WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is expected to name Linda McMahon as education secretary, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing four sources familiar with the matter, putting the former pro-wrestling mogul at the helm of a department Trump has proposed abolishing.
McMahon, who had been in the running for commerce secretary, headed up the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first administration and was a major donor and early supporter of the Republican president-elect when he first ran for the White House almost a decade ago.
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The co-founder and former CEO of the WWE professional wrestling franchise, she resigned from the SBA in 2019 to lead the pro-Trump spending group America First Action. She also chairs the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-friendly think tank.
Trump tapped her to co-lead a transition team formed to help vet personnel and draft policy ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
McMahon had been in the mix to head the Commerce Department, but Trump on Tuesday instead chose her transition team co-leader – Cantor Fitzgerald Chief Executive Howard Lutnick – for that post. Now she will lead an agency Trump said on the campaign trail that he would abolish, although he likely lacks authority to do it without congressional approval.