President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he plans to select North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as his nominee for secretary of the interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have a big announcement, and I won\u2019t tell you, it\u2019s \u2014 I won\u2019t tell you the name of his, the exact name,” Trump teased in his remarks at Mar-a-Lago, his home in Florida, for an America First Policy Institute event. “I think he\u2019s an incredible person, got an unbelievably wonderful wife named Kathryn. So, I won\u2019t tell you \u2014 his name might be something like ‘Burgum.’ Burgum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“He\u2019s from North Dakota. He\u2019s going to be announced tomorrow for a very big position,” Trump added before he pointed to and waved at Burgum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments later, he announced that Burgum is “going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reached for comment, Burgum spokesperson Rob Lockwood said Burgum’s team is waiting to comment until Friday, when Trump said he will make the formal announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shortly before Trump\u2019s remarks, NBC News asked<\/a> Burgum whether there have been conversations about his being nominated for interior secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019ve been a lot of discussions about a lot of different things,\u201d he told reporters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNothing\u2019s true till you read it on Truth Social,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burgum was a familiar presence on the campaign trail stumping for Trump, who had considered<\/a>\u2002selecting him<\/a> as his running mate before he settled on JD Vance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burgum, who has a business background, sold a software company<\/a> to Microsoft in 2001 for $1.1 billion in stock. He then worked at Microsoft as a senior vice president through 2007 and continued in other business ventures in real estate and venture capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was first elected governor in 2016 and won re-election in 2020. North Dakota implemented term limits for governors in 2022 that restrict any governor from running for a third term, but that measure did not apply retroactively to Burgum, who was already in office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burgum opted not to seek a third term in 2024, and his second term is set to end when his successor, Rep. Kelly Armstrong, assumes office in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He ran a long-shot presidential campaign and dropped out of the race in December 2023 after he failed to\u2002<\/a>qualif<\/a>y<\/a>\u2002<\/a>for the November 2023 primary debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n