Mark Burnett, the power producer who helped reintroduce US president-elect Donald Trump to a national television audience with The Apprentice, is being tapped by Trump as US special envoy to the UK in his upcoming administration.
“With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role,” Trump announced on Saturday.
Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like Survivor and The Voice, but is perhaps best known for teaming up with Trump for The Apprentice, which first aired on NBC in 2004.
Photo: AP
Trump had been well-known in real-estate and pop culture circles for decades. However, the show helped again make him a household name — though Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the same year he launched his first White House run.
The selection of Burnett continues Trump’s trend of filling out his incoming administration with people who have high-profile backgrounds in television or politics, or both — including his choice to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former cohost of Fox & Friends Weekend, and ex-television doctor and unsuccessful US Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz
Trump’s first campaign in 2016 was rocked by allegations about his conduct on The Apprentice and other appearances during his association with NBC, notably in footage in which he said he could sexually assault women and get away with it, because he was a “star.”
Almost a decade after he left his reality TV role, Trump’s television career remains central to his biography and political rise. The show presented Trump Tower to tens of millions of people as a symbol of power and success before Trump launched his first campaign from the building’s lobby.
“Mark is known for creating and producing some of the biggest shows in Television History,” Trump wrote in his statement on Burnett, listing many of his biggest hits before adding, “most notably, The Apprentice” and noting that Burnett “has won 13 Emmy Awards!”
Later on Saturday, Trump announced in a separate statement that he was picking casino magnate Tilman Fertitta as his choice to be US ambassador to Italy.
Meanwhile, Burnett will be a special envoy, posts usually filled by presidents for the world’s traditional hot spots, including the Middle East — where Trump has already said he would like Steven Witkoff to fill the role.
The UK, which has long enjoyed a “special relationship” with the US that makes it one of Washington’s strongest global allies, is not typically a candidate for such posts.
However, Trump has announced a series of special envoy positions to several top loyalists ahead of the inauguration day on Jan. 20, including his former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, who he chose as envoy for special missions. That announcement joined previous ones including Adam Boehler as special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, and Keith Kellogg to serve as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Trump previously announced on Dec. 2 that he was picking billionaire investment banker Warren Stephens for the more standard role of US ambassador to UK. That might raise questions about how a special UK envoy could overlap duties, but the president-elect said in his statement that Burnett “will work to enhance diplomatic relations, focusing on areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment opportunities, and cultural exchanges.”
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Two daughters of an Argentine mountaineer who died on an icy peak 40 years ago have retrieved his backpack from the spot — finding camera film inside that allowed them a glimpse of some of his final experiences. Guillermo Vieiro was 44 when he died in 1985 — as did his climbing partner — while descending Argentina’s Tupungato lava dome, one of the highest peaks in the Americas. Last year, his backpack was spotted on a slope by mountaineer Gabriela Cavallaro, who examined it and contacted Vieiro’s daughters Guadalupe, 40, and Azul, 44. Last month, the three set out with four other guides
RSS