President-elect Donald Trump[1] has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term.
Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration.
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz was Trump's initial pick for attorney general, but he ultimately withdrew following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation he was embroiled in.
Here's a look at Trump's choices:
CABINET: Secretary of state: Marco Rubio
Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat.
Rubio[2], 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
His selection punctuates the hard pivot Rubio[3] has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House.
Defense secretary: Pete Hegseth
Hegseth[4], 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.
Hegseth[5] served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East.
A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted[6] in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing.
Treasury secretary: Scott Bessent
Bessent[7], 62, is a former money manager for George Soros[8], a big Democratic donor, and an advocate for deficit reduction[9]. He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary.
He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending.
Director of national intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard
Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been accused of echoing Russian propaganda.[10] She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him.
Gabbard[11] has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions.
Attorney general: Pam Bondi
Bondi[12], 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020.
Considered a loyalist[13], Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration.
Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him.
Labor secretary: Lori Chavez-DeRemer
The Republican U.S. House member[14] narrowly lost her reelection bid on Nov. 5 but had received strong backing from union members in her district.
As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the department's workforce and budget and put forth priorities that affect workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities.
Chavez-DeRemer is one of a few House Republicans to endorse the “Protecting the Right to Organize” or PRO Act[15] that would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and penalize companies that violate workers’ rights. The act would also weaken “right-to-work” laws in more than half the states.
Commerce secretary: Howard Lutnick
Lutnick[16] heads the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and is a cryptocurrency enthusiast. He is co-chair of Trump's transition operation, charged along with Linda McMahon, a former wrestling executive who previously led Trump’s Small Business Administration, with helping the president-elect fill key jobs in his second administration.
As secretary, Lutnick would play a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs. He would oversee a sprawling Cabinet department whose oversight ranges from funding new computer chip factories and imposing trade restrictions to releasing economic data and monitoring the weather.
Homeland security secretary: Kristi Noem
Noem[17] is a well-known conservative who used her two terms as South Dakota's governor to vault to a prominent position in Republican politics.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Noem did not order restrictions like other states, instead declaring South Dakota “open for business.” More recently, Noem[18] faced sharp criticism for writing in her memoir about shooting and killing her dog.
She is set to lead a department crucial to the president-elect’s hardline immigration agenda as well as other missions. Homeland Security oversees natural disaster response, the U.S. Secret Service and Transportation Security Administration agents who work at airports.
CIA director: John Ratcliffe
Ratcliffe[19], a former U.S. House member from Texas, was director of national intelligence during the final year and a half of Trump’s first term. He led U.S. government’s spy agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. If confirmed, Ratcliffe will have held the highest intelligence positions in the U.S.
Health and human services secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Kennedy[20], 70, ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent before he dropped out and then endorsed Trump[21]. He's the son of Democratic icon[22] Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 during his own presidential campaign.
Kennedy's nomination alarmed people who are concerned about his record of spreading unfounded fears about vaccines[23]. For example, he has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism.
Agriculture secretary: Brooke Rollins
Rollins[24], 52, is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for Trump's second administration.
She is a Texas attorney who was Trump's domestic policy adviser and director of his office of American innovation during his first term. Rollins[25] previously was an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry[26], who also served in Trump's first term. Rollins also ran the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Transportation secretary: Sean Duffy
Duffy[27] is a former House member from Wisconsin who was one of Trump's most visible defenders on cable news. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years[28], sitting on the Financial Services Committee and chairing the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019 for a TV career and has been the host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business.
Before entering politics, Duffy was a reality TV star on MTV, where he met his wife, “Fox and Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy. They have nine children.
Veterans affairs secretary: Doug Collins
Collins[29] is a former Republican congressman from Georgia who gained recognition for defending Trump during his first impeachment trial. Trump was impeached for urging Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019 during the Democratic presidential campaign, but was acquitted by the Senate.
Collins also served in the armed forces himself. He is a chaplain in the United States Air Force Reserve Command.
Interior secretary: Doug Burgum
The North Dakota governor[30], 68, is a former Republican presidential primary contender who endorsed Trump after he dropped out of the running. Burgum then became a serious contender to be Trump’s vice presidential choice[31] in part because of his executive experience and business savvy. He also has close ties to deep-pocketed energy industry CEOs.
Trump said Burgum would chair a new National Energy Council and have a seat on the National Security Council, which would be a first for the Interior secretary.
Energy secretary: Chris Wright
A campaign donor and CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright[32] is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking — a key pillar of Trump’s quest to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market.
He also has been one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change. Wright[33] said the climate movement around the world is “collapsing under its own weight.” The Energy Department is responsible for advancing energy, environmental and nuclear security of the United States.
Education secretary: Linda McMahon
McMahon, a billionaire professional wrestling mogul[34], would make a return appearance in a second Trump administration. She led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in Trump’s first term and twice ran unsuccessfully in Connecticut as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. She served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University. She has expressed support for charter schools and school choice.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator: Lee Zeldin
Zeldin[35] does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X, “We will restore US energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI" and "we will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”
Trump often attacked the Biden administration’s promotion of electric vehicles, and incorrectly referred to a tax credit for EV purchases as a government mandate. Trump also often said his administration would “drill, baby, drill,” referring to his support for expanded petroleum exploration.
Housing and Urban Development: Scott Turner
Turner[36] is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he’s yet selected for his administration, with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”
U.S. Trade Representative: Jamieson Greer
Greer[37] is a partner at King & Spalding, a Washington law firm. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization. He previously was chief of staff to Robert Lighthizer, who was the trade representative in Trump's first term.
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WHITE HOUSE STAFF: Chief of staff: Susie Wiles
Wiles[38], 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager.
She has a background in Florida politics[39], helping Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary.
Wiles’ hire was Trump’s first major decision as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration considering her close relationship with him. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns.
National security adviser: Mike Waltz
Waltz is a three-term Republican congressman from east-central Florida. A former Army Green Beret[40], he served multiple tours in Afghanistan and worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs.
He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uighur population.
National Economic Council: Kevin Hassett
Hassett, 62, is a major advocate of tax cuts who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers in the first Trump term. In the new role as chairman of the National Economic Council, Trump said Hassett will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation as well as in renewing and improving tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, many of which are set to expire after 2025.
Border czar: Tom Homan
Homan, 62, has been tasked[41] with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history.
He led the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Trump's first administration. Democrats have criticized Homan for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy on border crossings in the first term, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border.
Office of Management and Budget: Russell Vought
Vought, 48, held the position during Trump’s first presidency. He the founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as “renew a consensus of America as a nation under God.” Vought also was closely involved with Project 2025[42], a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second term that Trump tried to distance himself from during the campaign.
Deputy chief of staff for policy: Stephen Miller
Miller, an immigration hardliner[43], was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first term.
Miller has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families. Trump argued throughout the campaign that the nation’s economic, national security and social priorities could be met by deporting people living illegally in the U.S.
Deputy chief of staff: Dan Scavino
Scavino was an adviser in all three of the president-elect's campaigns and was described by the transition team as one of “Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides." He will be deputy chief of staff and assistant to the president. Scavino previously ran Trump’s social media profile in the White House.
Deputy chief of staff: James Blair
Blair was political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign and for the Republican National Committee. He will be deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs and an assistant to the president. Blair was key to Trump’s economic messaging during his winning White House comeback campaign.
Deputy chief of staff: Taylor Budowich
Budowich is a veteran Trump campaign aide who launched and directed Make America Great Again, Inc., a super PAC that supported Trump’s 2024 campaign. He will be deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel and assistant to the president.
White House press secretary: Karoline Leavitt
Leavitt[44], 27, was Trump's campaign press secretary and currently a spokesperson for his transition. She would be the youngest White House press secretary in history. Leavitt worked in the White House press office during Trump's first term. In 2022, she ran for Congress in New Hampshire,[45] winning a 10-way Republican primary before losing to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas.
White House Counsel: William McGinley
McGinley was Cabinet secretary during Trump's first administration and was outside legal counsel for the Republican National Committee's election integrity effort during the 2024 campaign.
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AMBASSADORS, ENVOYS AND OTHER KEY POSTS: FBI director: Kash Patel
Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration’s attention as a staffer on Capitol Hill who helped investigate the Russia probe.
Patel has called for dramatically reducing the agency’s footprint, a perspective that sets him apart from earlier directors who have sought additional resources for the bureau. And though the Justice Department in 2021 halted the practice of secretly seizing reporters’ phone records[46] during leak investigations, Patel has said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters.
Special envoy to the Middle East: Steven Witkoff
The 67-year-old Witkoff is the president-elect's golf partner and they were golfing at Trump's club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, when the former president was the target of a second attempted assassination. Trump also named Witkoff co-chair, with former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, of his inaugural committee.
Special envoy for Ukraine and Russia: Keith Kellogg
Kellogg[47], 80, is a highly decorated retired three-star general and one of the architects of a staunchly conservative policy book that lays out an “America First” national security agenda[48] for Trump's second term. He has long been Trump’s top adviser on defense issues and served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence[49]. Kellogg also was chief of staff of the National Security Council under Trump and stepped in as an acting national security adviser for Trump after Michael Flynn[50] resigned the post.
Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
Huckabee is a staunch defender of Israel[51] and his intended nomination comes as Trump has promised to align U.S. foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests.
Huckabee, who ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2016, has been a popular figure among evangelical Christian conservatives, many of whom support Israel due to Old Testament writings that Jews are God’s chosen people and that Israel is their rightful homeland.
Huckabee has rejected a Palestinian homeland in territory occupied by Israel. His daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, served as White House press secretary in Trump's first term.
Ambassador to the United Nations: Elise Stefanik
Stefanik, 40, is a U.S. representative from New York[52] and one of Trump's staunchest defenders dating to his first impeachment trial. She was elected chair of the House Republican Conference in 2021, the third-highest position in House leadership, after then-Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after she publicly criticized Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election.
Stefanik’s questioning of university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile.
Ambassador to NATO: Matthew Whitaker
A former acting attorney general during Trump's first administration and tight end on the University of Iowa football team, Whitaker[53], 55, has a background in law enforcement but not in foreign policy.
A fierce Trump localist, Whitaker, is also a former U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 without Senate confirmation, until William Barr was confirmed for the role. That was when special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference[54] was drawing to a close.
Whitaker also faced questions about his past business dealings, including his ties to an invention-promotion company that was accused of misleading consumers.
Ambassador to Canada: Pete Hoekstra
A Republican congressman from Michigan who served from 1993 to 2011, Hoekstra was ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump's first term.
Drug Enforcement Agency: Chad Chronister
Chronister is the top law enforcement officer in Hillsborough County, Florida. He has worked for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office since 1992.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Dr. Mehmet Oz
Oz, 64, is a former heart surgeon who hosted “The Dr. Oz Show,” a long-running daytime TV talk show. He ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate as the Republican nominee in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump, who endorsed Oz’s bid for elected office.
Food and Drug Administration: Dr. Marty Makary
Makary[55] is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns. He routinely appeared on Fox News during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote opinion articles questioning masks for children. He cast doubt on vaccine mandates but supported vaccines generally. Makary also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine.
Surgeon General: Dr. Janette Nesheiwat
Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She has been a contributor on Fox News.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Dr. Dave Weldon
Weldon[56] is a former Florida congressman who recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed Weldon’s opponent.
In Congress, Weldon weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die and whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative after cardiac arrest, state should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed.
National Institutes of Health: Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya[57], 56, is a critic of pandemic lockdowns and vaccine mandates. As head of the NIH, the leading medical research agency in the United States, Trump said Bhattacharya would work with Kennedy Jr. to direct U.S. medical research and make important discoveries that will improve health and save lives. Bhattacharya is professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and was one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic were causing irreparable harm.
WITHDRAWN Matt Gaetz for Attorney General:
Gaetz, 42, withdrew from consideration[58] to become the top law enforcement officer of the United States amid fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation[59] that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed by the Senate. In choosing Gaetz, Trump had passed over more established lawyers whose names had been floated as possible contenders for the job.
Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump announced him on Nov. 13. The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old. Gaetz has denied wrongdoing.
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Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Zeke Miller, Farnoush Amiri, Lolita C. Baldor, Jill Colvin, Matthew Daly, Edith M. Lederer, Adriana Gomez Licon, Lisa Mascaro, Chris Megerian, Michelle L. Price, Will Weissert and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2024 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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