President-elect Donald Trump wants his Cabinet to include a Hispanic official, Politico reported Thursday.
Trump has only a handful of Cabinet positions left unfilled and is seeking to increase diversity in his administration.
Trump’s team is primarily looking at Agriculture secretary to add a Latino, but also could do so with Veterans Affairs secretary and the U.S. trade representative, the report said.
{mosads}“I can tell you now I have spoken to numerous folks on the transition, and they say that he’s absolutely looking for qualified Latinos for a Cabinet post,” said Mario Rodriguez, who sits on Trump’s Hispanic advisory committee.
“President-elect Trump was very impressed with the candidates [he’s considered]. He wants to put a Latino in the Cabinet, he’s not doing it just for show.”
Trump met Wednesday with two Hispanic people whom he is considering to lead the Agriculture Department: Dr. Elsa Murano, a former U.S. agriculture undersecretary for food safety, and Abel Maldonado, a former California lieutenant governor and the current co-owner of Runway Vineyards.
Trump launched his presidential campaign by calling Mexicans “rapists” and made a U.S.-Mexico border wall one of the central proposals of his campaign. He also feuded publicly with Spanish-language media outlets such as Univision and attacked a U.S.-born federal judge for having Mexican heritage.