Here are people Trump picked for key positions
President-elect Donald Trump is filling key posts for his second administration, putting an emphasis on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.聽
Pam Bondi, Attorney General
Trump tapped Pam Bondi, 59, to be attorney general after U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz withdrew his name from consideration.
She was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She also was on Trump鈥檚 legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020.
Considered a loyalist, she served as part of a Trump-allied outside group that helped lay the groundwork for his future administration called the America First Policy Institute.
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 appears on Fox News and has been a critic of the criminal cases against him.
Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary
Scott Bessent, 62, is a former George Soros money manager and an advocate for deficit reduction.
He's the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after having worked on-and-off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation鈥檚 first openly gay treasury secretary.
He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump鈥檚 campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending.
鈥淭his election cycle is the last chance for the U.S. to grow our way out of this mountain of debt without becoming a sort of European-style socialist democracy,鈥 he said then.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Labor Secretary
Oregon Republican U.S. Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer narrowly lost her reelection bid this month, but received strong backing from union members in her district.
As a potential labor secretary, she would oversee the Labor Department鈥檚 workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers鈥 wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer鈥檚 rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities.
Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the 鈥淧rotecting the Right to Organize鈥 or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers鈥 rights. The act would also weaken 鈥渞ight-to-work鈥 laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in or paying dues to unions that represent workers at their places of employment.
Scott Turner, Housing and Urban Development
Scott Turner is a former NFL player and White House aide. He ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump鈥檚 first term in office. Trump, in a statement, credited Turner, the highest-ranking Black person he鈥檚 yet selected for his administration, with 鈥渉elping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country鈥檚 most distressed communities.鈥
Brooke Rollins, Secretary of Agriculture
President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that he will nominate former White House aide Brooke Rollins聽to be his agriculture secretary.
Kash Patel, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director
Kash聽Patel spent several years as a Justice Department prosecutor before catching the Trump administration鈥檚 attention as a staffer on Capitol Hill who helped investigate the Russia probe.
Patel called for dramatically reducing the agency鈥檚 footprint, a perspective that sets him apart from earlier directors who sought additional resources for the bureau. Though the Justice Department in 2021聽聽during leak investigations, Patel said he intends to aggressively hunt down government officials who leak information to reporters.
Paul Atkins, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Trump said Atkins, the CEO of Patomak Partners and a former SEC commissioner, was a 鈥減roven leader for common sense regulations.鈥 In the years since leaving the SEC, Atkins has made the case against too much market regulation.
鈥淗e believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World. He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,鈥 Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The commission oversees U.S. securities markets and investments and is currently led by Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government鈥檚 crackdown on the crypto industry. Gensler, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, announced last month that he would be stepping down from his post on the day that Trump is inaugurated 鈥 Jan. 20, 2025.
Atkins began his career as a lawyer and has a long history working in the financial markets sector, both in government and private practice. In the 1990s, he worked on the staffs of two former SEC chairmen, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt.
Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator
Jared聽Isaacman, 41, is a聽聽who bought a series of spaceflights from Elon Musk鈥檚 SpaceX and conducted the聽. He is the founder and CEO of a card-processing company and has collaborated closely with Musk ever since buying his first chartered SpaceX flight. He took contest winners on that 2021 trip and followed it in September with a mission where he briefly popped out the hatch to test SpaceX鈥檚 new spacewalking suits.
Matt Whitaker, Ambassador to NATO
President-elect Donald Trump says he's chosen former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker to serve as U.S. ambassador to NATO. Trump has expressed skepticism about the Western military alliance for years. Trump said in a statement Wednesday that Whitaker is 鈥渁 strong warrior and loyal Patriot鈥 who 鈥渨ill ensure the United States鈥 interests are advanced and defended鈥 and 鈥渟trengthen relationships with our NATO Allies, and stand firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.鈥 The choice of Whitaker as the nation鈥檚 representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an unusual one, given his background is as a lawyer and not in foreign policy.
David Perdue, Ambassador to China
President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China, saying in a social media post that the former CEO 鈥渂rings valuable expertise to help build our relationship with China.鈥澛
聽four years ago and ran unsuccessfully in a primary against Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.聽Perdue pushed Trump's debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed bid for governor.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Ambassador to Greece
Guilfoyle is a former California prosecutor and television news personality who led the fundraising for Trump's 2020 campaign and became engaged to Don Jr. in 2020. Trump called her 鈥渁 close friend and ally鈥 and praised her 鈥渟harp intellect make her supremely qualified.鈥 Guilfoyle was on stage with the family on election night.
鈥淚 am so proud of Kimberly. She loves America and she always has wanted to serve the country as an Ambassador. She will be an amazing leader for America First,鈥 Don Jr. posted.
The ambassador positions must be approved by the U.S. Senate.
Guilfoyle said in a social media post that she was 鈥渉onored to accept President Trump鈥檚 nomination to serve as the next Ambassador to Greece and I look forward to earning the support of the U.S. Senate.鈥
Keith Kellogg, Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia
Trump said Wednesday that he will nominate Gen. Keith Kellogg to serve as assistant to the president and special envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
Kellogg, a retired Army lieutenant general who has long been Trump鈥檚 top adviser on defense issues, served as National Security Advisor to Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence.
For the America First Policy Institute, one of several groups formed after Trump left office to help lay the groundwork for the next Republican administration, Kellogg in April wrote that 鈥渂ringing the Russia-Ukraine war to a close will require strong, America First leadership to deliver a peace deal and immediately end the hostilities between the two warring parties.鈥
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Rodney Scott, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner
Customs and Border Protection, with its roughly 60,000 employees, falls under the Department of Homeland Security. It includes the Border Patrol, which Rodney Scott led during Trump's first term, and is essentially responsible for protecting the country's borders while facilitating trade and travel.
Scott comes to the job firmly from the Border Patrol side of the house. He became an agent in 1992 and spent much of his career in San Diego. When he was appointed head of the border agency in January 2020, he enthusiastically embraced Trump's policies.
After being forced out under the Biden administration, Scott has been a vocal supporter of Trump's hard-line immigration agenda. He appeared frequently on Fox News and testified in Congress. He's also a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Billy Long, Internal Revenue Service commissioner
Former Rep. Billy Long represented Missouri in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023. Since leaving Congress, Trump said, Long 鈥渉as worked as a Business and Tax advisor, helping Small Businesses navigate the complexities of complying with the IRS Rules and Regulations.鈥
Kelly Loeffler, Small Business Administration administrator
Former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler was appointed in January 2020 by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and then lost a runoff election a year later. She started a conservative voter registration organization and dived into GOP fundraising, becoming one of the top individual donors and bundlers to Trump鈥檚 2024 comeback campaign.
Even before nominating her for agriculture secretary, the president-elect already had tapped Loeffler as co-chair of his inaugural committee.
Russell Vought, Office of Management and Budget
Russell Vought held the position during Trump鈥檚 first presidency.
After Trump鈥檚 initial term ended, Vought founded the Center for Renewing America, a think tank that describes its mission as 鈥渞enew a consensus of America as a nation under God.鈥
Vought was closely involved with Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump鈥檚 second term that he tried to distance himself from during the campaign.
Vought has also previously worked as the executive and budget director for the Republican Study Committee, a caucus for conservative House Republicans. He also worked at Heritage Action, the political group tied to The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Kari Lake, Voice of America
Trump says he鈥檚 picking Kari Lake as director of Voice of America, installing a staunch loyalist who ran unsuccessfully for Arizona governor and a Senate seat to head the congressionally funded broadcaster that provides independent news reporting around the world.聽
Lake endeared herself to Trump through her dogmatic commitment to the falsehood that both she and Trump were the victims of election fraud. She has never acknowledged losing the gubernatorial race and called herself the 鈥渓awful governor鈥 in her 2023 book, 鈥淯nafraid: Just Getting Started.鈥
A judge is postponing a decision on whether to undo President-elect Donald Trump's conviction in his hush money case because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Trump is rolling out appointees and nominees for his upcoming administration, working at a faster pace than in 2016.
Thune beat out two other competitors, Sens. John Cornyn and Rick Scott, by gaining majority support from GOP senators in a secret ballot vote.
Trump also tapped Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence and聽Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for secretary of state.
While Johnson has no serious challenger, he faces dissent within his ranks, particularly from hard-right conservatives.
A House Republican win in Arizona, alongside another in slow-counting California, gave the GOP enough victories to secure the majority.
Donald Trump has had few defenders in Congress as reliable as Matt Gaetz. That kinship was rewarded Wednesday when Trump named Gaetz as his pick for attorney general.
Trump has said he wouldn鈥檛 be a dictator 鈥 鈥渆xcept for Day 1." According to his own statements, he's got a lot to do on that first day in Washington.
Johnson's intervention is highly unusual, as the Ethics panel traditionally operated independently.
The prior youngest person to fill the role was Ronald Ziegler, who took the position at age 29 in 1969 in Richard Nixon's administration.
Chris Wright, CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, has been one of the industry's loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change.
Donald Trump is considering recess appointments to skip over Senate confirmations for some of the most powerful positions in the U.S. Here's how that would work.
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She鈥檚 seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she expressed support for charter schools and school choice.
The Trump transition team so far has not signed the requisite agreements to allow the FBI to screen his personnel choices.
Earlier, Gaetz launched an effort to personally secure his embattled nomination, meeting with Republican senators behind closed doors.
Matt Gaetz withdrew as President-elect Donald Trump's pick for attorney general following scrutiny over a federal sex trafficking investigation.
Here is a look at some department functions, and how Trump said he might approach them.
Trump also rounded out his health team, including tapping a surgeon who opposed some public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rollins, who heads the Trump-allied America First Policy Institute, was the director of his office of American innovation in his first term.
Monday's court filing cites longstanding Justice Department policy shielding presidents from prosecution while in office.
Trump made the threats in a pair of Truth Social posts in which he railed against an influx of illegal migrants, even though southern border apprehensions are near four-year lows.聽
Trump nominates Jamieson Greer for trade representative, Kevin Hassett for National Economic Council
Trump also reached a required deal with the White House to allow his transition staff to coordinate with the existing federal workforce.
Bhattacharya was one of three authors an October 2020 open letter maintaining that lockdowns were causing irreparable harm.
Among those targeted was New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump's pick to serve as the next UN ambassador. A family member of Matt Gaetz also received a bomb threat.
Steep price hikes could be on the way if Donald Trump follows through on proposed tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada and China. Here are a few top categories.
The聽father of Trump鈥檚 son-in-law pleaded guilty years ago to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations;聽Trump聽pardoned him in 2020.
Meanwhile, Trump threatened 100% tariffs against the聽BRIC alliance聽of nine nations if they act to undermine the U.S. dollar.
Patel聽called for reducing the FBI's footprint, said he intends to aggressively hunt down leaks and wants to make it easier to sue journalists.
Republicans swept to power on Election Day and now control the House, the Senate and the White House, with plans for an ambitious 100-day agenda come January.聽
An emboldened fringe of right-wing 鈥渕anosphere鈥 influencers has seized on Donald Trump鈥檚 presidential win to justify and amplify misogynistic derision and threats online.
It聽will let Trump transition aides and future administration staffers obtain security clearances to access classified government information.
He's the second person selected by Trump to bow out quickly after being nominated for a position requiring Senate confirmation.
If confirmed next year by the new Republican-led Senate, Atkins would replace Gary Gensler, who has been leading the U.S. government鈥檚 crackdown on the crypto industry.
The milestone came just hours after the president-elect tapped Paul Atkins to be the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
WASHINGTON 鈥 Pete Hegseth spent the week on Capitol Hill trying to reassure Republican senators that he is fit to lead President-elect Donald Trump's Department of Defense in the wake of high-profile allegations about excessive drinking and sexual assault.
The House has shut down Democrats鈥 efforts to release the long-awaited ethics report into former Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The聽former Fox News host, Army National Guard major and combat veteran spent much of the week trying to salvage his Cabinet nomination.
In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press,"聽he again suggested political rivals should be imprisoned and repeated his deportation promises.
As Donald Trump鈥檚 Cabinet takes shape, the nominees offer a preview of how his administration might handle abortion after he repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue on the campaign trail.聽
The announcement comes a week and a half after President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate loyalist Kash Patel for the position.
President-elect Donald Trump's lawyers urged a judge again Friday to throw out his hush money conviction, balking at the prosecution's suggestion of preserving the verdict.
After weeks of fear and bewilderment about drones buzzing over parts of New York and New Jersey, a U.S. senator is urging the federal government to deploy better drone-tracking technology.
President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he would consider pardoning embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams and declared the country was "not going to lose" the polio vaccine.
A judge has refused to dismiss President-elect Donald Trump鈥檚 hush money conviction because of the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 recent ruling on presidential immunity.
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he's threatening with tariffs.
Donald Trump is suggesting that his new administration could try to regain control of the Panama Canal.聽
The House Ethics Committee's long-awaited report into Rep. Matt Gaetz documents a trove of salacious allegations of misconduct. Here's a look at some of the committee's key findings.
First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland.
聽Republican Mike Johnson has won re-election to House speakership on first-round voting. He pushed past GOP holdout and got a boost from President-elect Donald Trump.聽
Trump was convicted in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to hide a hush money payment to porn actor.
Congress certified President-elect Donald Trump as the winner of the 2024 election in proceedings that unfolded without violence or mayhem, in stark contrast to the Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump was convicted in what prosecutors called an attempt to cover up a $130,000 hush money payment to聽porn actor Stormy Daniels.
Finishing the U.S-Mexico border wall and migrant detention facilities are part of about $100 billion in proposals, senators said.
The report, arriving just days before Trump is to return to office on Jan. 20, focuses fresh attention on his frantic but failed effort to cling to power in 2020.
Democrats say Hegseth鈥檚 lack of experience, comments about women and Black troops, and allegations of excessive drinking and sexual misconduct make him unfit to serve. Some takeaways from the hearing:
Many Republican state officials are aligning with Trump's policies, while some Democratic state officials are mounting a resistance movement.
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As White House staff secretary,聽he plays a key role in overseeing the flow of information and business to and from the president.
The vote came amid concerns about his qualifications to lead the Pentagon amid allegations of heavy drinking and abusive behavior toward women.
The South Dakota governor will oversee a sprawling agency that is essential to national security and a clampdown on illegal immigration.
Some of President Trump's working-class and middle-class supporters see a lack of emphasis on lowering consumer costs and making daily American life more affordable.
The 54-46 vote fell almost entirely along party lines, with only one Democrat joining with all Republicans.
