Trump Picks Bush Admin Official Elaine Chao As Transportation Secretary

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao speaks at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, about the 'America's Heroes At Work' project. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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Donald Trump has chosen George W. Bush’s Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to lead the Department of Transportation, multiple sources reported Tuesday.

Chao also served as deputy secretary of transportation under George H.W. Bush. She is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Chao was the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet-level position.

According to Politico, Chao met last week with the President-elect at Trump Tower in Manhattan, where he is working with his transition team to iron out senior appointments.

Her selection is notable given the less-than-cozy relationship between McConnell and Trump during the campaign. Though he endorsed him after the primaries, Senate Majority Leader spent the summer either rebuking Trump or stonewalling reporters who asked him for comment on Trump’s various controversies.

After leaving the Bush administration, Chao returned to a previously held role as a distinguished fellow at the Heritage Foundation. She is a regular contributor to Fox News, and serves as a director on the boards of Wells Fargo, News Corp., and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s Institute of Politics, among others.

During the 2016 campaign, she served as a member of Trump’s Asian Pacific American Advisory Council.

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Notable Replies

  1. Avatar for estamm estamm says:

    Mitch’s beard is not a Nazi, at least. What I recall of her, she is just a run of the mill Republican. There could be worse person picked.

  2. ‘And welcome to another exciting episode of ‘Drain the Swam!p.’…,’

  3. Avatar for yskov yskov says:

    I know, so it seems like maybe Priebus had Trump’s ear last.

    Or, did he mix up her up with some other Asian woman who’s been on reality TV?

  4. Guaranteeing the cooperation of Senator Yertle (R-Turtle) for all of Hair Fuhrer’s projects.

  5. Every appointment will be pandering or payoff. That’s the only language HO speaks.

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