Morgan Ortagus
Spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State
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| April 2025 | Promoted to the rank of lieutenant commander and sworn in by Secretary Pete Hegseth. |
| February 7 2025 | Met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, strongly emphasizing U.S. opposition to Hezbollah's role in Lebanon's government and asserting that Hezbollah 'won't be able to terrorize the Lebanese people', though the Lebanese presidency downplayed her remarks. |
| January 4 2025 | Donald Trump announced Morgan Ortagus as the U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Middle East Peace, working under United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven Witkoff. |
| January 3 2025 | Donald Trump announces he will appoint her as deputy special presidential envoy for Middle East peace under United States Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven Witkoff. |
| 2022 | Runs as a candidate for Tennessee's 5th congressional district, but is disqualified by the Tennessee Republican Party despite receiving an endorsement from President Donald Trump. |
| August 4 2022 | Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles won the Republican primary for Tennessee's 5th congressional district, defeating Ortagus. |
| June 10 2022 | The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Republican Party, upholding the removal of Ortagus and two other candidates from the ballot. |
| April 19 2022 | The Tennessee Republican Party's executive committee removed Ortagus from the primary ballot for the 5th district through official challenges. |
| March 2022 | Left her position as Senior Advisor for the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. |
| March 29 2022 | The Tennessee General Assembly passed a bill targeting Congressional candidate residency requirements, which could have potentially disqualified Ortagus from running. |
| February 7 2022 | Morgan Ortagus announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for Tennessee's 5th congressional district, following an endorsement from former President Donald Trump. |
| 2021 | Concludes her role as spokesperson for the United States Department of State. |
| February 2021 | Became a founding investor of Rubicon Founders, a health-care investment firm based in Nashville, Tennessee. |
| 2020 | Encouraged Israel to carefully scrutinize foreign investments from China, warning against becoming beholden to the Chinese Communist Party. |
| 2020 | Ortagus and her husband welcomed their daughter, Adina. |
| November 2020 | Went on maternity leave, marking the end of her tenure in the State Department during the Trump administration. |
| October 2020 | Expressed United States' strong opposition to Turkey's acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system, emphasizing the expectation that the system should not be operationalized. |
| September 11 2020 | Participated in a pivotal phone call between President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah, which led to the agreement of the Abraham Accords. |
| July 2020 | Condemned the Iranian judiciary for human rights violations, including the death of journalist Zahra Kazemi and the Death Commissions that killed thousands of political prisoners in the 1980s. |
| July 2020 | Ortagus publicly expressed U.S. concerns about Russian government efforts to manipulate constitutional amendment votes, including allegations of voter coercion, pressure on opponents, and restrictions on independent observers. She specifically highlighted concerns about a constitutional amendment potentially allowing President Putin to remain in office until 2036. |
| July 2020 | Stated that blame for misunderstanding China rests with both political parties over nearly 40 years, and emphasized the need for Americans to not trust Chinese social media and technology companies. |
| May 2020 | Ortagus blamed Russian interference in Syria, Libya, and Yemen for exacerbating humanitarian crises and causing civilian deaths. |
| May 2020 | Criticized China for 'breaking its word 27 years early' by imposing a new national security law in Hong Kong and 'taking over the largest financial hub in Asia'. |
| January 2020 | Called on Iran to allow U.S. participation in the investigation after Iran shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752. |
| January 2020 | Commented on the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani, arguing that Iranian people were most affected by his terrorism and that the U.S. had exercised maximum restraint before the action. |
| 2019 | Begins serving as spokesperson for the United States Department of State during the Trump administration. |
| August 2019 | Called the Chinese government a 'thuggish regime' for harassing a Hong Kong-based American diplomat. |
| August 2019 | Morgan Ortagus called on the Russian Federation to use deconfliction channels to prevent escalation around the border of the Russian-occupied Georgian region of South Ossetia. |
| June 2019 | Publicly stated the United States views Canada's Northwest Passage waters claim as inconsistent with international law. |
| 2016 | Served as a volunteer on Jeb Bush's presidential campaign |
| 2016 | Joined Ernst & Young (EY) as executive director, helping to found EY's Geostrategic Business Group focused on geopolitical risk analysis for investors. |
| 2014 | Begins service as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve. |
| 2013 | Morgan Ortagus married Jonathan Weinberger, an attorney, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg presiding over their wedding. |
| 2013 | Completed her Master of Arts degree and Master of Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University, with research focusing on counterinsurgency. |
| 2013 | Became vice president of the board of the Friends of the Public Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, based in Washington. |
| 2011 | Returned to the United States after completing her diplomatic assignment in Saudi Arabia. |
| 2010 | Became a deputy Treasury attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, working to counter illicit financial flows and serving as the principal liaison to the Saudi banking sector. |
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