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By LOLITA BALDOR and FATIMA HUSSEIN WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Wednesday that he has chosen Keith Kellogg, a highly decorated retired three-star general, to serve as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg, who is one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda for the incoming administration, will come into the role as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its third year in February. Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social account, and said “He was with me right from the beginning! Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!” Kellogg, an 80 year-old retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues, served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence , was chief of staff of the National Security Council and then stepped in as an acting security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn resigned. As special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Kellogg will have to navigate an increasingly untenable war between the two nations. The Biden administration has begun urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of troops as young as 18. The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months. Trump has criticized the billions that the Biden administration has poured into Ukraine. Washington has recently stepped up weapons shipments and has forgiven billions in loans provided to Kyiv. The incoming Republican president has said he could end the war in 24 hours, comments that appear to suggest he would press Ukraine to surrender territory that Russia now occupies. As a co-chairman of the American First Policy Institute’s Center for American Security, Kellogg wrote several of the chapters in the group’s policy book. The book, like the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025,” is a move to lay out a Trump national security agenda and avoid the mistakes of 2016 when he entered the White House largely unprepared. Kellogg in April wrote that “bringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.” Trump’s proposed national security advisor U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) tweeted Wednesday that “Keith has dedicated his life to defending our great country and is committed to bringing the war in Ukraine to a peaceful resolution.” Kellogg was a character in multiple Trump investigations dating to his first term. He was among the administration officials who listened in on the July 2019 call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in which Trump prodded his Ukrainian counterpart to pursue investigations into the Bidens. The call, which Kellogg would later say did not raise any concerns on his end, was at the center of the first of two House impeachment cases against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate both times. On Jan. 6, 2021, hours before pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Kellogg, who was then Pence’s national security adviser, listened in on a heated call in which Trump told his vice president to object or delay the certification in Congress of President Joe Biden ’s victory. He later told House investigators that he recalled Trump saying to Pence words to the effect of: “You’re not tough enough to make the call.” Baldor reported from Washington. AP writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.WASHINGTON ― Donald Trump instigated a violent attack on the Capitol, was impeached for it by the House, was criminally indicted for it, but in the end was given a pass for it by key voters in the seven swing states, new polling confirms, because they were more concerned about inflation and other pocketbook issues. “It’s clear that voters were thinking about their economic situation,” said Nick Ahamed from Priorities USA, a Democratic-aligned group that on Thursday released a post-election survey to quantify why Vice President Kamala Harris lost to a man who attempted a coup to remain in power the last time he held the White House. Ahamed said voters were not necessarily making a conscious tradeoff between democracy and lower living costs. It’s more that they largely did not believe that Trump represents a continued threat to democracy, despite his history. Even worse for Harris’ campaign, the voters she most needed to hang on to, those who flipped from Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024, were even less likely to see Trump as a danger to the republic than the average voter. Only 24% of voters in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina believe that Trump is “very likely” to overturn the Constitution to remain in power ― which is still higher than the 18% of Biden-to-Trump voters who believe that. And while just 29% of voters thought it’s very likely that Trump would try to use the U.S. military to go after his political opponents and critics, among Biden-to-Trump voters that figure is just 24%. While both the Harris campaign and outside groups helping her focused on economic issues, the limited attempt to warn voters about Trump’s autocratic tendencies failed, Ahamed acknowledged. “We didn’t connect Trump’s authoritarian behavior and what it would mean for them in the next year and in the next four years,” he said. A more basic problem Democratic campaign operatives had, Ahamed added, is the assumption that most Americans saw Trump the same way they did. “Themes like ‘stronger together,’ ‘restore the soul of the nation,’ ‘we’re not going back,’ all are predicated on a hatred of Donald Trump that voters ... and the voters specifically that we lost, don’t necessarily feel,” he said. Polling, for example, showed Trump’s continued success at pushing the image that made him famous: his portrayal of a genius billionaire businessman on the television game show “The Apprentice.” Among Black men between 18 and 44, a full 38% like Trump because he “tells it like it is,” even though the former president has been a notorious liar his entire adult life, while 35% believe he is a “successful businessman and entrepreneur,” even though he inherited his wealth, and his business record includes bankrupting casinos. The poll also had warnings for Democrats about opposing “cultural heroes” of those voters they need to win over to win elections. Billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk, for instance, is liked and disliked about equally among all voters. Among those who voted for Biden in 2020 but for Trump in 2024, he is seen favorably by 64% and unfavorably by only 20%. Don't let this be the end of the free press. The free press is under attack — and America's future hangs in the balance. As other newsrooms bow to political pressure, HuffPost is not backing down. Would you help us keep our news free for all? We can't do it without you. Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read. You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you. Whether you give once or many more times, we appreciate your contribution to keeping our journalism free for all. You've supported HuffPost before, and we'll be honest — we could use your help again . We view our mission to provide free, fair news as critically important in this crucial moment, and we can't do it without you. Whether you give just one more time or sign up again to contribute regularly, we appreciate you playing a part in keeping our journalism free for all. Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages. Democracy advocates, including anti-Trump Republicans , warned months ahead of the election that Jan. 6 was not likely to work as a campaign issue in 2024 because Trump successfully made his lie that the 2020 election had been stolen from him, and his follow-up claim that those arrested for their participation in the Capitol attack were “political prisoners” and “hostages” that deserved pardons, articles of faith within the Republican Party. While public opinion in the days and weeks after Jan. 6 ran overwhelmingly against the attack and Trump, those numbers began to shift over the months as Trump and pro-Trump media pushed conspiracy theories about the election as well as the violence on that day. The need to avoid alienating Trump’s hard-core supporters, in fact, in February 2021 led to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and most Republicans refusing to convict Trump on his impeachment, which would have led to his prohibition from holding federal office again. “Ultimately this comes down to Mitch McConnell,” Ahamed said. Related From Our Partner