Howard Lutnick was sworn in as secretary of commerce, adding to the list of President Trump’s Cabinet picks to become official.

Mr. Trump shared stories Friday about Mr. Lutnick at the White House, and how he survived the Sept. 11, 2001, attack because his wife made him take their young son to school. Mr. Lutnick is the former chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services company that had offices in the Twin Towers.

“You saved your father’s life,” Mr Trump joked while looking at Mr. Lutnick’s son, Kyle. “You’re gonna leave him more than the other kids, right?”

He also joked about how Mr. Lutnick, 63, spent time as a Democrat.

“He is going to help very strongly make America wealthy, make America great again and there’s nobody who can do the job better,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Lutnick said it was his “greatest honor” to be chosen by Mr. Trump.

“The press has no idea who the gentleman to my left is,” Mr. Lutnick said of Mr. Trump. “They portray him in all sorts of ways, but I know him as the smartest, most thoughtful and most intuitive person I’ve ever met, and it is really — it’s amazing to be in this room and to work for him.

“I have to my right, my friend J.D. Vance, who was kind enough to introduce me to the Senate, and he gave me the greatest compliment, he called me a ‘good dude,’” he said.

Mr. Lutnick said “we can take care of our citizens and give them their Social Security, we can take care of everyone and give them their Medicaid, but we’re going to get rid of so much waste, fraud and abuse.”

He said his goal is to “balance the budget of the United States of America.”

Mr. Trump signed the commission to make Mr. Lutnick commerce secretary, while Mr. Vance, the vice president, officiated the ceremony.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.