Trump Cabinet picks: Here’s who’s on the list to carry out his agenda
President-elect Trump has assembled his Cabinet, and senior staff positions are filling up for his second term in the White House before taking office in January.
Trump has nominated leaders for 15 government agencies that make up a presidential Cabinet, plus other top administration jobs that require Senate confirmation, along with appointing senior staff.
Here’s a look at who has been tapped to serve so far.
Cabinet
Agriculture secretary: Brooke Rollins
The president and CEO of the American First Policy Institute, a think tank for the former president manned by previous staffers, Brooke Rollins was part of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers in 2016. Rollins launched a $10 million campaign against President Biden’s economic agenda and spoke out in favor of Trump’s second White House bid when it fell under scrutiny. The pick drew some surprise — Trump had been reportedly considering former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) for the role before he officially announced Rollins.
Commerce secretary: Howard Lutnick
Cantor Fitzgerald chair and CEO Howard Lutnick is currently serving as co-chair of the Trump transition. He has notably publicly embraced Trump’s tariff plans, which will be a major part of the job leading Commerce. Lutnick, a longtime friend to Trump, was also on the short list to serve as Treasury secretary.
Defense secretary: Pete Hegseth
An Army National guard officer who did tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, earning two Bronze Stars, Pete Hegseth is currently a co-host for “Fox & Friends Weekend.” Trump has pledged to fire generals involved in the 2021 Afghanistan withdrawal and to eliminate “woke” initiatives that focus on diversity and equity in the military. The choice of Hegseth came as a surprise even to some Trump allies, as the Fox commentator was not among the names considered in the running for the job.
Education secretary: Linda McMahon
Linda McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, is currently serving as co-chair of the president-elect’s transition. Trump said he expects her to expand school choice to every state and empower parents to make education decisions for their children. McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) with her husband, Vince McMahon.
Energy secretary: Chris Wright
Chris Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking and oil field services company, as well as a Trump donor. In addition to the role of Energy secretary, Trump said Wright would serve on a newly formed “Council of National Energy” being led by Doug Burgum, his nominee for Interior secretary. The Energy Department oversees oil and gas production and exports, as well as the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
Health and Human Services secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Democrat-turned-independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer from the storied family of Democratic politics. He suspended his own presidential campaign and pledged his support to Trump in August. Kennedy founded one of the most prominent anti-vaccine groups in the country and has promoted the debunked claim that childhood vaccines cause autism. He has vowed to purge entire departments at the Food and Drug Administration to root out corruption.
Homeland Security secretary: Kristi Noem
Having served as South Dakota governor since 2019, Kristi Noem is a loyal Trump ally and would help oversee his immigration crackdown in a second term. She was also in consideration for Trump’s running mate before early excerpts of her book revealed she killed her hunting dog 20 years ago.
Housing and Urban Development secretary: Scott Turner
Before he served in Trump’s first administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, Scott Turner was a football player whose NFL career spanned nine seasons and ended in 2004. He is a former member of Congress from Texas.
Interior secretary: Doug Burgum
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum endorsed Trump after ending his own presidential bid earlier this year and has developed a strong political and personal relationship with the president-elect; he was among the finalists to serve as his running mate. Burgum has ties to the oil and gas industry and is expected to play a central role in Trump’s push to increase oil drilling and energy production.
Labor secretary: Lori Chavez-DeRemer
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Ore.), who lost her reelection bid to a Democratic challenger earlier this month, had the backing of the Teamsters union before she was officially picked by Trump to head the Labor Department. She has served in city government in Happy Valley and was the first Republican woman elected to Congress from Oregon.
Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is seen as a foreign policy hawk who is tough on China and Iran. His selection to serve as Trump’s top diplomat completes a drastic turnaround from 2016, when the two were fierce rivals in the GOP presidential primary. Rubio was also in consideration for Trump’s running mate this year, before he selected Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
Transportation secretary: Sean Duffy
A former Wisconsin congressman and Fox Business Network host, Sean Duffy also appeared on MTV’s “Real World” reality show series around the turn of the century. He left the House in late 2019 after learning one of his children had a heart condition and has historically been a supporter of the president-elect, defending Trump’s controversial 2017 executive order that imposed a 90-day ban on nationals from seven mostly Muslim countries from entering the United States.
Treasury secretary: Scott Bessent
Billionaire investor Scott Bessent is set to become the key leader of the president-elect’s economic team, which will be tasked with imposing an aggressive tariff regime meant to shake up global trade while keeping financial markets calm amid the disruption. Bessent, founder and CEO of hedge fund Key Square Group, served as an economic adviser to the Trump campaign, often appearing on financial talk shows to argue in favor of the president-elect’s economic policies.
Veterans Affairs secretary: Doug Collins
A former Georgia congressman, Doug Collins was a chaplain in the Air Force Reserve and was one of Trump’s biggest defenders in the House. He has served as a legal counsel for Trump, particularly on the MAGA movement’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen in Georgia due to illegally cast ballots. Collins has served in the Air Force Reserve since 2002 and was deployed to Iraq in 2008 as part of the 94th Air Wing at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Ga.
Attorney general: Pam Bondi
Trump announced Pam Bondi would replace former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) as his nominee for attorney general after Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration earlier that same day. Bondi was the first woman elected to serve as Florida’s attorney general, where she heavily prosecuted cases that involved drug trafficking and eventually worked on Trump’s Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission in his first term.
Key appointments
Director of national intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard
Before leaving the Democratic Party in 2022, Tulsi Gabbard served four terms as a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii and made a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She is a National Guard veteran who served two tours of duty in the Middle East and has long been critical of the Democratic establishment, especially of U.S. engagement in wars in that region. She officially became a Republican earlier this year and is on Trump’s transition team.
CIA director: John Ratcliffe
John Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence for about eight months at the end of Trump’s first term, has been selected to lead the CIA for his second. He was previously a congressman from Texas; Trump, in a statement, called him “a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public.” Ratcliffe also served as a member of Trump’s impeachment team during the Democrats’ first effort to boot the then-president from office.
Office of Management and Budget director: Russell Vought
Russell Vought was serving as Office of Management and Budget’s director at the end of Trump’s first term, after starting as the office’s deputy director. He wrote the chapter on the executive office of the president of the United States — which largely references OMB — in The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a “governing agenda” filled with conservative priorities and insight from scholars and policy experts.
Surgeon general: Dr. Janette Nesheiwat
A double board-certified medical doctor, Janette Nesheiwat serves as a medical director at CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She is listed as a contributor on Fox News’s website. Her website notes she has led medical relief missions in Haiti, Ukraine and Africa.
CDC director: Dr. Dave Weldon
Former Florida Rep. Dave Weldon (R) was tapped to serve as the director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A medical doctor and Army veteran, Weldon was a seven-term lawmaker until 2008. While in Congress, Weldon served on several committees, including Appropriations, Health and Human Services, Education and Labor, and Science. He returned to practicing medicine and working as a consultant after not seeking reelection in 2008.
Federal Drug Administration: Marty Makary
A Johns Hopkins surgeon who has espoused contrarian views about the COVID-19 pandemic, Marty Makary was picked to lead the Federal Drug Administration. He is a surgical oncologist at Johns Hopkins University and an author. He will lead Trump’s health arm under the guidance of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was tapped to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Environmental Protection Agency director: Lee Zeldin
Trump’s selection to lead the EPA is Lee Zeldin, a Republican former New York congressman and gubernatorial candidate who was an outspoken defender of the 45th president during his first impeachment trial in 2020. Trump mentioned Zeldin’s legal background, a sign he will likely lean on the EPA to roll back environmental regulations.
FCC chair: Brendan Carr
Currently a commissioner, Brendan Carr has been nominated to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under Trump. He was first nominated to the FCC in 2017 and he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. In one of his first statements since the announcement, Carr wrote on social media that the FCC would get rid of its diversity, equity and inclusion promotion.
White House
Chief of staff: Susie Wiles
Well-respected as a political operative, Susie Wiles spent the past two years co-running Trump’s campaign. She will become the first woman to serve as a White House chief of staff.
Wiles, who was among the people Trump thanked after his 2024 victory, was largely a behind-the-scenes figure during his run. She has also worked for Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and was a deputy director during former President Reagan’s 1980 campaign.
Deputy chief of staff for policy: Stephen Miller
One of Trump’s closest advisers during his first term, Stephen Miller was an architect of policies such as a ban on travel from several Muslim-majority countries and family separation. He is expected to lead efforts to enact Trump’s immigration crackdown in a second term.
Border czar: Tom Homan
A former Immigration and Customs Enforcement director, Tom Homan has been named Trump’s “border czar,” tasked with cracking down on immigration and overseeing the “the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security,” according to a statement from the president-elect. Homan has said he will crank up workplace raids as a way to address labor and sex trafficking and will prioritize “public safety threats and national security threats” for deportation as border czar. He was an early proponent of the “zero tolerance” policy that separated more than 4,000 children from their parents in the first Trump administration.
National security adviser: Mike Waltz
Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, an Army veteran who was the first Green Beret elected to Congress, will serve as Trump’s top national security official, leaving the House after representing the Sunshine State since 2019. Waltz has called for Europe to do more to support Ukraine and for the U.S. to be more stringent with its support, aligning with a key foreign policy goal of the president-elect. He has also been a staunch critic of the Biden administration’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Senior director for counterterrorism: Sebastian Gorka
Sebastian Gorka will join Trump’s national security team with a focus on combating terrorism. Gorka is a British-Hungarian American, and his statement announcing the appointment, Trump touted him as a “legal immigrant.” Gorka served in the first Trump administration advising the president on counterterrorism matters. Gorka was close with Trump ally Steve Bannon but was forced out of the first Trump administration when John Kelly became Trump’s chief of staff.
White House counsel: Bill McGinley
After spending more than two years as Cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term, Bill McGinley will return to the White House as the president-elect’s counsel. He has also served as general counsel at the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Trump, in a statement, called McGinley “a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our America First agenda while fighting for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement” and said he played a major role in the GOP victory in the 2024 election.
Principal deputy national security adviser: Alex Wong
A staunch ally of Trump, Alex Wong was picked to serve as assistant to the president and as the principal deputy national security adviser, the transition team announced.
During the president-elect’s first term, Wong served as the deputy special representative for North Korea. He later served as the deputy assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs within the State Department.
In his announcement, Trump praised Wong for helping to broker his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his first administration.
Middle East envoy: Steven Witkoff
Steven Witkoff, a New York businessman, will serve as special envoy to the Middle East, a role Trump said in a statement will involve him being a “voice for peace.” He is a longtime friend of the president-elect, is known as a real estate tycoon and is chair and CEO of Witkoff.
Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy
Trump announced Elon Musk, a billionaire backer, and Vivek Ramaswamy, a former GOP primary rival who endorsed Trump after dropping his own bid, would lead an effort to slash government spending and regulations. They are expected to conclude their work by July 4, 2026, just a few months before the midterm elections. Trump said the effort would partner with the Office of Management and Budget but would provide guidance from “outside of Government.” Musk in particular has extensive financial holdings with government contractors that could complicate an official government job.
White House staff secretary: Will Scharf
Will Scharf represented Trump as one of his lawyers during a hearing on presidential immunity before the Supreme Court and was a regular on TV defending Trump amid his hush money trial in Manhattan. Staff secretary is a lower profile position that carries significant importance within the White House, managing paper flow to the president and typically being in close proximity to the commander in chief.
Ambassadors
United Nations ambassador: Elise Stefanik
The House GOP conference chair who just won her fifth term representing an upstate New York district, Elise Stefanik has limited diplomatic experience but has been an outspoken critic of the United Nations and a staunch ally of Israel.
Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
The president-elect selected former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for what will be a major diplomatic role amid heightened tensions in the Middle East. Huckabee, who led the Bear State from 1996-2007, has never held a diplomatic post previously but has at times weighed in on the war in Gaza. He told NewsNation that he did not see a reason to support an Israel-Hamas cease-fire and that the only way to end the war would be to eradicate the terrorist group.
Trump has urged Israel to “finish the problem” in the fight against Hamas following its October 2023 attacks, even as he has been critical of how the country has carried out the military campaign.
Ambassador to NATO: Matthew Whitaker
Whitaker, Trump’s former acting attorney general, would fill the role at a crucial time amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump touted Whitaker as a choice who can “strengthen relationships with our NATO Allies,” amid tensions over defense spending across the security alliance. Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine by the time he takes office, a vow that has stoked fears in Europe and among NATO allies that he will concede territory in Ukraine to reach a deal. He has also long demanded more defense spending from non-US members.
Ambassador to Canada: Pete Hoekstra
Former GOP Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra is Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador to Canada.
“I am very pleased to announce that former Ambassador, and former Congressman, Pete Hoekstra, has been nominated as my United States Ambassador to Canada,” Trump said in a statement. “Pete is well-respected in the Great State of Michigan – A State we won sizably.”
Hoekstra served as a Michigan representative from 1993 to 2011, chairing the House Intelligence Committee during his final four years in office. He served as Trump’s ambassador to the Netherlands beginning in 2018.
Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee officially recognized Hoekstra as the leader the Michigan GOP.
Withdrawn
Attorney general: Matt Gaetz
The most controversial of Trump’s initial Cabinet selections, the possibility of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) becoming attorney general immediately led to a slew of headlines about the years of rumors and investigations he’s faced regarding alleged sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and more.
Trump said the Florida Republican would “end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department,” and Gaetz — just reelected to a fifth term — resigned from Congress immediately following the announcement.
Gaetz withdrew from attorney general consideration about a week later, saying “it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition.”
Updated Nov. 25 at 9:55 a.m. EST
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