Ally of Donald Trump Jr. offered top personnel job | Semafor

The president and co-founder of Donald Trump Jr.’s publishing company, Sergio Gor, has been offered the low-profile, influential job leading the Presidential Personnel Office in Donald Trump’s incoming administration, a person familiar with the conversations told Semafor.

The news comes amid intense focus on Trump’s splashiest job offers for his incoming administration — and amid intense jockeying for the personnel role and another key post, the staff secretary position. Both are essential to the functioning of any White House. The PPO director is tasked with helping vet new appointees, while the staff secretary will be responsible in part for managing paper flow to Trump in the Oval Office.

During part of Trump’s first term, the personnel job fell to then-29-year-old John McEntee, a longtime Trump loyalist. McEntee was fired by then-chief of staff John Kelly for failing a background check, only to be rehired by Trump himself. Gor, who also led a pro-Trump Super PAC backed by billionaire Mar-a-Lago member Ike Perlmutter that raised nearly $80 million, was seen as a slight frontrunner for the spot.

Gor declined to comment.

He appears to have beaten out a high-profile rival for the role: Blake Masters — the venture capitalist, former political candidate, and “protege” of Peter Thiel — was viewed as the top choice in pro-Trump tech circles, according to two people familiar with the situation. Gor previously worked for Sen. Rand Paul as deputy chief of staff for communications.

Meanwhile in the mix to be staff secretary, sometimes called the “nerve center of the White House,” are several familiar names representing different factions of Trump’s network. Some allies of the president-elect are lobbying for Mike Davis, whose name also came up as a potential Trump attorney general.

Davis is seen as the MAGA-favorite pick, someone who would make sure the wool isn’t pulled over Trump’s eyes during his second term. Which is a trait Trump may want in a staff secretary: During his first term, journalist Bob Woodward reported that then-staff secretary Rob Porter was involved in stealing and hiding certain documents from the president, as well as trying to distract him from proposed orders that aides were nervous would imperil national security.

Theo Wold is also getting looked at as a possible staff secretary, according to the same three people familiar with the situation who confirmed Gor’s candidacy to Semafor. Wold served in the first Trump administration and worked closely with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is informally involved in the transition process.

The staff secretary list also includes Trump lawyer Will Scharf, who has deep ties to former Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo.