President-elect Trump announced Wednesday that he was announcing former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) to be the U.S. ambassador to Canada.
“I am very pleased to announce that former Ambassador, and former Congressman, Pete Hoekstra, has been nominated as my United States Ambassador to Canada,” Trump said in a statement. “Pete is well-respected in the Great State of Michigan – A State we won sizably.”
Hoekstra was a Michigan representative from 1993 to 2011 and served as a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
While in the House, he was considered a Tea Party member and was previously recorded questioning whether then-President Obama was born in the United States.
In 2017, he was confirmed as Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands by a Senate voice vote. Two years later, Hoekstra emerged as one of the top choices to serve as Trump’s director of national intelligence, though Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-Texas) eventually earned the position.
Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee officially recognized Hoekstra to head the Michigan GOP.
Trump praised Hoekstra in his statement Wednesday and said with his help, in his second term, they will “once again put AMERICA FIRST.”
“He did an outstanding job as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands during our first four years, and I am confident that he will continue to represent our Country well in this new role,” Trump concluded.
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