Trump’s next Cabinet appointment may be his most corrupt yet

Donald Trump is expected to name former Sen. Kelly Loeffler as Secretary of Agriculture, CNN reported Friday.

Loeffler previously served as a senator in Georgia after she was appointed in 2019 by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to fill the seat vacated by Senator Johnny Isakson, who resigned for health reasons. She ran for a special election in 2020 to hold the seat, but was defeated by Democrat Raphael Warnock. She was a staunch anti-choice, object for the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in 2020, but she later voted to certify the results after January 6, 2021 Capitol Rebellion.

A former corporate executive, Loeffler was among Trump’s top billionaire donors during his 2024 campaign, contributes more than $4.9 million for his re-election effort. Trump chose her to lead his upcoming inauguration and is due to meet with her on Friday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to CNN.

Loeffler said earlier this week that she would welcome the appointment, saying on the Political Georgia podcast that “I grew up on a farm and I’m still actively involved in agriculture. I’m a big advocate for rural America and most of my bills that I passed in Congress were rural health care and related bills.”

During her time in Congress, she was considered the richest person in the legislative body, and had to fend off charges of insider trading and dumping materials after receiving early briefings on the potential of the Covid-19 pandemic. She is married to a former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Jeffrey Sprecher, and the two have an estimated combined net worth of more than 1 billion dollars.

Sprecher and Loeffler also have business ties to Trump. The president-elect’s social media venture, Trump Media & Technology, is reportedly purchase cryptocurrency trading firm Bakkt, Sprecher is now the CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which backs the crypto firm, and Loeffler is the former CEO of Bakkt. Loeffler’s appointment to a cabinet post will certainly raise questions about it being part of a business deal with Trump, but he has never been concerned about mixing his finances with politics.

This story has been updated.