Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers
The Trump campaign may be leaking out some premature and hopeful talk here about a presidential transition team.
The fact is, you have to win to appoint one.
The Wall Street Journal reports that former Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, who chaired the Committee on House Intelligence, may play a senior role if Trump gets to plan an administration.
Rogers, 53, will advise on national-security matters, several people familiar with the process tell the New York paper.
Damian Paletta and Reid J. Epstein write:
Mr. Rogers’s involvement in the transition team was described as preliminary and not finalized. He is close friends with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is leading Mr. Trump’s transition team, and he could lead the national-security group within the transition team or play another top role, these people said.
Mr. Rogers served in Congress from 2001 to 2015 and was perhaps best known for his role as head of the House Intelligence Committee beginning in 2011. He worked for the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being elected to the House, and his frequent television appearances made him a public face of the Republican Party associated with intelligence and national-security matters.
His television appearances didn’t stop when he left Congress. The former congressman appears frequently on CNN and recently launched a new intelligence-related series on that channel, “Declassified.” A CNN spokeswoman said because Mr. Rogers’s transition role is unpaid and “obviously a separate entity from the campaign,” he will be able to keep his role as a CNN commentator.
