Nutley commissioner Steve Rogers joins Trump advisory board

After his unsuccessful New Jersey primary gubernatorial campaign in June, Republican Steven Rogers is going back to work for President Donald Trump.

On Thursday, the former Trump campaign adviser said he has accepted a position on the newly formed Donald J. Trump for President Advisory Board.

“I was called about a week after the gubernatorial race,” Rogers said. “They said they were impressed with my background in national security, anti-terrorism and law enforcement.”

The former U.S. Navy intelligence officer is a retired Nutley police lieutenant. He currently serves as the township’s Public Affairs commissioner.

Rogers said he has never wavered on his support for Trump. “The day he came down the escalator, I was the first New Jersey official to endorse him,” Rogers said of Trump’s entrance into the presidential race.

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Success message

According to Rogers, his new role is twofold.

The Advisory Board consists of less than six members at this time, but is expected to grow, according to Rogers.

The members will offer recommendations in their areas of expertise via a weekly conference call, based out of Washington, D.C., but their chief role will be to “advance his agenda” in the national media, he said.

“The purpose is to get across the successes of the president that have been lost in all the distractions,” Rogers said. Those distractions have included news reports on the FBI investigation into Russia meddling in the U.S. election, and Democrats seeking to invoke the 25th Amendment regarding Trump’s fitness to govern, he said.

“Right now, I’m putting together a summary on North Korea,” said Rogers, applying his national security expertise. “The last thing President Trump wants is a war. I’ll articulate that [in the media].”

“The president’s relationship with Putin is professional,” the Essex County Republican maintained, with Trump slated to meet with Putin on Friday at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany. “He turned Clinton’s [Russian] ‘reset button’ into a 'respect button.'”

“The American people need to hear what his successes are,” Rogers said of Trump. The administration’s apprentice program, for example, will open up millions of jobs for Americans, he claimed.

Grassroots effort

In addition to his national television appearances as a Fox News guest contributor, Rogers has organized TeamTrumpNJ, a statewide group of volunteers who will spread “facts related to the president’s Make America Great agenda via social media and touring the Garden State speaking at dozens of political, civic and religious organizations,” according to a press release.

“We have liaisons in every New Jersey county and continue to welcome more volunteers to help us provide factual, positive information to the public regarding the president’s policies,” Rogers stated. “We presently have a number of social media platforms set up, as well as my Twitter account that now has over 58,000 followers.”

Email: proctor@northjersey.com