President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team reached out to former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart about a potential appointment as the director of national intelligence, the Deseret News confirmed.
Stewart, an Air Force veteran who represented Utah’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2023, has been in talks with Trump’s team about the role overseeing the U.S. Intelligence Community, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Before running for elected office, Stewart was an author, small business owner and served in the military, both as a rescue helicopter and bomber pilot.
During his decade in Congress, Stewart received top-secret briefings as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and traveled to Russia to discuss international relations and to western China to visit the Uyghur people.
“There’s nothing in intelligence that I haven’t been exposed to and that I don’t know,” Stewart told the Deseret News after his last day in Congress in September of 2023.
Stewart resigned from the U.S. House to spend more time with his wife who suffered a stroke a year earlier. Stewart’s seat was filled by his former legal counsel, Rep. Celeste Maloy, who he endorsed.
Immediately following his resignation Stewart started a new government affairs firm, Skyline Capitol, focused on geopolitical consulting, in partnership with American Global Strategies LLC, an international advisory firm founded by former national security adviser Robert O’Brien, also a Utah resident.
On Tuesday, Stewart congratulated three of Trump’s national security appointments, who also were his former colleagues in Congress: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as secretary of state; Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., as national security adviser; and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., as ambassador to the United Nations.
“There’s no doubt: They will build a stronger and safer America,” Stewart said in a post on X. “Congratulations to my good friends on their new appointments, and thank you (Donald Trump) for building an incredible team to defend our Nation.”