president-elect donald trump said wednesday that he had chosen todd ricketts, co-owner of the chicago cubs and the son of one of his top donors during the campaign, to serve as deputy secretary of commerce. mr. ricketts, who previously worked for his billionaire family<u+2019>s financial firms and has more recently managed his family<u+2019>s political spending, will serve under wilbur ross jr. , whom trump said he had chosen to serve as commerce secretary . mr. ross, a billionaire businessman, was also a top fundraiser for mr. trump during the campaign. in a statement, mr. trump called mr. ricketts an <u+201c>immensely successful businessman<u+201d> and praised his family<u+2019>s management of the chicago cubs as <u+201c>one perfect step after another.<u+201d> mr. ricketts<u+2019>s father, joe, is the founder of td ameritrade holding corp. the family purchased the cubs in 2009. earlier this month, the team won major league baseball<u+2019>s world series for the first time since 1908. mr. ricketts, in a statement released by the campaign, said he would focus on <u+201c>advancing practical policies that promote economic opportunity,<u+201d> and said he was <u+201c>honored<u+201d> to have been chosen. his selection marks the latest addition of a wealthy fundraiser to mr. trump<u+2019>s cabinet. also wednesday, mr. trump confirmed he had chosen steven mnuchin, a former goldman sachs banker who headed his campaign fundraising effort, as treasury secretary. last week, he announced he had chosen billionaire betsy devos to serve as secretary of education . and earlier this month, he filled his transition team executive committee with top donors, including rebekah mercer and peter thiel. mr. ricketts<u+2019>s family had a complicated relationship with mr. trump during the campaign, and their late rally behind the businessman was one of the more remarkable reversals of the 2016 campaign. mr. ricketts<u+2019>s parents, joe and marlene, initially supported wisconsin gov. scott walker, and the family donated millions to a super pac working on his behalf. even after mr. walker dropped out of the race, the rickettses funded some of the most aggressive ads against mr. trump of the election season. one advertisement featured women repeating the harsh ways with which mr. trump has referred to women, including <u+201c>dog<u+201d> and <u+201c>fat pig.<u+201d> when mr. trump learned in february that the ricketts family was behind some of the attacks on him, he sent a tweet saying: <u+201c>i hear the rickets [sic] family, who own the chicago cubs, are secretly spending $<u+2019>s against me. they better be careful, they have a lot to hide!<u+201d> tom ricketts, todd<u+2019>s brother and the chairman of the cubs, responded: <u+201c>it<u+2019>s a little surreal when donald trump threatens your mom.<u+201d> months later, in late september, the wall street journal reported that joe ricketts planned to spend at least $1 million airing ads attacking hillary clinton in battleground states. billionaire casino owner sheldon adelson was also behind the effort. write to rebecca ballhaus at rebecca.ballhaus@wsj.com
trump chooses chicago cubs co-owner todd ricketts for deputy commerce post - wsj
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