Trump makes picks to lead Homeland Security Department, EPA, Small Business Administration

From left: retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, wrestling executive Linda McMahon. Photos by the Associated Press.
From left: retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, wrestling executive Linda McMahon. Photos by the Associated Press.

5:30 P.M. UPDATE:

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is adding former wrestling executive Linda McMahon to his Cabinet as leader of the Small Business Administration.

McMahon and her husband, Vince, founded and built World Wrestling Entertainment Inc., now a publicly traded sports entertainment company. She stepped down as the company's chief executive in 2009 and earlier this year launched a joint venture, Women's Leadership LIVE, which promotes opportunities for women in business and public service.

[TRUMP: Timeline of president-elect’s career + list of appointments so far]

She also poured $100 million of her fortune into two unsuccessful bids for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012 and has become an influential Republican donor — including to the Trump campaign.

"Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small businesses and unleash America's entrepreneurial spirit all across the country," Trump said in a statement Wednesday.

Trump said McMahon shares his vision of decreasing "burdensome regulations that are hurting our middle-class workers and small businesses."

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

2:50 P.M. UPDATE:

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, a source close to Pruitt has told The Associated Press.

Pruitt has been a booster of the fossil fuel industry and an outspoken critic of what he derides as the EPA's "activist agenda." The 48-year-old Republican also denies the overwhelming scientific evidence that the Earth is warming and that man-made carbon emissions are to blame.

Representing his state, Pruitt has repeatedly sued the EPA to roll back environmental regulations and public health protections, including opposing the Clean Power Plan that seeks to limit planet-warming carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. He also filed court briefs in support of the Keystone XL Pipeline project blocked President Barack Obama's administration.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

11:30 A.M. UPDATE:

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping another four-star military officer for his administration. He has picked retired Marine Gen. John Kelly to lead the Homeland Security Department, according to people close to the transition.

Kelly's last command included oversight of the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

Kelly, who joined the Marine Corps in 1970, retired this year. He wrapped up a final, three-year post as head of U.S. Southern Command, which spanned some of the fractious debate over President Barack Obama administration's ultimately failed pledge to close Guantanamo.

Kelly served three tours in Iraq. He is the most senior military officer to lose a child in combat in Iraq or Afghanistan. His son was killed in Afghanistan.

Transition officials confirmed the choice on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

EARLIER:

NEW YORK — Donald Trump said Wednesday he expects to select his secretary of state next week and former rival Mitt Romney still has a chance to win the post.

"Yes, he does," Trump told NBC's Today.

Romney, the 2012 presidential nominee, was critical of Trump on foreign policy and other issues during the businessman's campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has put Romney through a very public audition process — and allowed aides to take the unusual step of denouncing him in interviews. Over the weekend, Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Trump was widening his search for his top diplomatic representative to the world, and a top transition official told The Associated Press that longtime Romney rival Jon Huntsman was now also in the running.

In another development, the president-elect, appearing at a Manhattan transition fundraiser Wednesday, announced that he had selected Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad as the new U.S. ambassador to China. Trump and Branstad are expected to appear together in Iowa on Thursday, according to transition officials.

Meanwhile, Trump was named Time magazine's Person of the Year, a choice the magazine's managing editor said was "straightforward" given that Trump had upended politics-as-usual during the course of his extraordinary race for the White House.

That phenomenon is not over. In one example, Trump drew the ire of China and others last week by taking a phone call from the leader of Taiwan. The New York Times reported on Wednesday that 1996 Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, now a lobbyist, coordinated that call.

Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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