President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will nominate Doug Burgum to be secretary of the Department of the Interior.
“He’s going to head the Department of Interior, and he’s going to be fantastic,” Trump said of the North Dakota governor during remarks at the America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump, 78, indicated that he will make a “formal announcement” regarding Burgum on Friday.
The president-elect revealed Burgum as one of his cabinet picks after declaring that his incoming administration plans to slash Americans’ “energy bills in half.”
Trump teased that another “big one” could be revealed Friday as well.
“[Burgum is] going to be announced tomorrow, and we have somebody else who is probably coming up with him to be announced, who is a big one,” he said.
“We’re going to do things with energy and with land, interior, that are going to be incredible,” Trump said of his agenda.
Burgum, 68, has served as governor of energy-rich North Dakota since 2016.
The governor endorsed Trump earlier this year after an unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Burgum aggressively emphasized ramping up domestic energy production and the threat of China during his short-lived presidential campaign.
The governor, who appeared at several rallies in support of Trump, was on the 45th president’s shortlist to serve as running mate, before Trump tapped Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Before entering politics, Burgum was the CEO of tech startup Great Plains Software, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2001.
He stayed at Microsoft, working as a senior vice president, through 2007.
