Trump’s Army secretary pick made over $1.5M at Raytheon

Mark Esper, President Trump’s nominee for Army secretary, made more than $1.5 million over the last 12 months in his job as a lobbyist for Raytheon, according to a financial disclosure he recently filed with the Office of Government Ethics (OGE).

Esper, who has been with the defense contractor since 2010, has also worked as a lobbyist for the Aerospace Industries Association of America and business giant the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The $1.52 million he earned at Raytheon includes his salary and any bonuses, and does not include his stock options and deferred compensation at the company, worth anywhere from $1.5 million to as much as $6 million. 

{mosads}At Raytheon, he was “[r]esponsible for company interactions with members of Congress and their staff at the Federal level and with all state and local elected officials and their staff,” according to the disclosure form.

The forms say Esper will be shedding his $500,000 to $1 million in restricted stock awards, and payments from his deferred compensation plan with Raytheon kick in five years after he’s left left the company.

Esper and his wife have a diverse portfolio of retirement and investment accounts, with at least $100,000 in “residential real estate” in West Virginia and more than $17,000 in cash saved in bank accounts.

The disclosures represent the first step in Esper’s confirmation process. The form is headed to Capitol Hill, where senators will use it in the vetting prior to his confirmation hearing.

The West Point grad is a retired Army colonel and Gulf War veteran, and he is Trump’s third choice to head up the Army. The previous two nominees withdrew their names from consideration.

Vincent Viola, the billionaire owner of the Florida Panthers football team, was the first Army secretary nominee to take himself out of the running, citing the complicated nature of unwinding his business ties. 

The second appointee, Tennessee state lawmaker Mark Green, dropped out after facing criticism for controversial comments he has made on LGBT rights, Islam and evolution.

Esper’s industry-filled resume will likely be called into question during his Senate confirmation hearings.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has bristled at some of Trump’s nominees for Pentagon posts, including newly confirmed Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who had worked at Boeing. McCain has clashed with Boeing in the past.

“I want to give the secretary of Defense the team he needs, but I’m not going to give him a team that I think is business as usual over the last eight years,” said McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, last month.