US President-elect Donald Trump has chosen a highly decorated retired three-star general as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Keith Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a policy book laying out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will step into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February.
Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account, saying, “He’s been with me from the beginning! Together we will secure peace with strength and make America and the world safe again.”
Kellogg, an 80-year-old retired Army lieutenant general, has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues. He served as national security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, was chief of staff at the National Security Council and then stepped in as Trump’s acting security adviser.
The White House has invested more than $56 billion ($86 billion) in security assistance to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February 2022 and plans to send billions more before U.S. President Joe Biden leave office in less than months.
Trump criticized the billions the Biden administration poured into Ukraine. The incoming Republican president said he could end the war in 24 hours.
As co-president of the America First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote many chapters of the group’s policy book.
In April, he wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong America First leadership to reach a peace agreement and immediately end hostilities between the two warring sides.”
Trump’s proposed national security adviser, Michael Waltz, wrote on the social media platform X on Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to the defense of our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” .
Kellogg has been a figure in multiple investigations of Trump dating back to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened to the July 2019 phone call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, during which Trump pushed the Ukrainian leader to pursue investigations into the Bidens.
The phone call, which Kellogg would later say raised no concerns on his part, was at the center of the first of the House’s two impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times.
On January 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened to a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to stand up or delay congressional certification of Biden’s election victory.
He later told House investigators that he remembered Trump telling Pence words like, “You’re not tough enough to make the call.”