Trump nominates Stephen Miller to be deputy chief policy officer in the new administration

NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday named former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency as he continues to build his future administration with steadfast supporters.

Zeldin, a Republican who made an unsuccessful bid for New York governor in 2022, “will ensure fair and swift deregulation decisions are made to unleash the power of American businesses,” Trump said in a statement. Zeldin will also maintain “the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump said.

Trump’s statement misstated the name of the agency Zeldin was chosen to fill, calling it the Environmental Protection Agency.

Zeldin, who left Congress in January 2023, was a surprising choice for the role. In his public appearances, both during his own campaigns and on Trump’s behalf, he has often spoken out on topics such as the military, national security, anti-Semitism, U.S.-Israel relations, immigration and crime.

He was among Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. While in Congress, he did not serve on committees overseeing environmental policy, and during his eight years in Congress, he achieved a 14% rating in the League of Environmental Protection Voters.

In the 2022 governor’s race, Zeldin promised to repeal Democrats’ fracking ban.

In an interview on Fox News Channel on Monday, Zeldin, 44, said he would strive to ensure that the United States is able to “maintain energy dominance … bring back American jobs in the auto industry and elsewhere.”

He is excited about the opportunity to implement Trump’s economic agenda, Zeldin said, adding: “I think Americans are very hungry for this. That’s one of the main reasons they’re sending him back to the White House.”

In 2016, Zeldin pushed for the rezoning of approximately 150 square miles of federal waters in Long Island Sound to the state jurisdiction of New York and Rhode Island. He wanted to open the area to striped bass fishing.

Zeldin said at the time that he wanted to restore local control and common sense in fisheries management. He later pushed for allowing striped bass fishing in an amendment to the federal spending bill. Environmental groups criticized the amendment, saying it created a risk of overfishing in the area.

Trump often pointed to Zeldin’s performance in the 2022 gubernatorial race, when the Republican did much better than expected against Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul. Although Trump did not win New York state in last week’s election, he did much better than in previous elections, especially in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.

New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox said Zeldin’s surprise nomination was “a testament to President Trump’s commitment to revitalizing the original mission of the EPA – an agency created… under President Richard Nixon to protect our nation’s environment.”

The announcement came after Trump chose longtime adviser Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, as deputy policy chief in his new administration and named New York Republican Elise Stefanik as his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump asked about it too Florida Representative Mike Waltza retired National Guard officer and war veteran, is expected to be his national security adviser, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before Trump makes an official announcement.

Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving advisers, dating back to his first White House campaign. He was a senior adviser to Trump during his first term and played a key role in many of his policy decisions, particularly on immigration, including Trump’s 2018 decision to separate thousands of immigrant families as part of a deterrent program.

Miller also helped craft many of Trump’s tough speeches and was often the public face of the policy during Trump’s first term and during his campaign.

Since leaving the White House, Miller has served as president of America First Legal, an organization of former Trump advisers shaped like a conservative version of American Civil Liberties Unionchallenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others on issues such as freedom of speech and religion and national security.

Miller drew huge cheers at Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in the final stretch of the race, telling the crowd that “your salvation is near” after what he described as “decades of mistreatment of the good people of this nation” by having them robbed and stolen from them. works and then shipped them to Mexico, Asia and other countries. “The lives of their loved ones have been taken from them by illegal aliens, criminal gangs and bandits who do not belong to this country.”

Because this is not a cabinet position, the nomination does not require Senate confirmation.

On the environment, Zeldin stated in 2016 that he disagreed with then-candidate Trump’s call to eliminate the EPA. He said at a candidate forum on Long Island that he sees a “need to improve the agency,” including improving its relationship with Congress and moving some regulations to lawmakers, “which is very different from advocating for eliminating it.”