It appears former President Donald Trump and Gov. Doug Burgum’s (R-ND) relationship is strengthening, as the former president said he hopes to have the governor as a “very important” part of his administration.
Some in Trump’s orbit are even talking about him as a potential running mate or cabinet secretary, Breitbart News has learned.
During his victory speech after the Iowa Caucuses on Monday, Trump had high praise for Burgum, calling him “one of the best governors in the country” and a “solid guy.” Trump emphasized that Burgum had supported him in 2016 and 2020 before declaring he hopes to have the governor in his administration if he wins in November.
“I hope that I’m going to be able to call on him to be a piece of the administration, a very important piece of the administration,” Trump said.
Sources tell Breitbart News that Burgum flew with Trump on his luxurious Boeing 757, nicknamed “Trump Force One,” from Iowa to New York after the caucuses.
Burgum hailed from the business world before assuming the governorship in 2016 after a successful campaign he partly self-funded, as Breitbart News previously noted. Burgum was an early investor in Great Plains Software and eventually served as its CEO before it sold to Microsoft in 2001. He then became head of Microsoft Business Solutions, the Forum previously reported.
During his White House bid, Burgum had a keen focus on energy policy, and his views on the issue align closely with Trump’s. In fact, he promised Trump would unleash American “energy dominance” in his endorsement last week.
Former presidential candidate Gov. Burgum endorses former President Trump. pic.twitter.com/Vc1YpD5hN9
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 14, 2024
At the inaugural American Energy Security Summit hosted at the Hamm Institute for American Energy in Oklahoma in October, he told Breitbart News that President Joe Biden’s energy policies seemed designed to “attack” American energy producers.
“There’s an active effort across virtually every agency in the federal government driven by Biden himself to say there’s an attack on U.S. energy,” Burgum told Breitbart News. “It’s not just fossil fuels. It’s an attack on liquid fuels really of all sorts and there’s really ‘We’re going to try to drive them out of business’ and ‘We’re going to try to move the whole world to EVs.’ I couldn’t think of anything that is more harmful to the U.S. economy, to national security, and to global stability than the United States pursuing that policy.
Burgum had the backing of Sens. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and John Hoeven (R-ND) in his bid for the GOP nomination. With Burgum out of the race, both men immediately endorsed Trump, as KUMV noted. Speaking via phone call on Tuesday, Cramer told Breitbart News Trump indicated to him back in the summer he saw Burgum as cabinet potential.
“Donald Trump called me about Doug when I endorsed Doug for president partway through the campaign, I don’t remember when it was, like last July or August maybe, he called me, just tell him, what a great guy Doug was and how he thought it was such a great move of me to support my governor, and he’d hoped I could come and support him after Doug is done,” Cramer said. “But he said, ‘Boy, I love Doug, and Doug would be a great cabinet secretary.’”
Cramer noted he was not surprised by Trump’s comments on that phone call, noting Trump and Burgum “worked very closely together” during Trump’s first term “and Doug and Kathryn, the first lady, were at the White House a lot.”
“The first lady even did some stuff with Larry Kudlow and others on addiction, and so they really formed a very strong bond and friendship, not just a working relationship in terms of particularly the energy policy, but a decent friendship,” he added.
Cramer also pointed out that the former president has spoken highly of the North Dakota governor in their private conversations since Cramer endorsed him after Burgum’s departure.
“I called President Trump that day and, and said, ‘Hey, we should talk now that Doug’s not running,’ and I endorsed him that evening on a radio show in Bismarck, and he spoke glowingly about Doug again then, publicly as well as privately with me,” he added.
Cramer complimented Burgum as “a very accomplished governor, very accomplished citizen, and business leader” and said he “is pretty much right in line philosophically, I think, with President Trump.”
“His biggest challenge is he’s on the ballot this year if he wants to run for reelection, so he has to make that decision first, or maybe not,” Cramer added.
The Senator also said he would be “surprised” to see Burgum at the top of a potential Trump ticket when Breitbart News asked because he thinks pragmatically “a governor from North Dakota or like a governor from South Dakota doesn’t bring a new vote to the to the ticket,” though he did emphasize “they get along very, very well.”
“You need to have a running mate, obviously, that you can work with and get along with and who could replace you if necessary, and all those things you’d want, but at the same time, you want a running mate who adds value to the ticket from an electoral standpoint,” he explained. “And as much as I like Doug, I just, I don’t see him…pulling Wisconsin into the fold, if you will, in terms of general electoral politics.”
Breitbart News also reached out to Hoeven’s office for comment on Burgum’s record and character.
“I have known Doug Burgum for a long time. He has been a leader for our state in both the private sector and now as Governor,” Hoeven said in a statement provided by his team via email.
Another prominent midwestern Republican who spoke highly of Burgum to Breitbart News was Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. During a Tuesday interview recapping Trump’s historic win in Monday’s caucuses, Bird said she met Burgum on the campaign trail and called him a “great leader.”
“I got to know Governor Burgum during the caucuses when Governor Burgum was campaigning, and my husband and I even had a chance to sit down and have dinner with the Burgums one evening, which was a special time, and I was just so impressed with both of them,” Bird said.
“He’s good at getting things done, turning things around, very focused,” she added. “So I think he’s an impressive governor, and I think President Trump is very glad to have him on board and appreciates his endorsement [very] much and sounds like they look forward to working together.”
Trump continues to pick up endorsements from his former campaign rivals, having secured support from Burgum, conservative Radio Host Larry Elder, businessman Perry Johnson, and now entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who departed the race and endorsed Trump after the caucuses.
Ramaswamy appeared on stage with Trump in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, where the 45th president said he is “going to be working with us, and he’ll be working with us for a long time.”
