President-elect Donald Trump nominated Linda McMahon, his longtime ally and transition-team leader, to be the next Education secretary. In a post to Truth Social on Tuesday night, Trump promised McMahon’s “deep understanding of both Education and Business” would “empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers” while sending “Education BACK TO THE STATES.”
McMahon, 76, served in Trump’s first term as the administrator of the Small Business Administration and ran a major pro-Trump PAC in 2020 and 2024. Mostly, though, she is known for her long career as president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment — a role that brought her and her husband, Vince, a great deal of money and fame along with several scandals that continue to haunt them today. Below are the notable issues that could come up when her nomination heads to the Senate.
A civil suit alleges McMahon knew she had hired a child abuser at WWE
In October, Linda and Vince McMahon were sued in a Maryland civil court by five former “ring boys” (basically gofers) who claimed that they had been abused by a former announcer and that the McMahons had hired him despite having knowledge of his alleged conduct. The unnamed plaintiffs were as young as 12 when they were allegedly abused by announcer Mel Phillips, who died in 2012. Phillips was fired in 1988 but rehired six weeks later with the stipulation that he stop abusing children at work, according to Business Insider. (He was fired for good in 1990 after more alleged incidents of abuse.) “Vince and Linda returned Phillips to the organization with the caveat that Mel steer clear of underaged boys, stop hanging around kids, and stop chasing after kids,” said a witness in a 1992 defamation suit related to the incident.
The McMahons and WWE have denied all wrongdoing. Linda stepped down from her executive position at WWE in 2009 to run for Senate in Connecticut, resulting in unsuccessful bids in 2010 and 2012.
One of Phillips’s alleged victims who went public in the early 1990s claimed an executive at WWE had also propositioned him when he was 16. Business Insider reports that he received a small settlement and was given an opportunity to become a ring announcer but was fired in 1993 by Linda when he failed to live up to his part of his promise to get good grades in a community-college program the McMahons paid for. “I find this action truly regrettable,” she wrote. “The opportunity of a lifetime is a terrible thing to waste.”
McMahon’s husband is reportedly under federal investigation for alleged sex trafficking
A large number of WWE wrestlers and executives have been accused of sexual abuse over the years, including McMahon’s husband, Vince. The first allegations against him were made public in 1992 and have multiplied since. In 2022, the WWE board found McMahon had paid $12 million to four women to remain quiet about his alleged misconduct and harassment, leading to his retirement as CEO.
After WWE merged with the parent company of the UFC in 2023, he returned as the executive chairman of the new company, TKO Group Holdings. But he was forced to resign again in January 2024 after a former staffer filed a civil lawsuit claiming McMahon had offered her a job in exchange for sex and allegedly trafficked her to other men in his orbit, including TKO executive and former wrestler John Laurinaitis. In May, the lawsuit was paused as Manhattan federal prosecutors began investigating the trafficking allegation, which Laurinaitis and McMahon have denied.
McMahon once falsely stated she had an education degree
In January 2009, Linda McMahon successfully sought a position on the Connecticut State Board of Education after filling out a questionnaire from the governor’s office on which she claimed to have received a bachelor’s degree in education from East Carolina University in 1969. But the Hartford Courant reported in 2010 that McMahon’s degree was actually in French. McMahon resigned from the board days before the report was made public. At the time, she claimed she thought her degree was in education because she had completed a semester of student teaching.
