>>22286933

>>22287418

For the State Dept’s top spokeswoman, her journey to Judaism began in Baghdad

'I probably [needed] to find some religion,' Morgan Ortagus says of living in a war zone in 2007

By

Gabby Deutch

April 24, 2020

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When State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus started college, she set out to study music, with aspirations of becoming an opera singer. Ortagus was a first-generation student at Florida Southern College, a 20-minute drive from her hometown of Auburndale, a small city midway between Orlando and Tampa. Ortagus was vaguely interested in politics — as a child, she watched C-SPAN with her grandfather — but when the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred during her sophomore year, she changed her major to political science.

Ortagus then embarked on a foreign policy career that has taken her to postings around the world, including in Baghdad and Riyadh. She served in the intelligence community and in the Treasury Department under former President Barack Obama and is now one of the most recognizable faces in President Donald Trump’s Washington.

Nearly every step of the way, Ortagus’s career advancement was accompanied by an improbable Jewish journey: the evangelical Christian Republican converted to Judaism with a Conservative rabbi, culminating in a wedding officiated by feminist icon and Trump foe Ruth Bader Ginsburg. To partisans in D.C., that may seem like a contradiction. But personal integrity is Ortagus’s “brand,” said her best friend, Sam Vinograd, a CNN analyst who served on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama.

Morgan Ortagus staffs a briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo aboard a plane in South Korea in 2019. (U.S. State Dept)

Today, Ortagus, 37, serves as spokeswoman for the State Department, reporting directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Lately, her days have been consumed by the novel coronavirus and the arduous project of organizing repatriation flights for the tens of thousands of Americans who were living, working and traveling abroad in more than 100 countries when the virus broke out. “We have never done this in the history of the State Department,” Ortagus said. “It’s a real testament to the spirit of America that we don’t leave anybody behind.”

Working in Washington is something of a homecoming for Ortagus, whose only prior press job was her first government job, as a junior press officer at USAID. Ortagus started in USAID’s Washington headquarters in 2007 but was soon offered a placement in Baghdad. “Everything was Middle East, like 24/7, at that time,” Ortagus said. As a 25-year-old just a few years after 9/11 and the start of the Iraq War, the answer was easy. “I was like, ‘Me, me, I’ll go!’” she recalled.

https://jewishinsider.com/2020/04/for-the-state-depts-top-spokeswoman-her-journey-to-judaism-began-in-baghdad/

>>22287437

> But personal integrity is Ortagus’s “brand,” saidher best friend, Sam Vinograd, a CNN analyst who served on the National Security Council under President Barack Obama.

At least he's calling this bitch out ahead of time, i guess

>>22287453

>her best friend, Sam Vinograd, a CNN analys

>>22287437

>>22286933

>>22287378

>She's playing the hot corner now. The toughest play is when a line drive hits two feet in front of you.

>>22287418

>>22287437

>>22287453

>her best friend, Sam Vinograd, a CNN analyst

>>22287461

>she heard that post

yeah she did

I trust Potus but there wasn't someone else??

Morgan Ortagus and Jonathan Weinberger

May 26, 2013

Morgan Deann Ortagus and Jonathan Ross Weinberger were married Saturday by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington.That evening, Rabbi Kenneth B. Block led a Jewish ceremony at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown.

This month, the bride, 30, received a joint M.B.A. and master’s degree in government from Johns Hopkins University. She is the vice president of the board of the Friends of the Public Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, based in Washington. From 2010 to 2011, she was the deputy United States Treasury attaché to Saudi Arabia. She graduated from Florida Southern College

She is a daughter of Denise C. Ortagus and Ronald E. Ortagus of Auburndale, Fla. The bride’s father owns two Florida franchise locations of ServiceMasters, a cleanup and restoration company; her mother is the office manager for the business.

Image

The groom, 36, is an executive vice president in Washington for Veedims, a company in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that makes power and data-control systems for vehicles and buildings. From 2006 to 2007, he was the executive secretary of the United States Treasury in Washington.

He graduated from Johns Hopkins and received a master’s in international affairs from George Washington University. He also has a law degree from American University and a Master of Law’s degree in international finance from Georgetown.

He is a son of Judith L Weinberger and Jerry J. Weinberger, who live and work in Scranton, Pa. The groom’s mother is a therapist who counsels youths with Keystone Community Resources there. His father is a partner in the law firm Nogi, Appleton, Weinberger & Wren.

The bride’s previous marriage ended in divorce.

>>22287484

>I trust Potus but there wasn't someone else??

>>22287484

>were married Saturday by Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in her chamber

>>22287453

>At least he's calling this bitch out ahead of time, i guess

Morgan Ortagus: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

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By Kate Prengel

Updated Oct 25, 2022 at 3:21pm

Ortagus at a state dept briefing

(Getty)

Morgan Ortagus

Morgan Ortagus is the US State Department spokesperson. She was sworn in to the job on April 3, 2019, replacing outgoing spokesperson Heather Nauert. Then, after White House press secretary Sarah Sanders announced that she was leaving her job, rumors began spreading that Ortegus might be tapped to take over.

Some news reports said that the deputy White House press secretary, Hogan Gitley, might be appointed to be interim press secretary but that the president wanted to choose a woman as the next press secretary.

Here’s what you need to know about Morgan Ortagus:

1. She Is a Navy Reserve Officer

Ortagus solo

Morgan Ortagus

Ortagus is a Navy reserve officer. She has also worked for the US Agency for International Development, or USAID. In 2007, Ortegus spent several months in Baghdad with USAID. She went on to work in the department of the treasury. In 2010, Ortagus was assigned to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the Deputy U.S. Treasury Attaché. There, she served as the liaison from the treasury department to bankers in Saudi Arabia. Her work in Saudi Arabia also focused on working with the Saudi Arabian government to help put an end to illicit finances being invested in the country.

Ortagus remained at the Treasury Department after leaving Saudi Arabia, serving as an intelligence analyst in the Office of Intelligence and Analysis from 2008 to 2010 and working on identiying individual terrorists who could be listed on the United Nations Sanctions List.

2.She Has Sharply Criticized Donald Trump in the Past & Compared Him to a ‘Middle School Pubescent Boy’

Ortagus at a podium

Morgan Ortagus

Ortagus was an outspoken critic of Donald Trump during the Republican primaries back in 2016. At that time, she was working for a PAC associated with Jeb Bush, another candidate in the Republican primaries. During an appearance on Fox News, Ortagus criticized what she called his “isolationist foreign policy approach.” She said, “in his gut, he does not think that Americans should be, quote unquote, the policemen of the world. I don’t see it that way. I think that America is the glue that holds the world together. … So there were points that I agreed with him today, but overall, I fundamentally disagree with his isolationist approach to foreign policy.”

Earlier that year, she also called then-candidate Trump “disgusting” after he made fun of a reporter with physical disabilities. She said, “You have somebody who makes fun of people with mental and physical disabilities. That’s disgusting; there’s no other way around it. Quite frankly, I don’t want someone with the temperament of a middle school pubescent boy in the president’s office.”

>>22287503

>Morgan Ortagus: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

3. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Officiated at Her Wedding

Ortagus sitting

Morgan Ortagus

Ortagus married Jonathan Ross Weinberger in 2013. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg performed the ceremony in her chambers at the Supreme Court in Washington. The couple also held a separate Jewish ceremony later that day in Georgetown.

Weinberger served as the executive director to the department of the treasury from 2006 to 2007. He now works as an executive vice president in Washington for Veedims, a company that specializes in data-control systems for cars and for buildings.

Ortagus was previously married to Joshua Dobbs, a Marine who served in the front lines in Iraq. That marriage ended in divorce.

1. She Was a National Security Contributor at Fox News

Ortagas headshot

Morgan Ortagas

Ortagus was a contributor at Fox News, specializing in national security. She stepped away from Fox News before being appointed to be State Department spokesperson.

After reports in the media said that Ortagus was expected to be named as State Department spokesperson, a Fox News spokesperson told CNN that she was no longer being paid by the network. Ortagus last appeared on Fox News on the morning of March 28 and was identified as a “Fox News Contributor.” Fox told CNN that Ortegus’s role as a contributor ended on that Thursday.

>>22287503

>Morgan Ortagus: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

>>22287515

1. She Was a National Security Contributor at Fox News

Ortagas headshot

Morgan Ortagas

Ortagus was a contributor at Fox News, specializing in national security. She stepped away from Fox News before being appointed to be State Department spokesperson.

After reports in the media said that Ortagus was expected to be named as State Department spokesperson, a Fox News spokesperson told CNN that she was no longer being paid by the network. Ortagus last appeared on Fox News on the morning of March 28 and was identified as a “Fox News Contributor.” Fox told CNN that Ortegus’s role as a contributor ended on that Thursday.

1. She Grew Up in Florida & Was Once Crowned Miss Florida Citrus

Ortagas at the Munich Security Conference

Morgan Ortagus

Ortagus was born in Polk County, Florida. She graduated from Florida Southern College in 2005 with a degree in Political Science. She went on to earn a Masters from John Hopkins University in 2009 and a Masters of Business Administration from Carey Business School at John Hopkins University in 2013.

In 2002, Ortagus was crowned Miss Florida Citrus. She traveled as far as China as a representative of the Florida citrus industry. In 2002, she was the runner-up to be Miss Florida. She was praised for her foreign policy knowledge and for her volunteer work with groups like SADD (Students Against Destructive Decision) and MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

Ortagus began participating in pageants as a girl and has won Miss Auburndale and Miss Teen Auburndale. She said that she was ending her participation in pageants at the age of 21, when she got engaged to her first husband.

Published Jun 15, 2019 at 11:43am