Washington: President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is evaluating candidates for US Secretary of Transportation. Those under consideration include a former Uber executive and three current or former Republican members of Congress, including a Fox News host, according to sources familiar with the deliberations.
Emile Michael, a Trump donor and tech entrepreneur who knows Elon Musk socially, has emerged as a major contender, three of the sources said. Tech executives who supported Trump defended the former Uber CEO, two of the sources said.
Other candidates include Sam Graves — a Missouri state representative and chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee — along with outgoing Republican Rep. Garrett Graves, of Louisiana, and former Wisconsin state representative Sean Duffy, now a member of the House of Representatives. Fox News Seven sources said.
Sam Greaves said in a statement that he would be honored if asked to serve as MOT and would consider the position. A spokesman for Jarrett Graves did not comment on the potential Department of Transportation but said he was advising the Trump campaign on transportation and infrastructure issues.
Michael declined to comment. Duffy did not respond to a request for comment.
The eight sources who spoke with Reuters gave in some cases different accounts of the candidate or candidates most likely to be selected for the position of head of the Ministry of Transport. It is possible that other contenders will emerge.
One source said that Elon Musk “admires” Michael, the technology entrepreneur. Michael is an investor in Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, according to Michael’s website.
Reuters was unable to determine whether Musk had called for Michael’s appointment as head of the Department of Transportation.
Transition planning
Musk, the world’s richest person and one of Trump’s biggest campaign supporters, is expected to exert influence on the selection of the head of the Department of Transportation, among other Trump appointments, Reuters reported, citing a source close to Trump and Musk’s transition planning.
Federal records show Musk contributed at least $119 million to a pro-Trump spending group.
With an annual budget of about $110 billion, the department oversees regulation of pipelines, railroads, automobiles, trucks and transportation systems as well as federal funding for highway repair and other infrastructure projects. It also sets fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, regulates aviation, and is responsible for air traffic control through the Federal Aviation Administration, one of its agencies.
The Department of Transportation, which includes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), regulates automakers including Musk’s Tesla. Musk said he will seek changes in self-driving vehicle regulation for Tesla under the Trump administration.
The NHTSA is investigating incidents of Tesla crashes, some fatal, involving the “full self-driving” system, which is not fully autonomous and requires a human driver to pay strict attention. The agency is also investigating whether the automaker’s recall of more than 2 million vehicles, announced last year, to install new Autopilot safeguards, was sufficient after 20 accidents in vehicles with the new software installed.
Tesla and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Carolyn Leavitt, Trump’s transition spokeswoman, declined to comment on the candidates for the position of transportation chief, saying that the selection will be announced after it is finalized.
Michael left Uber in 2017 following a workplace culture investigation conducted by former US Attorney General Eric Holder. Uber hired Holder to conduct a wide-ranging investigation into the company’s culture after a former engineer raised complaints of sexual harassment at the company.
Michael is one of Uber’s closest co-founders, Travis Kalanick, and has helped oversee its mergers, acquisitions and fundraising. Since leaving Uber, Michael has built an investment firm, served on startup boards and advised technology-focused hedge fund firms like Coatue Management.
During the Obama administration, Michael served as a White House Fellow, where he worked at the Department of Defense as a special assistant to Robert Gates, from 2009 to 2011, overseeing projects in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan.