Serdar Dincel
04 January 2025•Update: 05 January 2025
ISTANBUL
US President-elect Donald Trump on Friday appointed Morgan Ortagus as deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace.
Ortagus is set to serve as deputy to real estate executive Steven Witkoff, whom Trump appointed in November as special envoy to the Middle East.
"She will hopefully be an asset to Steve, a great leader and talent, as we seek to bring calm and prosperity to a very troubled region. I expect great results, and soon," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Ortagus said she was "honored" by the appointment.
"To be given the opportunity to once again represent my country and the Trump Administration in a crucial diplomatic role is a dream come true," she wrote on X.
"The most important thing" under Trump is that the US brings "peace and stability to a troubled region," said Ortagus, who expressed gratitude to play a "small" role to that end.
Ortagus served as State Department spokesperson between 2019 and 2021 during Trump’s first term, under then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
She worked at the Treasury Department as a financial intelligence analyst before that, and served as deputy US Treasury attaché in Saudi Arabia from 2010 to 2011
