EU News Digest Latest News & Updates
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Sonny Perdue, U.S. secretary of agriculture
It’s a morbid thought, but it must be considered.
Nearly every Trump administration Cabinet member — not to mention both houses of Congress — will be packed into the same room for President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday night.
Security for the speech, Trump’s first such address since taking office last January, will no doubt be stringent. But on the tiny chance that a lethal attack on the Capitol takes out the president, his Cabinet and lawmakers in the line of succession, one official must remain separated from the commander in chief.
For Tuesday’s State of the Union address, that official is Sonny Perdue.
Former Georgia governor and current secretary of agriculture, Perdue is the designated survivor for the event, according to White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
At 71 years old, Perdue is about six months younger than Trump. His was the last Cabinet position announced before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2017.
But while Perdue will be the odd man out for the State of the Union address, he isn’t the last in line for succession — actually, he’s the ninth.
The official order, according to the Presidential Succession Act signed into law in 1947, is as follows:
- Vice President Mike Pence
- Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
- President pro tempore Sen. Orrin Hatch
- Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
- Defense Secretary James Mattis
- Attorney General Jeff Sessions
- Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke
- Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue
- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross
- Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta
- Health and Human Services Secretary Eric Hargan
- Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson
- Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao
- Energy Secretary Rick Perry
- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos
- Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs David Shulkin
- Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen
