Donald Trump on Saturday named ally Devin Nunes, a former US lawmaker who now runs Trump’s Truth Social social media platform, to serve as chair of the president’s intelligence advisory board.
Nunes, a longtime Trump defender who led the US House of Representatives intelligence committee during part of Trump’s first White House term, will remain Truth Social CEO while serving on the advisory panel, Trump said in a post on the platform.
As committee chair, Nunes alleged that the FBI had conspired against Trump during its investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections in which Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Devin will draw on his experience as former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his key role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, to provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s activities,” Trump wrote.
The president’s intelligence advisory board is a White House panel that offers the president independent assessments of intelligence agencies’ effectiveness and planning.
Trump on Saturday also named IBM executive and former US Department of Homeland Security official Troy Edgar to serve as the department’s deputy secretary, and businessman Bill White to serve as the US ambassador to Belgium.
Edgar was Trump’s former chief financial officer and associate deputy undersecretary of management for homeland security. White is the former CEO of the Intrepid Museum in New York City, the current CEO of the Constellations Group and a longtime friend of Trump
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Edgar was “previously the Mayor of Los Alamitos, California, where he helped me lead the City and County revolt against Sanctuary Cities in 2018”.
Also on Saturday, Trump announced he was picking Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, as his presidential envoy for special missions. “Ric will work in some of the hottest spots around the World, including Venezuela and North Korea,” Trump said on Truth Social.
