One person familiar with the matter said that Labruna was foisted on Commerce at the urging of 29-year-old PPO director John McEntee, who has been charged by the president with keeping his administration stocked with loyal officials. Some at the department are “pretty concerned” at Labruna’s hiring because he’s so young and inexperienced, this person said. “They’re none too happy to have him.”

The role is a sensitive one: The job of a White House liaison entails matching qualified people with political vacancies at the department, headed up by Secretary Wilbur Ross, and moving appointees in and out of those positions as needed.

“It’s not a job that you take a kid who doesn’t know anything about the government,” one of the people familiar with the hiring said.

Labruna, whose personal Facebook page lists his age as 22, previously was a paid staffer on the field team of Trump’s 2020 Iowa campaign, where he started late fall of last year and left after the Iowa caucuses, according to an Iowa Republican who worked with him.

As of last semester he was still taking classes, the Iowa Republican said, but it’s unclear if he still needs any credits to qualify for his degree.

Labruna did not respond to requests for comment. An official in the Commerce secretary’s office said in a statement: “We are looking forward to Anthony joining the Department of Commerce. He is the right man for the job.”

Labruna has been active in Iowa politics for a while, beginning as a member of Iowa State’s College Republicans group. Through those connections, he got onto the 2020 campaign, according to the person familiar with his hiring.

Last April, the Iowa Federation of College Republicans posted a picture on Facebook of Labruna saying he was “a Junior at Iowa State Universty [sic] majoring in political science and history.” They also noted he was a clerk for Iowa Republican State Representative Jarad Klein, a job that would typically involve keeping the lawmaker’s schedule and interacting with constituents.

Labruna was spotted walking around in the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines earlier this week, according to a lawmaker who saw him.

Labruna hails from Fullerton, California, in Orange County, and grew up close to where McEntee's parents have lived, and their families are friendly, according to a person who has seen both houses.

Labruna was dismissed from the Trump campaign in mid-February because of an unspecified "incident" with Trump Iowa campaign leadership and was asked to look for a different job, according to two people Labruna told about the matter.