Who is Sergio Gor, Trump’s loyal supporter who could take Rubio’s place?

Following the Republicans’ defeat in the mid-term elections, attention in Washington has turned to a possible reshuffle of the Trump Administration, and to who the potential new members of the government might be. One of these is the current Ambassador to India and Special Envoy for Central and South Asia, Sergio Gor. His name has been mentioned for a number of key posts, including Chief of Staff – where he would take over from Susie Wiles – and Secretary of State, replacing Marco Rubio, who is said to be leaving the administration to prepare for a presidential bid in 2028. Other sources have told the Washington Sun that Gor is reportedly considering replacing Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau.

Sergio Gor was born Sergei Gorokhovsky in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in 1986, when the country was part of the Soviet Union. He moved with his family to Malta at the age of two or three, where he changed his name to Sergio, and in 1999 he moved to the United States; five years later he became a citizen and shortened his surname to make it easier to pronounce. In 2021, together with Trump’s son Donald Jr, he founded a conservative publishing house that has published several of the president’s books. Following Trump’s re-election, he headed the Office of the Presidential Staff and subsequently became far more influential in foreign policy: he shares the president’s focus on business deals and other short-term priorities, with little regard, his critics say, for a long-term strategy. Gor has secured direct access to members of the US government in both India and Central Asia, and has appeased government officials in those countries by emphasising trade relations whilst glossing over the decline of democracy and human rights. He played a key role in arranging a telephone call between Uzbekistan’s autocratic president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, and Trump himself: two months later, he helped organise the first summit at the White House with all five leaders of the Central Asian countries. He even took the Uzbek president’s daughter, Saida Mirziyoyeva, on a tour of Washington, where he arranged for her to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s daughter, Tiffany.

As ambassador, Gor facilitated a series of high-level visits to India, including those by Rubio, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and the then Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll; as a special envoy, he took part in high-level meetings, including one with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He captivated the Indians with his closeness to the president: political adviser Manash Neogh told the New York Times that he gave the impression of being “in the top 10 or top 15 of Trump’s inner circle”.