Trump picks Monica Crowley for senior State Department post

President-elect Trump on Wednesday nominated Monica Crowley, a former Fox News contributor who faced public scrutiny during Trump’s first term over allegations of plagiarism, for a top public relations post in the State Department.

Trump announced Crowley’s nomination for “Ambassador, Assistant Secretary of State, and Chief of Protocol,” a position he said will oversee major U.S.-hosted events including America’s 250th Independence Day anniversary in 2026; the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. 

The chief of protocol position within the State Department requires Senate confirmation. 

“She will be an extraordinary Representative of our Country. Congratulations Monica!” Trump wrote in a post on his social media site Truth Social.

Crowley served as assistant secretary of the Treasury for public affairs during Trump’s first term in office. She took that job after stepping away from serving as senior communications director for Trump’s National Security Council amid allegations she plagiarized sections of her 2012 bestselling book and her doctoral dissertation at Columbia University.

Crowley criticized the plagiarism accusations as a “political hit job,” but she later revised parts of her dissertation after Columbia said it had identified “localized instances of plagiarism.”

Trump praised Crowley for “an incredible job” serving during his first term, highlighting her as a New York Times bestselling author and as a popular anchor and political and foreign affairs analyst for Fox News.