Months after she was introduced to be President Donald Trump’s decide to guide the Division of Training, Linda McMahon is on the recent seat in Capitol Hill Thursday as she faces senators over the way forward for the company, which the president has vowed to kill.
The Senate Well being, Training, Labor, and Pensions Committee is holding its listening to to grill McMahon, a businesswoman with shut ties to Trump who has no instructing expertise.
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the Division of Training has been mismanaged and has broken schooling, calling it a “con job” throughout a information convention Wednesday. The president is anticipated to signal an government order directing McMahon to submit a proposal for diminishing the division, after which the president mentioned she ought to “put herself out of a job,” though such an motion would require an act of Congress.
Linda McMahon arrives to testify earlier than the Senate Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee on her nomination to be Training Secretary at Capitol Hill in Washington, Feb. 13, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP through Getty Photographs
Democratic senators have mentioned they intend to scrutinize the nomination based mostly on 76-year-old McMahon’s lack of expertise in public schooling.
McMahon defended her nomination in posts on X, writing partly: “I’m dedicated to working tirelessly to make sure each pupil has entry to a high quality schooling.”
McMahon’s journey from WWE matriarch to DOE nominee
McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Leisure (WWE) and can also be the corporate’s former president and CEO.
Trump mentioned he selected McMahon for being a “fierce advocate” for parental rights in schooling who will struggle “tirelessly” to broaden college alternative and “spearhead” his effort to ship schooling choices again to the states, in response to the president’s official nomination assertion. The president additionally praised McMahon’s management and “deep understanding” of each schooling and enterprise.
McMahon’s private monetary wealth is unclear however she reported proudly owning belongings which might be value tons of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} and which may probably surpass $1 billion. The Trump loyalist was co-chair of his presidential transition workforce and is a long-time donor who has given tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to help pro-Trump causes.
McMahon beforehand labored within the first Trump administration as head of the Small Enterprise Administration (SBA). She had beforehand made two unsuccessful bids for U.S. Senate when she ran towards present Senate Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy in 2010 and 2012, respectively. She can also be Chair of the America First Coverage Institute (AFPI) board however will depart that place if confirmed as U.S. Secretary of Training.
President Donald Trump speaks at a press convention with Linda McMahon, head of Small Enterprise Administration, Mar. 29, 2019 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Seaside, Florida.
Nicholas Kamm/AFP through Getty Photographs
McMahon has advocated for apprenticeship and workforce coaching applications, college alternative and parental rights. Though she just isn’t at present an educator she acquired her instructing certification from East Carolina College and sat on the Connecticut state board of schooling earlier than her first unsuccessful senate bid. She has additionally served two stints on the Board of Trustees at Connecticut’s Sacred Coronary heart College, the place she is at present the treasurer.
Trump’s schooling agenda, McMahon’s scandals forged shadow over nomination
At an government order signing occasion final week, President Trump mentioned, “I advised Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do an excellent job and put your self out of a job.’”
“I need her to place herself out of a job,” Trump added.
Nevertheless, abolishing the company can solely be completed if Congress passes laws to eradicate it. Consultants say it’s unlawful to dismantle the division with out congressional authorization, which might require 60 Senate votes in favor of doing so.
Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee for FBI Director and Pete Hegseth, President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Protection and Linda McMahon, President Trump’s nominee for Training Secretary depart inauguration ceremonies within the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Photographs
In the meantime, McMahon’s years as a wrestling government got here with their share of alleged scandals, which has introduced her expertise with younger individuals underneath scrutiny.
A 2024 lawsuit introduced by 5 plaintiffs – John Does who served because the WWE ringside crew after they had been teenagers – accused her and her husband, Vince McMahon, of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse by an announcer and executives on the firm. If confirmed by the Senate, McMahon can be tasked with overseeing sexual misconduct investigations inside education schemes.
The McMahons have denied the claims.
Laura Brevetti, Linda McMahon’s legal professional, advised ABC Information that the FBI investigated the decades-old allegations on the time and located no grounds to additional examine them, calling the lawsuit “baseless.”
McMahon’s allies consider she can be an agent of change, a disrupter, and the dismantler that the Division of Training wants. Skeptics additionally claimed that the federal company spends an excessive amount of on schooling with out ample educational outcomes.
However many within the schooling group worry that if McMahon helps Trump abolish the company, it may adversely impression the thousands and thousands of scholars who depend on vital applications overseen by the division which might be supposed to assist weak college students succeed, like Title I funding for college kids from low-income communities.
