out of favor with the president-elect.
“Early on Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday. “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.”
He also applied a bit of pressure: “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. I expect great results, and soon!”
It wasn’t clear what Trump meant when he said she “fought me,” but in the 2016 primaries Ortagus, who had worked in the Obama administration, criticized him over foreign policy, according to an April 2019 CNN report that analyzed her public comments.
In her new role, she’ll be grappling with one of the most challenging geopolitical issues faced by the incoming Trump administration. Israel’s war against Hamas continues in Gaza, Syria’s future hangs in the balance after the fall of the Assad regime, and Iran remains a formidable adversary despite recent setbacks in Lebanon and Syria.
In a post on X, Ortagus, 42, said she was honored that Trump appointed her to the position, adding it was a “dream come true” to represent the US again in a “crucial diplomatic role.”
The unconventional personnel announcement underscores the non-traditional manner that Trump approaches staffing of his next administration. The president-elect has made a priority of unfailing loyalty as he’s filled roles. And in the case of Ortagus — who he characterized as not sufficiently trustworthy — he makes sure those perceived faults are made public.
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Ortagus served as a State Department spokesperson under Pompeo, whom Trump has said will not be invited to join his second administration. While at State, she worked on the Abraham Accords, which forged agreements between Israel and Arab countries. She also made an unsuccessful run for Congress in Tennessee in 2022.
“Morgan is literally the best pick he could have made. She knows the region as well as anybody I’ve met. Everybody in the region knows her,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said in a telephone interview. “Nobody has closer ties to Israel and understands the mischief of Iran.”
“The president wouldn’t have picked her if he didn’t think she could do the job,” Graham added, referring to Trump’s social media post. “It’s just a political world. You’ll make some enemies if you’re in this business for long enough.”
Trump in November named Witkoff, a real estate investor and campaign donor, as special envoy to the Middle East. Witkoff was playing golf with Trump in September when a gunman was discovered hiding in the bushes. The man, Ryan Routh, has been charged with attempting to assassinate Trump.
(Updates with Ortagus’ comments in paragraph seven)
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