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Trump officially nominates Todd Ricketts to be deputy commerce secretary
President-elect Donald Trump tapped Chicago Cubs co-owner and TD Ameritrade board member Todd Ricketts to be serve as his deputy commerce secretary on Tuesday.
Trump, who battled with members of the family during the Republican primaries, praised Ricketts for his business acumen and his role in the Cubs organization, which ended its over century long quest for a title by winning the World Series on Nov. 3.
“Todd Ricketts is an immensely successful businessman with unparalleled knowledge of the finance industry," Trump said in a statement. "As Deputy Commerce Secretary he will help us cut waste and streamline government so that it works for the people of America. The incredible job he and the Ricketts family did in the purchase and turnaround of the Chicago Cubs – one perfect step after another, leading to the World Championship, is what I want representing our people. I am very proud to have him on our team."
In announcing Ricketts, Trump also tapped Wilbur Ross, a 78-year-old billionaire and founder of the private equity firm WL Ross & Co, to lead the Commerce department along with Steven Mnuchin, a veteran of Goldman Sachs, to be the next Treasury secretary.
Trump transition team spokesman Jason Miller also pointed to Ricketts’s role in turning around the Cubs organization.
“I mean, you talk about "The Art of the Comeback," another book that the president-elect wrote. I mean, was there a better comeback than the Chicago cubs? So Todd Ricketts is someone who really knows the economy as well,” Miller said on Fox and Friends.
But the soon to be 45th president has not always lavished praised on Ricketts or his family. During his fight for the GOP nomination, family patriarch Joe Ricketts and his wife Marlene funded a super PAC that slammed the former reality TV star.
At the time, Trump responded by threatening to expose the family.
“I hear the Rickets [sic] family, who own the Chicago Cubs, are secretly spending $'s against me. They better be careful, they have a lot to hide!,” Trump wrote on Twitter in February.
In a later interview with the Washington Post, Trump said the eventual world champions were “poorly run” and that he would run ads against the family and their team.
“I’ll start taking ads telling them all what a rotten job they’re doing with the Chicago Cubs,” Trump told the Post’s editorial board in March. “I mean, they are spending on me. I mean, so am I allowed to say that? I’ll start doing ads about their baseball team. That it’s not properly run or that they haven’t done a good job in the brokerage business lately."