Who is Linda McMahon, Trump’s appointee to the Department of Education?

() – Linda McMahon is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be Secretary of the Department of Education when she assumes her second term at the helm of the White House.

Currently his transition co-chair, McMahon was already an official in the Trump Administration during his first term.

Since 2017 she served in the US Government as administrator of the Small Business Administration, a position from which she resigned in 2019 to become the president of America First Action, an independent pro-Trump campaign committee.

“Linda will use her decades of leadership experience and deep understanding of both education and business to empower the next generation of American students and workers, and make the United States number one in education in the world. We will send education back to the states, and Linda will lead that effort,” Trump said in a statement announcing his election.

“Thank you, Mr. President, for trusting me to serve as Secretary of Education. I am hopeful of receiving Senate confirmation. “I am deeply honored and grateful for this opportunity and am committed to working tirelessly to ensure that all students have access to a quality education,” McMahon wrote Wednesday in an X post.

McMahon added in the publication which believes that “all students should be equipped with the necessary skills to prepare them for a successful future.” And he said that he will seek to “strengthen our educational system; ensuring that all children, regardless of demographics, are prepared for a bright future.”

The potential future Trump official currently chairs the board of the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), a pro-Trump group formed in 2021 along with Larry Kudlow and other advisers to the president-elect’s first administration, which has raised millions of dollars since its foundation.
She herself is a major Republican donor: During Trump’s first campaign for the presidency, she donated more than $7 million to two independent committees of his campaign, according to Open Secrets.

In 2010 and 2012, McMahon ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. She financed her own campaigns, in which according to Open Secrets. spent more than US$98 million. For his 2012 run, Trump donated $5,000.

Like several other names proposed by Trump in recent days for his future cabinet, his selection to lead the Department of Education is not without controversy.

A recent lawsuit alleges that Linda McMahon knowingly enabled the sexual exploitation of children by a World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) employee since the 1980s. She denies those allegations.

McMahon co-founded WWE with her husband, Vince McMahon.

As head of WWE, she oversaw its transformation from a small wrestling entertainment company to a publicly traded media empire. He resigned as CEO in 2009 for his first run for the US Senate.

According to the lawsuit, McMahon, her husband, WWE and TKO Group Holdings – the league’s parent company – allegedly allowed employee Melvin Phillips Jr. to use his position as a ring announcer to sexually exploit children.

The lawsuit was filed in October in Baltimore County, Maryland, on behalf of five unnamed victims, who say they were between 13 and 15 years old when the alleged abuse occurred.

Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s attorney, called the allegations false. “This civil lawsuit based on allegations dating back more than 30 years is filled with outrageous lies, exaggerations and misrepresentations about Linda McMahon,” Brevetti said. “Ms. McMahon will vigorously defend this baseless lawsuit and will no doubt ultimately be successful.”

Brevetti also told that Linda and Vince McMahon “are separated” and have been “away from each other for some time.” Jessica Rosenberg, Vince McMahon’s attorney, did not respond to ‘s request for comment for the article published on the topic. Rosenberg said in a previous statement that the lawsuit’s allegations are false.

WWE did not immediately respond to ‘s request for comment.

This article was produced with information from John Towfighi, Katelyn Polantz, Kristen Holmes and Kaitlan Collins of