The beauty queen who became Trump’s deputy envoy to the Middle East
Morgan Ortagus became an intelligence analyst at the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2008 and began her government service with the U.S. Agency for International Development. After spending several years in Iraq, she was appointed as the Deputy Attaché for the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Saudi Arabia in 2010.
As a member of the Republican Party, she has close ties with many senior party members such as Marco Rubio, the U.S. Secretary of State, Senator Lindsey Graham, and Mike Waltz, the new National Security Advisor. During Trump’s first term, she also had a close working relationship with his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Ortagus is well-versed in Middle Eastern affairs, and despite her criticisms of Trump during the 2016 election and her support for Nikki Haley in the 2024 presidential race, the U.S. President stated that he would appoint her as the Deputy Special Envoy for Middle East Affairs, citing strong Republican support.
