President-elect Trump is assembling his Cabinet and senior staff for his second term in the White House before taking office in January.
Trump must nominate leaders for 15 government agencies and 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
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).
Attorney general: Matt Gaetz
Just reelected to a fifth term representing Florida in the House, Matt Gaetz is known for his bombastic style and is a loyal congressional ally of Trump who himself was the subject of a Justice Department investigation. When naming Gaetz as his pick to lead the department, Trump said he would “end Weaponized Government, protect our Borders, dismantle Criminal Organizations and restore Americans’ badly-shattered Faith and Confidence in the Justice Department.”
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.
Energy secretary: Chris Wright
Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy, a fracking and oilfield 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 his nominee for Interior secretary, Doug Burgum. The Energy Department oversees oil and gas production and exports, as well as the nation’s nuclear weapons program.
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.
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.
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.
Transportation secretary: Sean Duffy
Duffy is a former Wisconsin congressman and now-former Fox Business Network host, who appeared on MTV’s “Real World” reality show. He left the House in late 2019 in the wake of learning that one of his children had a heart condition. He has historically been a supporter of the president-elect, defending Trump’s controversial 2017 executive order on immigration imposing a 90-day ban on nationals from seven mostly Muslim countries from coming into the U.S.
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.
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
Carr, now a commissioner, has been nominted to lead the Federal Communications Commission under Trump. Carr was first nominted to the FCC in 2017 and he was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. In one of his first posts since the announcement, Carr said the FCC would get rid of its diversity, equity and inclusion promotion.
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.
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, and recently said “families can be deported together” while discussing plans for the upcoming term.
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.
White House counsel: Bill McGinley
After a more than two-year stint 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.
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
Scharf represented Trump as one of his lawyers during a hearing on presidential immunity before the Supreme Court and was a regular on television defending Trump amid his hush money trial in Manhattan. Staff secretary is a lower-profile position that carries significant importance within the White House. The staff secretary manages paper flow to the president and typically is in close proximity to the commander-in-chief.
Updated on Nov. 18, 2024, at 11:47 a.m. EST.
