Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as former U.S. Representative Lee Zeldin speaks at a rally ahead of the New Hampshire primary election in Concord, New Hampshire, U.S. on January 19, 2024. react.
Elizabeth Franz | Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump announced Monday that he will nominate former Congressman Lee Zeldin to serve as administrator of Congress. environmental protection agencyand current Rep. Elise Stefanik As U.S. Ambassador to the United States united nations.
Both Mr. Zeldin and Mr. Stefanik are Republicans from New York.
President Trump said Zeldin, who represented the Long Island House District for four terms, was “a true fighter for America First.”
President Trump will “ensure fair and swift decisions on deregulation enacted in a way that unleashes the power of American business while maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on earth.” said. statement.
“I am honored to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator,” Zeldin, 44, wrote in a tweet.
“We will restore America’s energy advantage, revitalize the auto industry and bring back American jobs, and make America the world leader in AI,” Zeldin wrote. “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
Zeldin was a Republican candidate in the 2022 New York gubernatorial election, but lost to incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul.
Mr. Zeldin has an extremely low lifetime rating score of 14%, which is considered “anti-environmental” by the Alliance of Conservative Voters, as a result of his large number of votes in the House of Representatives.
The executive director of the Sierra Club, a major environmental organization, slammed President Trump’s selection of Zeldin for the EPA post.
“Creating the names of unqualified, anti-American workers who oppose efforts to protect clean air and water demonstrates Donald Trump’s intent to sell out our health, communities, jobs, and future to corporate polluters. This exposes us once again,” the Executive Office said. Directed by Ben Jealous. “For our lives, our livelihoods, and our collective future, we cannot afford Lee Zeldin, or anyone else seeking to carry out a mission that is the exact opposite of the EPA’s mission.”
Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, RN.Y., speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Tuesday, July 16, 2024.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call Inc. | Getty Images
Earlier on Monday, NBC News confirmed Trump’s pick for the House of Representatives. Elise Stefanik He was appointed as New York’s ambassador to the United Nations and became his first cabinet member. Stefanik is the chair of the House Republican Conference.
Trump said in a statement that Stefanik was “the first member of Congress to support me and has always been a staunch defender.”
“Elise was a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, where she led the charge against anti-Semitism on college campuses,” Trump said. “She will be a great ambassador to the United Nations who will bring peace through strength and an America-first national security policy!”
Stefanik’s election as U.N. ambassador could reduce the number of Republicans in the House of Representatives. Republicans currently have a majority in the House, but NBC News has not yet predicted which party will control the House in 2025. Even if Republicans retain control, the margin will be small.
President Trump announced on Sunday: Tom Homan He will become the so-called border czar, and in addition to securing America’s borders, he will be “responsible for all deportations of illegal aliens to their countries of origin.”
Mr. Homan is a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
This is developing news. Please check the latest information.
