President-elect Donald Trump’s transition effort is continuing to churn through potential picks for the next head of the Transportation Department, with the current crop of names including a former reality TV star, a former executive at Uber and a former Republican lawmaker from California who regularly lambasted his state’s high-speed rail ambitions.
According to three people familiar with discussions happening among Trump and his inner circle, including his transition team, the latest names to bubble up to succeed Pete Buttigieg atop DOT include former House lawmaker and Fox News contributor (and star of MTV’s “The Real World”) Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) and Emil Michael, a former executive at Uber. All three were granted anonymity to discuss the inner workings of the transition effort.
Also in the mix: former Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.), who spearheaded efforts to ensure California’s troubled high-speed rail project did not get federal money, according to an official close to Denham and familiar with the transition team’s thinking, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the effort.
Duffy is “on the short list,” and Michael is “very much in the mix,” said a person familiar with the transition discussions, granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak with the media. And according to a third official who is close to the transition effort, Trump interviewed Duffy over the weekend.
