Former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart being considered for Trump’s national intelligence director

SALT LAKE CITY — President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team reached out to former Utah Rep. Chris Stewart about a potential appointment as the director of national intelligence, the Deseret News confirmed.

Stewart, an Air Force veteran who represented Utah’s 2nd Congressional District from 2013 to 2023, has been in talks with Trump’s team about the role overseeing the U.S. Intelligence Community, according to a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Before running for elected office, Stewart was an author, small business owner and served in the military, both as a rescue helicopter pilot and bomber pilot.

During his decade in Congress, Stewart received top-secret briefings as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and traveled to Russia to discuss international relations and to western China to visit the Uyghur people.

“There’s nothing in intelligence that I haven’t been exposed to and that I don’t know,” Stewart told the Deseret News after his last day in Congress in September of 2023.

Stewart resigned from the U.S. House to spend more time with his wife who suffered a stroke a year earlier. Stewart’s seat was filled by his former legal counsel, Rep. Celeste Maloy, who he endorsed.

Read the full story and more from Brigham Tomco on deseret.com.