Last month, the organization announced that it had hired Michael Rigas, Trump’s former acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, a role akin to leading human resources for the federal government. His portfolio at America First includes putting together a blueprint the next Republican president can use to determine day-one executive actions and staffing at agencies.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is on the group’s board. Gingrich, known for the Republican “Contract with America” plan that’s credited with helping the party take control of Congress in the 1994 midterm elections, will have a discussion on stage with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy just before Trump speaks on July 26th.
The policies and issues that the organization is working on include inflation and energy, finishing Trump’s wall on the southern border as well as critical race theory.
America First’s staff is comprised of nine former Trump cabinet officials, 17 former senior White House staffers, 35 former senior-level administration officials and three former governors, including Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.
Trump’s former acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf is America First’s executive director and chief strategy officer. Other former Trump administration officials at the organization include Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s former senior counselor; Larry Kudlow, former director of the National Economic Council; former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt; former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker; former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe; and Marc Lotter, a former special assistant to Trump.
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