Trump team contacts Chris Stewart about Cabinet position – Deseret News

President-elect Donald Trump's transition team approached former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart about a possible appointment as director of national intelligence, the Deseret News has confirmed.

Stewart, an Air Force veteran who represented Utah's 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2023, has spoken to Trump's team about the role of overseeing the U.S. intelligence community, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Before running for elected office, Stewart was an author, a small business owner and served in the military, both as a rescue helicopter and bomber pilot.

During his decade in Congress, Stewart received top-secret briefings as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and traveled to Russia to discuss international relations and to western China to visit the Uighur people.

“There is nothing in the intelligence community that I haven't been exposed to and that I don't know,” Stewart told the Deseret News after his final day in Congress in September 2023.

Stewart resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives to spend more time with his wife, who had suffered a stroke a year earlier. Stewart's seat was filled by his former legal counsel, Rep. Celeste Maloy, whom he supported.

Immediately after his resignation, Stewart founded a new government affairs firm, Skyline Capitol, in collaboration with American Global Strategies LLC, an international consulting firm founded by former national security adviser Robert O'Brien, also based in Utah, specializing in geopolitical consulting concentrated.

On Tuesday, Stewart congratulated three of Trump's national security appointees who were also his former colleagues in Congress: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, as secretary of state; Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Florida, as national security adviser; and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as ambassador to the United Nations.

“There is no doubt: you will build a stronger, safer America,” Stewart said in a post on X. “Congratulations to my good friends on their new appointments and thank you (Donald Trump) for building an incredible defense team our nation.” .”