President-elect Trump announced several appointments to the Treasury Department and the selection of ambassadors to two European countries.
In multiple Thursday social posts, President Trump outlined who will be working with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the selection of ambassadors to Spain and the Netherlands.
President Trump has nominated Ken Keyes to be his undersecretary for tax policy. Mr. Keith is a tax attorney with nearly 50 years of experience and served as chief of staff for the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
He selected Alexandra Plate to be Mr. Bessent's next senior advisor. President Trump said that Plate “has worked closely with former National Economic Council Secretary Larry Kudlow and my longtime economic advisors, Dr. Arthur B. Laffer and Dr. Stephen Moore.”
Hunter McMaster has been selected as Director of Policy Planning.
President Trump has selected Daniel Katz, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, to be his chief of staff. Mr. Katz previously served as a senior advisor at the Treasury Department.
Katz will be replaced by Samantha Schwab, who served on Trump's White House legislative staff during his first term, and Cora Alvi, who served as deputy national finance director during Trump's presidential campaign.
Samantha Schwab is the granddaughter of Charles Schwab, the billionaire founder of the Charles Schwab Corporation, a brokerage firm. Mr. Schwab, a financial executive, donated to various Republican candidates and political action committees (PACs) during the 2024 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
President Trump praised all the appointees as “incredibly hard-working patriots who are working tirelessly to make America great again.”
On Thursday, President Trump announced his selection of Cuban-American businessman Benjamin Leon Jr. as ambassador to Spain. Leon Jr. has made a name for himself in the healthcare and wellness industry.
According to an FEC report, Leon Jr. donated at least $2 million during the 2024 campaign to the Trump 47 Committee and Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC aligned with the president-elect.
The President-elect has selected Joe Popolo Jr. to be the next U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. He is the founder and CEO of Charles & Potomac Capital, LLC, a Dallas-based private investment firm.
“Joe is a successful businessman and philanthropist in a variety of fields. For more than 20 years, he helped transform the Freeman Company into one of the world's leading live event brand experience companies,” Trump said. the president wrote.
