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President-elect Donald Trump announced he will nominate Linda McMahon to lead the U.S. Department of Education. During Trump’s first term, she was picked to run the U.S. Small Business Administration. She is best known for building the professional wrestling company WWE into a powerhouse alongside her husband. Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day.
🎧 McMahon is a surprise for the role as she wasn’t one of the education candidates with real conservative credentials, NPR’s Cory Turner tells Up First. She served on the Connecticut State Board of Education for about a year. She told the committee after she was nominated that she had gone to college with plans to become a teacher. More recently she chaired the board for the America First Policy Institute, which supports school choice. When it comes to closing the Education Department, Turner says a bipartisan group informed him that is one wrestling match McMahon — or any Education secretary — probably can’t win. The department was created by Congress and only Congress can abolish it.
