Congress praises President Donald Trump’s selection of Morgan Ortagus for top role
"I love it," Rep. Rob Bresnahan told the Washington Reporter of Trump's selection of Morgan Ortagus.
Morgan Ortagus, one of President Donald Trump’s top foreign policy hires, is getting rave reviews from Hill Republicans.
Ortagus, Trump’s former State Department spokeswoman, now serves as his deputy Middle East envoy under Trump’s longtime friend Steven Witkoff. Ortagus, who ran the national security-focused group Polaris, spent much of 2024 traveling America on a series of trips to the southern border and hosting national security roundtables with candidates for House and Senate — several of whom told the Washington Reporter that they are eager to see what she does next.
Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R., Pa.) told the Reporter “I love that” when he learned that Trump had tapped Ortagus for the role. Bresnahan’s border trip with Ortagus “totally changed my story, and I was able to speak from a position of authority, because I saw it with my own eyes,” he previously told the Reporter in an interview.
“We were at the border at two o'clock in the morning. We saw a group of 50 or 60 people walk around the wall, surrender themselves to Border Patrol agents. And it really put a face to the problem, and it really became a humanitarian crisis. It's not a Republican issue. It's not a Democrat issue.”
Another freshman lawmaker who joined Polaris on its nationwide “America the Great” tour is Rep. Tony Wied (R., Wis.), who told the Reporter that “Morgan Ortagus is an excellent pick for the role of Deputy Presidential Envoy to the Middle East.” Wied added “I had the opportunity to meet Morgan during my campaign and I know she is an America first patriot who will help President Trump bring much needed peace to the Middle East and stabilize the region.”
While not everyone Ortagus did events with was successful in November, many are headed to other key Trump administration roles, like Sam Brown, who Trump tapped to be one of the top officials in his Department of Veterans Affairs.