Mark Burnett, the facility producer who helped reintroduce President-elect Donald Trump to a nationwide tv viewers with “The Apprentice,” is being tapped by the president-elect to the newly-created publish of particular envoy to the United Kingdom in his upcoming administration.
Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like “Survivor” and “The Voice,” however is maybe finest identified for teaming up with Trump for “The Apprentice,” which first aired on NBC in 2004.
Trump had been well-known in actual property and popular culture circles for many years. But the present helped once more make him a family identify — although Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the identical yr he launched his first White House run.
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A supply acquainted with the choice instructed CBS News that Burnett was initially on the listing for consideration as U.S. ambassador to the U.Ok., however as a twin nationwide, that made the state of affairs difficult. That choice finally went to Republican donor Warren Stephens, CEO of funding financial institution Stephens Inc.
It is unclear precisely what Burnett’s envoy position will include.
“With a distinguished profession in tv manufacturing and enterprise, Mark brings a singular mix of diplomatic acumen and worldwide recognition to this vital position,” Trump introduced Saturday.
The collection of Burnett continues Trump’s development of filling out his incoming administration with individuals who have high-profile backgrounds in tv or politics, or each — together with his option to be protection secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” and ex-television physician and unsuccessful Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz.
Trump’s first marketing campaign in 2016 was rocked by allegations about his conduct on “The Apprentice” and different appearances throughout his affiliation with NBC, notably in footage by which he stated he might sexually assault girls and get away with it as a result of he was a “star.”
Almost a decade after he left his actuality TV position, Trump’s tv profession stays central to his biography and political rise. The present offered Trump Tower to tens of thousands and thousands of individuals as a logo of energy and success earlier than Trump launched his first marketing campaign from the constructing’s foyer.
“Mark is thought for creating and producing among the largest exhibits in Television History,” Trump wrote in his assertion on Burnett, itemizing a lot of his largest hits earlier than including, “most notably, ‘The Apprentice'” and noting that Burnett “has received 13 Emmy Awards!”
Special envoys are often picked by presidents for the world’s conventional hotspots, together with the Middle East — the place Trump has already stated he’d like Steven Witkoff to fill the position. The United Kingdom, which has lengthy loved a “particular relationship” with the U.S. that makes it one in every of Washington’s strongest world allies, isn’t usually a candidate for such posts.
But Trump has introduced a sequence of particular envoy positions to a number of prime loyalists forward of Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, together with his former ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell who he selected as envoy for particular missions. That announcement joined earlier ones together with Adam Boehler as particular presidential envoy for hostage affairs, and Keith Kellogg to function particular envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
The president-elect stated Burnett “will work to reinforce diplomatic relations, specializing in areas of mutual curiosity, together with commerce, funding alternatives, and cultural exchanges.”
