President-elect Donald Trump continues to craft his cabinet and panel of advisers for his second term in the White House.
Trump completed his main cabinet nominations, filling the positions of Agriculture Secretary, Labor Secretary, Treasury Secretary and Housing and Urban Development Secretary. There are still several other positions that are typically cabinet-level that he still has to fill.
Brooke Rollins - Agriculture Secretary
Brooke Rollins was an aide in the White House and is now Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Agriculture, an agency that oversees farming, forestry, ranching, food quality and nutrition. The agency sets policies, regulations and aid programs, CBS News reported.
Rollins is the president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development. She is also an attorney, earning her law degree from the University of Texas, The Associated Press reported. She also was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
She called Trump an “amazing boss” who at first, discounted his political aspirations.
“I was the person that said, ‘Oh, Donald Trump is not going to go more than two or three weeks in the Republican primary. This is to up his TV show ratings. And then we’ll get back to normal,’” she said during an appearance on “Family Talk” earlier this year, the AP reported. “Fast forward a couple of years, and I am running his domestic policy agenda.”
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer - Labor Secretary
Trump selected one-term congresswoman Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R - Ore.) to be his Secretary for the Department of Labor. Chavez-DeRemer, according to AP, lost her reelection bid in November despite having strong support from unions in her district.
She supports workers’ rights and backed the PRO Act which would have made it easier for employees to unionize. She also co-sponsored a bill to protect Social Security benefits for public workers, the AP reported.
CNN reported that Chavez-DeRemer was the first of two Latina women to represent her state. the former mayor of Happy Valley outside of Portland and along with her husband founded an anesthesia management company.
Scott Bessent - Treasury Secretary
Trump selected money manager Scott Bessent to lead the Department of the Treasury. The AP reported that South Carolina billionaire Bessent has pushed for deficit reduction and deregulation who previously backed Democrats, but switched sides to support Trump and his first-term initiative to extend tax cuts.
Bessent backed Al Gore in his presidential run and worked for George Sorors.
The nominee believes the nation’s debt will be one of the biggest topics of Trump’s second term. CNN called Bessent the “quarterback” for the president-elect’s economic agenda.
“I do think this debt and deficit is going to be the big issue of the day. I think Americans are worried about it,” he has said.
He said that a deficit reduction program would bring down consumer prices. He also called Trump’s proposed tariffs a “one-time price adjustment” and “not inflationary.’
“I think that tariffs in a way can be regarded as an economic sanction without a sanction. If you don’t like Chinese economic policy, flooding the market with overproduction, you could put a sanction on them, or a tariff. It’s also an answer to currency manipulation,” Bessent said, according to the AP.
Scott Turner - Housing and Urban Development Secretary
Former NFL player Scott Turner was Trump’s pick for the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He is the only Black person picked for the president-elect’s cabinet, the AP reported.
Turner was a defensive back, playing nine seasons for the Washington Commanders (then Redskins), San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos. He also worked as an intern for Rep. Duncan Hunter (R - Calif.) before retiring from the NFL. The internship turned into a full-time job under Hunter. Turner ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for California’s 50th Congressional District. He was elected to the Texas House in 2013 but failed to become speaker before his second term ended in 2016. He did not run for a third term, the AP reported.
Turner was the “chief inspiration officer” for a software company and is a motivational speaker. He is an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church, the chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute and started a non-profit with his wife to improve childhood literacy.
Trump named Turner the head of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council in 2019, with the president-elect saying Turner helped “lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”
HUD oversees fair housing laws, mortgage insurance and rental subsidies, CNN reported.
Pam Bondi - Attorney General
Trump wrote on Truth Social, “For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans - Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!”
The president-elect had considered Bondi before he announced Gaetz, CNN reported. He had also considered her for the role when he fired Jeff Sessions in 2018. Bondi had worked with Trump’s selection for chief of staff Susie Wiles and one of his lawyers, Boris Epshteyn.
Bondi was a legal advisor to Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial and is the chair of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, working against the “weaponization” of the DOJ.
She was a practicing lawyer for 18 years as a Tampa prosecutor and then as the state’s attorney general for eight years, The New York Times reported. Bondi frequently appeared on Fox News and became a surrogate for Trump in 2016, CNN reported. She worked at Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm after leaving the attorney general’s office.
Gaetz removed his name from contention as Trump’s Attorney General on Thursday after meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday.
Gaetz wrote in a post on X, “While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition. There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I’ll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as Attorney General. Trump’s DOJ must be in place and ready on Day 1.”
Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after Gaetz’s decision was announced, “He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the Administration, for which he has much respect.”
Trump made two additional nominations on Tuesday, Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Linda McMahon as Secretary of Education. That leaves four cabinet-level positions to be filled and other advisory positions as he deems necessary.
Linda McMahon - Education Secretary
Former Small Business Administration head Linda McMahon has been tapped by Trump to lead the Department of Education, an agency the president-elect has vowed to shut down.
McMahon is a former professional wrestling executive and a long-time Trump backer and member of his transitional team, The New York Times reported.
Like other nominees, McMahon has little experience with the agency she has been selected to lead, other than being selected for the Connecticut State Board of Education in 2009.
McMahon is expected to be given the duty of shutting down the department as Trump wrote on Truth Social that his administration “will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort.” He has said the agency has been filled with “radicals, zealots and Marxists,” The Associated Press reported.
The Department of Education, according to the AP, has the main function to give federal money to colleges and schools. It also manages federal student loans. Those responsibilities would have to be given to another agency if the DOE is closed. Trump would also need Congress’ approval to close the department, the Times reported.
It also sets regulations for student services including those with disabilities, low-income and homeless.
Trump has said he would end federal funding for schools and colleges that support, in his words, critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content,” the AP reported. He would give money to ones that would get rid of tenure and institute school choice.
McMahon is the wife of Vince McMahon. They founded WWE in 1980, Fox News reported. She resigned as the CEO of the WWE in 2009 to run for Senate to represent Connecticut but lost to Democrats twice.
In addition to serving in Trump’s first administration in the SBA, she also is the chairwoman of the America First Policy Institute, the Times reported.
Dr. Mehmet Oz - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Dr. Mehmet Oz is a cardiothoracic surgeon or a doctor who specializes in the heart, lung and esophagus. He earned his undergrad at Harvard and a doctorate in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. Oz also has a master’s degree in business administration from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Trump’s alma mater, The Washington Post reported.
Before becoming a celebrity, the Ohio-born Oz worked at the now Columbia University Irving Medical Center and was the director of the Cardiovascular Institute. He performed the first completely endoscopic, robotic open-heart operation and the first robotic coronary artery bypass procedures in the country.
While being a noted surgeon, Oz, according to The New York Times, has no experience controlling government bureaucratic organizations.
He founded the Complementary Care Center which uses alternative therapies as treatments and was a vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University, the Post reported.
Oz transitioned from surgeon to television personality with his program “Second Opinion with Dr. Oz” but became a household name thanks to “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” eventually launching his own program “The Dr. Oz Show,” which earned him 10 Daytime Emmy Awards.
Not all of Oz’s treatment recommendations were well received, with more than half made on his television show either not confirmed or were contradicted, by scientific research, a 2014 British Medical Journal study reported.
Oz threw his hat into the ring, with Trump’s endorsement, in Pennsylvania’s 2022 Senate race, losing to John Fetterman.
Trump said on Truth Social that Oz would “take on the illness industrial complex” while cutting “waste and fraud” from the organization’s budget.
The president-elect said, “There may be no Physician more qualified and capable than Dr. Oz to Make America Healthy Again” and that he would “work closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” who Trump nominated as the head of Health and Human Services.
The New York Times said the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which is part of the Department of Health and Human Services, regulates health insurance and government programs that affect the lives of more than 150 Americans. It sets prices that are paid for medical services.
“C.M.S. touches virtually every family in America through Medicaid and Medicare, and it’s probably the most challenging technical, policy and political job in government,” Drew Altman, president of health research group KFF, told the Times. “Even small, almost daily decisions at C.M.S. are billion-dollar decisions that affect industries and patients with serious illnesses who really care.”
In addition to overseeing Medicaid and Medicare, CMS also oversees insurance marketplaces created by the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, a program Trump tried to do away with during his first term, the Times reported.
Howard Lutnick- Commerce Secretary
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, is the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald and chairman of both the brokerage company BGC Group and commercial real estate provider Newmark Group. He also has been advising Trump for the past year and is co-chair of the president-elect’s transition team, The New York Times reported.
He has pushed for tariffs, lower corporate taxes and energy production.
Trump, as he has done with his other nominations, announced Lutnick as his choice via Truth Social where he wrote that Lutnick “will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”
Lutnick has said that tariffs should be used in trade negotiations and that countries that make goods that aren’t made in the U.S., should not face the levy, the Times reported. Trump has proposed a 10% to 20% tariff on all imports and up to 60% for items imported from China, Bloomberg reported.
Lutnick was also considered for the Secretary of the Treasury and was supported by Elon Musk.
Sean Duffy - Transportation Secretary
Transportation Secretary nominee Sean Duffy represented Wisconsin’s 7th District from 2011 to 2019 then joined Fox News in 2020, CNN reported.
He left the network on Monday but last appeared on air on Nov. 13.
Trump called him a “tremendous and well-liked public servant” and “a respected voice and communicator in the Republican conference,” in the announcement posted to Truth Social.
“He will prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports. He will ensure our ports and dams serve our Economy without compromising our National Security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers,” Trump said in the announcement.
Duffy was the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations and was a member of the House Committee on Financial Services. CNN said he has little experience with transportation.
Duffy was a member of the cast of “The Real World: Buston” which aired on MTV in 1997 and then in “Road Rules: All Stars” where he met his now wife, “The Real World: San Francisco” castmember Rachel Campos, the current co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” The Washington Post reported.
The couple host a podcast “From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys.”
Duffy was also the Ashland County, Wisconsin, district attorney, a professional lumberjack, a lobbyist, a commentator on CNN , and a color commentator on ESPN.
Trump nominated Chris Wright as Secretary of Energy and Brendan Carr as the head of the Federal Communication Commission.
Brendan Carr - Federal Communications Commission chairman
Brendan Carr already serves on the FCC which controls licenses for radio and television and regulates telephones and home internet, The New York Times reported.
Carr has argued that the FCC should also be in charge of tech companies such as Apple, Meta and Google. Those companies are not categorized as communication services, legal experts told the Times.
“The censorship cartel must be dismantled,” he recently wrote on X.
Carr, who Trump called a “warrior for Free Speech,” called out “Saturday Night Live” for Vice President Kamala Harris’s appearance days before the presidential election, claiming it was a violation of the “equal time” rule that controls candidates’ appearances on television, USA Today reported.
“This has all the appearances of, at least some leadership at NBC, at SNL, making clear that they wanted to weigh-in in favor of one candidate before the election,” Carr said at the time. NBC gave Trump equal time during a NASCAR race to speak to viewers.
Trump has frequently said that broadcast licenses should be pulled from television networks if they show political bias, the Times reported. The FCC can only punish a television network for obscenities and children’s television rules violations.
Chris Wright - Secretary of Energy
Chris Wright is an oil industry executive, the CEO of Liberty Energy, USA Today reported. Liberty Energy is a fracking company, The New York Times reported.
He will oversee the energy supplies as well as research and development of nuclear power.
Wright will also serve on Trump’s Council of National Energy, a panel that will be led by Doug Burgum, as the Department of Interior secretary.
The nominated Secretary of Energy appeared in a video shared on LinkedIn in 2023 that denies claims that greenhouse gas emissions are causing global warming, saying, “There is no climate crisis.’
Wright has never served in the government, the Times reported, but has frequently appeared on Fox News, podcasts and social media. “He has worked in nuclear, solar, geothermal, and oil and gas” industries, according to the president-elect.
Trump called Wright, a “leading technologist and entrepreneur in energy.”
He was also the director of lobbyists Domestic Energy Producers, the Times reported.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Secretary of Health and Human Services
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination came as no surprise, as Trump had said that he would be the son of former Attorney General and 1968 presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy.
The Associated Press said Kennedy Jr. is “one of the world’s most influential spreaders of fear and distrust around vaccines” but will lead the department that regulates vaccines if confirmed.
He claims he is not anti-vaxx but said that he wants them to go through vigorous testing and still believes that vaccines cause autism, telling podcast listeners to “resist” CDC guidelines on childhood vaccines. He also said during the campaign that Trump would make moves to remove fluoride from drinking water, CBS News reported. But Trump said at the time that he hadn’t spoken to Kennedy Jr., adding “it sounds OK to me. You know it’s possible.”
Kennedy Jr. is an attorney and calls himself an environmentalist, winning Time’s “Hero of the Planet” award, according to his biography on his website “Make America Healthy Again.” He was a lifelong Democrat but left the party in 2023 when he ran as an independent for president.
Todd Blanche - Deputy Attorney General
Trump selected Todd Blanche as the Deputy Attorney General, the No. 2 person at the Department of Justice, The New York Times reported.
Blanche will be in charge of the day-to-day running of the DOJ and will advise the attorney general, CNN reported.
Blanche is a former prosecutor in Manhattan and was a lawyer on many indictments against the now-president-elect, including Trump’s conviction on 34 counts in the hush money case involving former porn star Stormy Daniels, the newspaper reported.
Trump wrote, “Todd is an excellent attorney who will be a crucial leader in the Justice Department, fixing what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long,” citing Blanche’s experience as a supervising federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office and previous clerkships.
He left federal service, to move to private practice about 10 years ago, CNN reported. He left the practice where he was a partner when he started working on Trump’s legal team.
With Blanche, Trump put up the names of Emil Bove as principal associated deputy attorney general and John Sauer as solicitor general. Both men were also part of Trump’s criminal defense team, CNN reported.
Former Rep. Doug Collins - Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Doug Collins represented Georgia in Congress and has been tapped to help former members of the military as the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, or the VA.
Trump wrote, “We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans, and Military Families to ensure they have the support they need,” CNN reported.
The VA oversees health coverage, home loans, education benefits and even funerals for former members of the military, according to CNN.
Collins was a military chaplain two different times, first in the 1980s in the Navy then again after the 9/11 attacks when he joined the Air Force Reserve, the AP reported.
He served at Balad Air Force Base in Iraq in 2008 and is still a colonel in the Air Force Reserve.
Collins is also a lawyer.
He served in the Georgia State House in 2007, serving three terms and serving in Congress representing the 9th district starting in 2012. He served as vice chair of the House Republican Conference, the fifth most powerful position in the GOP.
Collins was the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, defending Trump during the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
This isn’t the first time Trump has pushed to have Collins gain more power, telling Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to appoint Collins to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson who stepped down due to health problems. Kemp ended up appointing Kelly Loeffler, but Collins ran for the seat in a special election, the AP reported. Sen. Raphael Warnock ended up winning the seat and currently holds it.
Gov. Doug Burgum - Secretary of the Department of the Interior
Trump selected North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as the secretary of the Department of the Interior. Burgum has worked with fossil fuel companies and was the connection between oil executives and Trump’s reelection campaign. The move comes as Trump campaigned on the platform of “Drill, Baby, Drill” and the opening of federal lands and water to drill for oil and gas, The New York Times reported.
Trump said that drilling on public land would cut the cost of energy in half.
The Department of the Interior is in charge of 500 million acres of lands and coastal waters including national parks and wildlife refuges and works with 574 federally recognized tribes of Native Americans.
Burgum ran for president in a short campaign, ending it in 2023 and putting all of his support behind Trump. He was also on the shortlist as Trump’s running mate.
Burgum has a bachelor’s degree from North Dakota State University and a master’s in business administration from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
He was the head of Great Plains Software which was sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. He’s also run real estate and venture capital companies, the AP reported.
Burgum has run North Dakota as a businessman would, cutting income tax, cutting regulations and making changes to animal agriculture laws.
The AP said he led his state through the COVID-19 pandemic, droughts, storms and protests of the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
Trump officially named Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) as his nominee for Secretary of State and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as the director of National Intelligence.
Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard - National Intelligence Director
Gabbard had reprinted Hawaii as a Democrat from 2013 to 2021, Fox News reported. She ran for president as a Democrat, but left the party in 2022, switching to the Republican party and campaigning for the president-elect. She is a veteran of the Army Reserve, CNN reported. She also is the co-chair of Trump’s transition team.
“As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties - She is now a proud Republican!” Trump said, according to The Associated Press. “I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!”
Fox News reported she had been interested in the Secretary of Defense position but Trump has put forth Pete Hegseth for the job.
Gabbard, according to the AP, has not worked directly with the intelligence community but had served on the Homeland Security Committee in the House.
Sen. Marco Rubio - Secretary of State
The nomination came as no surprise for many. Several people familiar with Trump’s decision-making said on Monday that Rubio would be tapped to be the country’s top diplomat, The New York Times reported.
Rubio was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and ran against Trump in the 2016 election and had to bow out, then he was on the shortlist, along with Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security nominee Kristi Noem for Vice President.
The senator is currently the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, The Associated Press reported.
He has pushed to take a stronger stance against China. He is also a hard liner on Iran, Venezuela and Cuba, the Times reported.
If confirmed, Rubio would be the first Latino Secretary of State, USA Today reported.
Trump made several staffing announcements on Wednesday including Noem and John Ratcliffe as the CIA director, The New York Times reported.
He also selected Pete Hegseth to be the Defense Secretary, The Associated Press reported.
Pete Hegseth - Secretary of Defense
Hegseth is a Fox News Channel host and former member of the military, the AP reported.
He has not served in a senior military role and does not have national security experience.
Hegseth is a Princeton graduate and was commissioned as an infantry officer in the Army National Guard. He has served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.
He also has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, according to the AP.
He has wanted to make the military more lethal and does not agree with letting women serve in combat.
“Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, means casualties are worse,” Hegseth said recently. “I’m straight up just saying that we should not have women in combat roles — it hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated.”
Still, he called diversity in the military a strength but because men, no matter their race, can perform similarly. He claims the same cannot be said for women, the AP reported.
“We’ve changed the standards in putting them (women) there, which means you’ve changed the capability of that unit,” Hegseth said. Women have been allowed to serve in combat roles since 2016 and some have become Green Berets and Army Rangers. They also have passed the test from Naval Special Warfare and can serve as combatant-craft crewmen that transport Navy SEALs.
John Ratcliffe - CIA Director
Trump selected his former Director of National Intelligence Ratcliffe to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Ratcliffe is a former congressman from Texas who was a member of the former President’s advisory team during Trump’s first impeachment, the AP reported.
He called the proceedings, which were started over a call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, “This is the thinnest, fastest and weakest impeachment our country has ever seen.”
From 2020 to 2021 worked with Trump as the primary intelligence adviser, Forbes reported.
He allowed the release of unverified information about Russia and its influence in the 2016 election, with critics saying that Ratcliffe used national intelligence to help in Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, CNN reported.
Trump wrote on Truth Social as part of the announcement of his nomination, “From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties at the FISA Court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public.”
He is currently the co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, CNN reported.
Gov. Kristi Noem - Homeland Security Secretary
Trump nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
The AP said the agency “will be integral to his vow to secure the border and carry out a massive deportation operation,” a mission she has written about on social media.
“President Trump will deport the most dangerous illegal aliens first — the murderers, rapists, and other criminals that Harris and Biden let into the country. They do not belong here, and we will not let them back in,” she wrote on X after the Nov. 5 election.
He has also called the southern border with Mexico a “war zone,” the AP reported.
Noem was the first female governor of South Dakota in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. She had previously held the state’s at-large House of Representatives seat.
As governor, she worked with Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and pushed back against the federal restrictions set during the COVID-19 pandemic. She had been on the short list to be Trump’s running mate, but he chose Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance instead.
Noem was at the center of controversy when she wrote in one of her two memoirs that she shot and killed her 14-month-old hunting dog Cricket.
She explained that Cricket had been taken out with her other hunting dogs in hopes of calming her down. When they stopped at a friend’s house on the way home from the trip, Cricket got out of Noem’s truck and attacked the family’s chickens, killing some. Cricket then “whipped around to bite me,” Noem wrote.
She said, “At that moment I realized I had to put her down,” then shot and killed her. She said it showed that she could make tough choices, however, animal lovers did not see it that way, the AP reported.
Rep. Mike Waltz - National Security Adviser
Trump has asked Rep. Mike Waltz from Florida to be the National Security Adviser.
The president-elect posted to Truth Social, confirming the reports that cited unnamed sources.
Waltz is a Green Beret and retired Colonel in the National Guard who served in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa and will be the first Green Beret to be the National Security Adviser.
He was born in Boynton Beach, Florida, and was raised in Jacksonville by a single mother. After graduating from Virginia Military Institute, he served 27 years in the Army and the National Guard. He was awarded four Bronze Stars, two of which were for valor.
CNN reported it will be Waltz’s job to deal with international issues such as the Ukraine-Russia and Israel-Hamas conflicts. He served in President George W. Bush’s White House as a policy staffer, according to Waltz’s official biography. He also worked at the Pentagon as a defense policy director for Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates.
CNN speculated that Waltz will be similar to former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Lee Zeldin - EPA
Trump nominated Lee Zeldin as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Zeldin is a former member of the House of Representatives from New York, but according to The Associated Press does not have experience in environmental issues. He is also a former military intelligence officer, USA Today reported. He ran for governor in 2022 but was beaten by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Zeldin wrote on X after the announcement, “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI.”
It is an honor to join President Trump’s Cabinet as EPA Administrator.
— Lee Zeldin (@LeeMZeldin) November 11, 2024
We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI. We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water. https://t.co/FQk9XPdgcw
Trump said Zeldin has a “very strong legal background” and “a true fighter for America First policies,” USA Today reported.
“He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump added.
Stephen Miller - Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
Trump named Stephen Miller as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy on Monday.
Miller was one of Trump’s senior advisers during his first administration but pushed for more restrictive immigration policies CNN, which was the first to report Miller’s nomination, said.
The AP confirmed Miller’s new role while Vice President-elect J.D. Vance posted congratulations to Miller on X.
Miller pushed for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants during the first administration, saying that it would be a 10-fold increase, or more than one million deportations every year, CNN reported.
When Trump’s first term ended, Miller became president of America First Legal, a conservative version of the American Civil Liberties Union, PBS said. Before he worked for the Trump administration, Miller had been a senior aide for several lawmakers and Congressional committees, the America First Legal said in Miller’s biography.
Miller’s family was considered liberal, but he became conservative after he read the National Rifle Association former CEO Wayne LaPierre’s “Guns, Crimes and Freedom” book. Miller’s family evolved into conservative views, according to a US News and World Report 2016 article.
Rep. Elise Stefanik - U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.
Trump named Rep. Elise Stefanik (R - N.Y.) to the role of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Stefanik, 40, is the House Republican Conference Chair and at one point was discussed as Trump’s running mate until he chose Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, The AP reported.
The New York Times reported Stefanik accepted the nomination.
She is from upstate New York and graduated from Harvard. She worked with the Domestic Policy Council and the chief of staff’s office during Pres. George W. Bush’s administration.
Stefanik was only 30 when she was elected to Congress in 2014, making her the youngest woman lawmaker elected. She is also the youngest woman to be a leader in the House of Representatives, the AP reported. When she first took office, she was considered a moderate but morphed into a MAGA ally for the former president, endorsing him before he had launched his reelection bid and frequently campaigned for him.
The Congresswoman defended Trump during both of his impeachment trials and criminal indictments. She went as far as to file an ethics complaint against the judge who oversaw his civil fraud case, the AP reported.
Tom Homan - Border Czar
Trump named his former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tom Homan, as his border czar. The president-elect made the announcement on Truth Social.
The position does not require Senate confirmation, the AP reported.
Trump campaigned on deporting people who are in the country illegally.
“It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” Homan said, the AP reported. “When we go out there, we’re going to know who we’re looking for. We most likely know where they’re going to be, and it’s going to be done in a humane manner.”
Homan was named ICE acting director in 2017. Before that, he was a police officer, Border Patrol agent and a special agent with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, The New York Times reported.
Susie Wiles - Chief of Staff
Trump named Florida political strategist Susie Wiles as White House Chief of Staff days after he secured his reelection bid.
She is the first woman to serve in the role.
The daughter of NFL player and sportscaster Pat Summerall, Wiles worked in the Washington, D.C. office of Rep. Jack Kemp (R - NY) in the 1970s. She also worked on President Ronald Reagan’s campaign and was a scheduler at the White House, The AP reported.
She worked for two Jacksonville Mayors, Rep. Tillie Flower and eventually helped Gov. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron DeSantis win their elections.
Wiles led Trump’s campaign in Florida in 2016 and left DeSantis’ campaign for Trump when the two faced off in this year’s campaign.
Trump actually hired her for his campaign in 2022 after the events of Jan. 6 and his loss in 2020, changing his previous campaign into what Politico called “a particularly professional operation, despite Trump’s own tendencies to embrace chaos.” She told Trump to back off the claims of losing the 2020 election and to encourage voting by mail.
The AP reported that Trump used Wiles’ and others’ knowledge of DeSantis to push him out of the race. She rarely posted to social media but wrote “Bye, bye” to respond to a post highlighting DeSantis’ campaign clearing his schedule before he dropped out of the race.
Wiles stayed behind the scenes even refusing to speak when Trump declared victory on Wednesday, the AP reported.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) called Wiles a “strong, intelligent woman” when Trump announced her selection as chief of staff, after billionaire Mark Cuban said that the president-elect didn’t have “strong intelligent women” surrounding him before Election Day.
She said she has seen a different side of the president-elect.
“I will tell you this: The Donald Trump that I have come to know does not behave that way, and the lens that I look at him through, I don’t see any of that. I see strengths, I see smarts, I see a work ethic that is unparalleled,” Wiles told the Tampa Bay Times in 2016. “I blanch sometimes. But, again, it’s not the Donald Trump that I have come to know.”
Politico said Wiles will be the most powerful woman in Washington.
She will be tasked to be Trump’s right-hand person, a gatekeeper of sorts who determines who the president will speak with and when. She will also help make sure his plans are followed while also balancing politics and policy. Trump said Wiles is “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected,” Politico reported.
Who makes up the cabinet?
The White House said that currently there are 15 executive departments whose heads are among the members of the cabinet as well as the Chief of Staff, the Vice President and other advisors.
The positions are as follows and includes the person Trump has nominated for the position, or in the case of the Vice President, who won the election. This will be updated as he names his advisers.
- Vice President - J.D. Vance
- Chief of Staff - Susie Wiles
- Secretary of Agriculture - Brooke Rollins
- Secretary of Commerce - Howard Lutnick
- Secretary of Defense - Pete Hegseth
- Secretary of Education - Linda McMahon
- Secretary of Energy - Chris Wright
- Secretary of Health and Human Services - Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Secretary of Homeland Security - Kristi Noem
- Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - Scott Turner
- Secretary of the Interior - Gov. Doug Burgum
- Secretary of Labor - Lori Chavez-DeRemer
- Secretary of State - Sen. Marco Rubio
- Secretary of Transportation - Sean Duffy
- Secretary of the Treasury - Scott Bessent
- Secretary of Veterans Affairs - Rep. Doug Collins
- Attorney General - Pam Bondi
The following positions were also in President Joe Biden’s cabinet. Trump may or may not have similar cabinet-level positions in his second administration. Those positions Trump has filled are in bold.
- U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations - Rep. Elise Stefanik
- Director of National Intelligence - Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
- U.S. Trade Representative
- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Lee Zeldin
- Office of Management and Budget director
- Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Office of Science and Technology Policy director
- Small Business Administration administrator
- Central Intelligence Agency Director - John Ratcliffe
Other key positions Trump has filled in his new administration:
- Border Czar - Thomas Homan
- National Security Adviser - Rep. Mike Waltz
- Ambassador to Israel - former Gov. Mike Huckabee
- Department of Government Efficiency - Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
- Deputy Chief of Staff and assistant to the president - Dan Scavino
- White House Counsel - William Joseph McGinley
- Deputy Attorney General - Todd Blanche
- FCC - Brendan Carr
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services - Dr. Mehmet Oz
- NATO Ambassador - Matthew Whitaker
During Trump’s first administration, he included cabinet-level positions for the EPA, OMB, Trade Representative, CIA, National Intelligence and the SBA.
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