President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts in his second administration, rewarding longtime loyalists, aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign and in his legal battles.
Here’s a look at who he’s selected so far.
The Cabinet
Marco Rubio, Secretary of State
Marco Rubio is a well-known Republican Senator from Florida.
The one-time Trump critic made an unsuccessful bid for the White House in 2016 before becoming a key ally to the former president in Congress.
His approach to foreign politics described as “hawkish” especially when it comes to Iran and China. He also strongly supports Israel and has been wary about US intervention in the Ukraine–Russia conflict. He will also be tasked with tackling illegal immigration and defense of the US-Mexico border.
If confirmed, Rubio will be the first Latino to serve as secretary of state.
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense
Trump has nominated Fox News host and veteran Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense, the nation’s largest federal agency overseeing all branches of the military, an $850 billion annual budget and roughly 3 million service members and personnel.
Hegseth, 44, served tours with the Army National Guard in Guantánamo Bay, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
He joined Fox News as a contributor in 2014 and co-host of the weekend edition of the network’s flagship program Fox & Friends.
Hegseth was reportedly the subject of a sexual misconduct allegation, espoused anti-Islam views, and does not believe women should serve in combt roles. He is expected to lead Trump’s attacks on what they perceive as a “woke” military, including firings of top brass.
Matt Gaetz, Attorney General
Now-former congressman Matt Gaetz has been selected for attorney general, the nation’s top law enforcement official, and a role widely seen as Trump’s vehicle for his promised “retribution” and “vengeance” against his political enemies, testing the historic independent of the Department of Justice.
Gaetz resigned from the House of Representatives moments after his nomination.
In committee roles, Gaetz raged against special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into the former president’s attempts to subvert the 2020 election and his possession of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort. He also called for investigations into prosecutors who brought criminal charges against the former president in New York and Georgia.
The Trump loyalist remains that the center of a long-running House Ethics Committee investigation into sexual misconduct. He also was the subject of Justice Department probe but was ultimately never charged with a crime.
Doug Burgum, Secretary of Interior
Trump’s pick to the lead the federal agency charged with managing the nation’s public lands and waterways will also lead a newly formed “national energy council.”
Burgum is expected to lead on Trump’s “dictator on day one” agenda to “drill, drill, drill” as well as his own agenda for “unleashing American energy dominance.” The current governor of North Dakota, the nation’s third-largest oil producer, is likely expected to liase between the White House and oil producers who were a key backer in Trump’s campaign.
Burgum, a former software executive, was briefly in the running for Trump’s vice presidential pick before he landed on Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce
The Cantor Fitzgerald CEO and co-chair of Trump’s transition team is the incoming president’s pick to lead the Department of Commerce.
Lutnick, 63, is a billionaire who heads companies involved in nearly every sector of the U.S. economy – potentially raising concerns about conflicts of interest.
He has spoken in favor of the president-elect’s widely panned idea to impose tariffs on imports, which would naturally raise prices for consumers, according to economists.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services
Trump has nominated vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead America’s largest public health body, the Department of Health and Human Services.
The agency oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among other health agencies. When he was running for president, Kennedy said he would immediately tell the National Institutes of Health to stop drug development and infectious disease research for eight years, and instead study chronic disease.
Kennedy — who does not possess any medical or public health degrees — is known for repeating widely debunked conspiracy theories about health that have left doctors, public health experts and critics concerned for the future of America’s health and ability to combat disease under his watch.
Sean Duffy, Secretary of Transportation
Duffy, 53, is a former MTV reality television star and Fox News contributor who represented Wisconsin in Congress from 2011 to 2019.
If confirmed to lead the agency, Duffy will oversee roughly 50,000 workers handling widespread safety issues in aviation, labor actions and climate concerns surrounding the nation’s transit infrastructure.
Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy
Trump has tapped oil fracking CEO Chris Wright to serve as Secretary of Energy.
Wright, CEO of Liberty Energy in Denver, Colorado, is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development and one of the industry’s loudest voices against efforts to fight the ongoing climate crisis.
If confirmed, he will also serve on Trump’s newly-created Council of National Energy, alongside Burgum.
Doug Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Former Georgia Representative, Doug Collins, has been tapped to oversee the Department of Veterans Affairs – the agency responsible for overseeing lifelong healthcare services to military veterans.
Collins, 58, is a veteran who served as a Chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command and fought in the Iraq War.
He defended Trump during his first impeachment proceedings.
Kristi Noem, Secretary of Homeland Security
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is nominated to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the third-largest federal government agency, which is expected to play a key role in implementing Trump’s “mass deportation operation” to remove potentially millions of people from the US.
Noem was elected the state’s first female governor in 2018, and she won re-election in 2022.
She faced scrutiny earlier this year for a book in which she claims to have killed a 14-month-old wirehaired pointer named Cricket.
Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff
Susie Wiles was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and served as its de facto manager.
The unassuming 67 year-old will serve as the nation’s first-ever female White House chief of staff.
Trump’s announcement was among his first major decisions as president-elect and one that could be a defining test of his incoming administration. Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns.
Trump has given her a fitting nickname: “The Ice Maiden.”
Elise Stefanik, Ambassador to the United Nations
Elise Stefanik is a representative from New York and one of Trump’s staunchest defenders going back to his first impeachment.
Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, after Trump’s allies ousted Liz Cheney from the role. Stefanik has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership.
Her questioning of university presidents over allegations of antisemitism on their campuses helped lead to two of those presidents resigning, further raising her national profile.
If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine.
Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence
Gabbard, a veteran and former Democratic House member who promoted conspiracy theories about the U.S.’s involvement in Ukraine, has been selected to lead the nation’s intelligence community.
The former Hawaii congresswoman left Congress to embark on an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2020. She joined the Republican Party earlier this year, endorsed Trump and joined his presidential transition team.
Gabbard joined an Army reserve unit after serving 17 years in the Hawaii National Guard, and she points to her deployment experience to explain her skepticism towards U.S. military interventions.
She secretly met with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad while she was a member of Congress and has blamed US and NATO for Russia’s assault in Ukraine.
John Ratcliffe, CIA director
Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA was a former director of national intelligence in the former president’s first term.
Prior to serving in the Trump administration, Ratcliffe was a Republican congressman for Texas, serving on the House intelligence, judiciary, and homeland security committees.
In the House, Ratcliffe was critical of the investigations into ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign, and helped pursue Republican priorities like scrunitizing Hunter Biden.
Ratcliffe currently is the co-chair of the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-aligned think tank.
Mike Waltz, National Security Adviser
The retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran has been nominated to serve as Trump’s national security adviser.
Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from Florida who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also 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 US boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator
The former New York congressman does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president.
He represented Long Island in the House of Representatives from 2015 to 2023 before he left to run for governor. During his time in Congress he frequently voted against environmental-friendly bills.
In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “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.”
Tom Homan, ‘border czar’
Tom Homan has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history.
Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was among the architects of the former president’s “zero tolerance” anti-immigration agenda and the maligned practice of separate families who arrive at the US-Mexico border.
He has now promised to “run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen,” and vowed “shock and awe” with Trump’s first days in office.
Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy
Miller, an immigration hardliner, was a senior adviser during Trump’s first administration, among the architects of Trump’s anti-immigration agenda, and a vocal advocate for mass deportations during the 2024 campaign.
The far-right figure also helped craft the Trump administration’s travel ban from majority-Muslim countries.
Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies and universities, among other targets of right-wing groups.
Mike Huckabee, ambassador to Israel
The president-elect has tapped former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to serve as the US Ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee — a Christian Zionist who has dabbled in media companies, Fox News gigs, and Evangelical preaching — has said “there’s no such thing as a Palestinian,” the West Bank, or settlements.
“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years,” Trump wrote in a statement. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, members of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, both praised Huckabee’s nomination.
Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general
Trump says he will nominate his own criminal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, to the second-highest position in the Justice Department.
Blanche defended Trump in courtrooms in Florida, Washington DC and New York, where the 50-year-old was the lead attorney in Trump’s hush money trial, in which the former president was found guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
If the Senate confirmation process goes Trump’s way, Blanche could likely oversee the day-to-day operations of the Justice Department, serving as Gaetz’s number two, if both are confirmed.
Trump also nominated Emil Bove, another one of Trump’s criminal defense attorneys, as principal deputy attorney general. He could be acting deputy attorney general while Blanche is awaiting confirmation in the Senate.
D. John Sauer, solicitor general
Sauer — the attorney who managed to convince the Supreme Court that Trump is partially immune from criminal prosecution — is Trump’s choice for solicitor general, the fourth-highest official in the Justice Department.
He argued in front of federal appeals court judges and the Supreme Court for Trump’s “immunity” from criminal prosecution for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, and his failure to stop a mob that stormed the Capitol to do it by force.
Trump notably referenced that case in his announcement, saying that his Supreme Court victory “was key to defeating the unConstitutional campaign of Lawfare against me and the entire MAGA Movement.”
Will Scharf, White House staff secretary
Trump has picked Scharf, yet another one of his personal attorneys who defended the former president’s “immunity” argument, to serve as the White House staff secretary in his upcoming administration.
Scharf lost a Republican primary election for Missouri attorney general to Andrew Bailey earlier this year.
His campaign was awarded $2 million by a Leonard Leo-backed organization with aims to reshape the nation’s judicial system in Trump’s image.
Taylor Budowich, assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel
Budowich served as the CEO of Trump-connected MAGA Inc. political action committee and as the communications director for Trump’s Save America PAC.
He was also accused of playing a role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol, though he has denied any involvement.
A one-time intern for Democratic politicians in California, Budowich switched his party allegiance and by the age of 25 was the executive director of the right-wing Tea Party Express.
In 2023, Budowich was subpoenaed by the special counsel’s office to testify before a grand jury about Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Budowich railed against the investigation as “bogus,” and claimed, without evidence, that the system had been “weaponized” against Trump.
James Blair, assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs
Fresh off a stint as political director for the Republican National Committee and the Trump 2024 campaign, Blair to follow Trump to the White House for his next term.
Shortly after Trump won the election, Blair insisted during an interview on CNN that the campaign’s virulently anti-trans messaging “didn’t demonize the transgender community,” arguing that the ads were instead “about misplaced priorities.”
The founder and president of Rapid Loop Consulting has worked on state- and federal-level campaigns for Republicans nationwide. He also served as deputy chief of staff to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Sergio Gor, personnel office director
Gor and Donald Trump Jr. together founded Winning Team Publishing, a vanity press which put out the president-elect’s books after leaving office in 2020.
The company was set up to “promote authors who represent the Silent Majority, America First patriots, and liberty minded readers,” according to its official site. Gor lists Republican Senator Rand Paul, GOP operative Charlie Kirk, and cable news host Eric Bolling as clients.
Steven Cheung, director of communications
Cheung, a former communications director for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, served as director for the Trump-Vance campaign and White House director of strategic response during Trump’s first term.’
He has issued official statements calling Vice President Kamala Harris a “stone-cold loser,” and gleefully amplified Trump’s derisive attack on the free press at every turn.
In 2022, Cheung served s a senior advisor on the Senate campaign of former Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, who stepped down amid accusations of, among other things, sexual misconduct and physically abusing his wife.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary
The 27-year-old New Hampshire native — who made headlines after being thrown off the air during a CNN interview — will become the youngest-ever White House press secretary in history.
She returned to work on the Trump campaign this past summer, four days after giving birth to her son. Leavitt continues to claim, incorrectly, that the 2020 election was “stolen” from Trump, and posted a video online in 2022 that showed her firing a gun at a shooting range, with the mocking caption for President Joe Biden to “come and take it.”
William McGinley, White House counsel
McGinley, who served as White House Cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term, has also served on the RNC’s outside counsel on election litigation.
Trump has lauded him as having “played a major role in our election victory” in 2024.
His key role will be liaising between the White House and the Justice Department, with Trump expected to break from precedent and wipe out the agency’s independence to function more like a law enforcement arm of the White House.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator
The television personality physician turned failed Senate candidate was nominated to serve as the CMMS administrator, in charge of overseeing healthcare programs including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) health insurance Marketplaces.
Oz has stirred controversy for promoting pseduoscience and alternative medicine on his former daytime talk show.
He ran an unsuccessful campaign to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate in 2022. During his campaign, he said he supported repealing the ACA and backed Medicare Advantage Plus.
