Trump picks Chris Wright to guide Vitality Division forward of UFC battle

President-elect Donald Trump walked out to a roaring standing ovation simply forward of the beginning of the UFC pay-per-view card at Madison Sq. Backyard on Saturday evening, combining two issues near his coronary heart: fierce battles contained in the octagon and New York Metropolis.

Trump was accompanied by UFC President Dana White and the pair headed to their cageside seats to Child Rock’s “American Unhealthy Ass.” UFC aired a video package deal of Trump’s highway to the White Home whereas followers stood and applauded. Trump, sporting a pink tie, pumped his fist towards the gang when the video ended.

Trump additionally had his clenched fists pumping backwards and forwards and briefly danced to the Village Individuals’s “YMCA” simply outdoors the cage.

Elon Musk, picked by Trump to guide a brand new Division of Authorities Effectivity, and Home Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., joined Trump and White on the Backyard. Trump shook arms with the UFC broadcast crew that included Joe Rogan. Rogan hosted Trump on his podcast.

The MSG crowd chanted “USA! USA!” proper earlier than the primary card was about to begin. After a yr delay, Stipe Miocic is getting his shot at a 3rd heavyweight championship reign when he battles present champion Jon Jones in the primary occasion at UFC 309.

A return to Madison Sq. Backyard means revisiting the place the place a comic triggered an uproar at a Trump rally final month by likening Puerto Rico to a “floating island of rubbish.” But Trump continues to relish visits to New York, the place he lived for many years, earlier than transferring to his Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Florida.

Trump boarded his aircraft for the flight to New York accompanied by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his selection to guide the Division of Well being and Human Providers after his new administration begins on Jan. 20.

Trump’s son, Don Jr., additionally attended the battle.

The journey to New York, the place Trump lived for many years earlier than transferring to his Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Florida, got here after the president-elect introduced his selection for vitality secretary in his upcoming administration.

And it additionally adopted by Musk calling for extra direct public enter into the decision-making course of for one more high put up Trump remains to be mulling, the top of his new administration’s Treasury Division.

Trump stated that Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Vitality, was his choice to move the Vitality Division. Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gasoline growth, together with fracking, a key pillar of Trump’s quest to attain U.S. “vitality dominance” within the international market.

Musk, in the meantime, mused in regards to the president-elect’s yet-to-be-made treasury secretary selection — and invited folks to make use of his social platform to weigh in.

“Could be attention-grabbing to listen to extra folks weigh in on this for @realDonaldTrump to think about suggestions,” Musk, who Trump has already tapped to co-lead a fee tasked with rising authorities spending effectivity, posted Saturday on the X social media platform he owns.

Musk used the remainder of his put up to grow to be the primary participant within the public ballot he was proposing. He endorsed Howard Lutnick, the CEO of economic companies agency Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of Trump’s transition crew, forward of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2025, over hedge fund supervisor Scott Bessent.

Musk stated in his put up that “Bessent is a business-as-usual selection, whereas @howardlutnick will truly enact change.”

“Enterprise-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we’d like change,” he stated.

Each Lutnick and Bessent have been talked about as doable picks to guide the Treasury Division. Bessent is taken into account the extra typical, business-friendly selection. He’s skeptical about cryptocurrency, whereas Lutnick has steered it might be used for folks to pay their taxes.

Trump’s decide to guide his Well being and Human Providers Division, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., additionally endorsed Lutnick, posting on his personal X account, “Bitcoin is the foreign money of freedom, a hedge towards inflation for center class People.”

“Bitcoin could have no stronger advocate than Howard Lutnik,” he wrote, misspelling Lutnick’s final identify.

Listed below are 5 issues to learn about Sergio Gor, assistant to President-elect Donald Trump and Director of the Presidential Personnel Workplace through the Trump administration’s second time period.

Trump has already introduced many picks for the brand new administration in latest days, together with his selection for Secretary of State, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and legal professional common, former Florida Rep . Matt Gaetz. Treasury is an important slot he has left to fill, however the president-elect additionally has but to announce decisions for different roles, together with the heads of the Schooling and Labor Departments.

Individually, Trump stated that he’d picked a member of his authorized crew and former federal prosecutor, Will Scharf, as assistant to the president and White Home workers secretary. Additionally Saturday, Republican Home Speaker Mike Johnson was at Mar-a-Lago to fulfill with the president-elect earlier than Trump flew to New York for the UFC showdown.

Aside from a day journey to Washington this week to fulfill for practically two hours with President Joe Biden, and individually deal with Home Republicans, Trump has been spending his time since his Election Day victory at Mar-a-Lago. The membership has hosted galas and conservative occasions all through the week.

Along with being a fan of the game, the president-elect has been near Final Preventing Championship President Dana White for greater than twenty years.

White hosted a 2001 UFC battle at Trump Taj Mahal, a former casino-hotel in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, and Trump has incessantly attended UFC matches since – together with throughout his 2024 marketing campaign. Trump has turned up at fights lately with well-known entourages, together with White, musician Child Rock and former Fox Information Channel host Tucker Carlson.

In 2018, throughout Trump’s first time period, he and White starred in a UFC video the place the then-president was known as the “Combatant In Chief.”

As Trump has strengthened his grip on the nationwide Republican Get together during the last near-decade, White’s private political profile has grown exponentially. White spoke on the 2016 and 2020 Republican conventions, and when the social gathering gathered in Milwaukee this previous July. He additionally addressed the gang at Trump’s Florida victory social gathering within the wee hours of the morning after Election Day.

“That is what occurs when the machine comes after you,” White stated then. “What you’ve seen during the last a number of years, that is what it appears to be like like: couldn’t cease him. He retains going ahead. He doesn’t give up.”