President-elect Donald Trump’s transition effort is continuing to churn through potential picks for the next head of the Transportation Department, with the current crop of names including a former reality TV star, a former executive at Uber and a former Republican lawmaker from California who regularly lambasted his state’s high-speed rail ambitions.
According to three people familiar with discussions happening among Trump and his inner circle, including his transition team, the latest names to bubble up to succeed Pete Buttigieg atop DOT include former House lawmaker and Fox News contributor (and star of MTV’s The Real World) Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and Emil Michael, a former executive at Uber. All three were granted anonymity to discuss the inner workings of the transition effort.
Also in the mix: former Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who spearheaded efforts to ensure California’s troubled high-speed rail project did not get federal money, according to an official close to Denham and familiar with the transition team’s thinking, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the effort.
Duffy is “on the short list” and Michael is “very much in the mix,” said a person familiar with the transition discussions, granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak with the media. And, according to a third official who is close to the transition effort, Trump interviewed Duffy over the weekend.
However, Duffy has been sharply critical of Trump in the past, which could imperil his selection. He told Fox News in 2017 that a debt ceiling deal Trump struck with Democrats was “bad” and “foolish,” suggesting that Trump “shot from the hip” and “missed the target.”
And Denham’s stock appears to be rising. Denham, who served on the Transportation Committee when he was in the House, recently fielded a call from the transition team asking him to consider the role, one of the officials confirmed. The official said Elon Musk has “made positive comments about him.”
Michael is a former Uber chief business officer turned SpaceX investor. The Egypt-born, Silicon Valley entrepreneur has also invested in other technology and consumer companies. According to his personal biography, he regards his outreach efforts in Russia and China during his time at Uber as one of his career highlights.