With the position of U.S. Secretary of Air Force officially becoming vacant May 31, Newsmax has learned there is mounting discussion in the White House of Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., being named to the s job.
Much of the growing talk of Kinzinger, 41, succeeding outgoing Secretary Heather Wilson has to do with his background. A U.S. Air Force veteran who saw action in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kinzinger is now a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
Sources on Capitol Hill and in the White House agree that a nomination of Kinzinger by Trump would almost certainly sail through the Senate.
Moreover, the congressman’s 11th District—stretching from Chicago’s suburbs to Bloomington—is strongly Republican and almost surely would remain in GOP hands in the special election resulting from Kinzinger’s resignation from Congress.
Kinzinger would also be somewhat unique appointment for President Trump. In 2016, the congressman was an early supporter of Jeb Bush for the Republican nomination and, in the fall, announced publicly he would not vote for Republican nominee Trump.
But the Prairie State lawmaker has also voted with Trump on almost every measure. Most recently, Kinzinger won high marks from the White House following his recent stint as an Air National Guard officer assigned to the Mexican border.
Having seen first-hand drug dealers and the notorious “coyotes,” Kinzinger declared his support for the President’s proposed national emergency over the issue of illegal immigration.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.