Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
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President-elect Donald Trump is building his team, naming cabinet members and key advisers after having been elected to a second presidential term. He’s been filling out those roles with those considered to be fierce loyalists.
Trump’s team will include Vice President-elect JD Vance and the rest of his Cabinet as well as high-ranking nominees — who require Senate confirmation — and also senior advisers who don’t require congressional approval.
Here’s how his new administration is taking shape:
Chief of Staff — Susie Wiles
Susie Wiles (2nd R), senior advisor to Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign, is recognized for her work during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center on Nov. 6, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
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Susie Wiles is the first appointee Trump named after the 2024 election. Wiles, who served as Trump’s co-campaign manager, will be the first woman to serve as White House Chief of Staff. She has worked for the Trump political operation off and on since 2016.
Wiles managed Trump’s campaign quietly, making very few media or public appearances, though Trump proudly presented her during his election night speech in Palm Beach, Fla., saying “Susie likes to stay sort of in the back, let me tell you. The Ice Maiden. We call her the Ice Maiden.” Read more about Susie Wiles
— Franco Ordoñez
Deputy Chief of Staff — Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller, former Senior Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump, on Oct. 18, in Detroit, Mich.
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Win McNamee/Getty Images
Trump is expected to name Stephen Miller as the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, a role that would have him taking on a leading role writing and implementing the administration’s immigration agenda. That agenda includes plans for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Miller is one of Trump’s longest-serving and most trusted advisers. He worked with Trump on his 2016 presidential campaign before joining him at the White House as a senior adviser. Read more about Stephen Miller
— Franco Ordoñez
White House Counsel — Bill McGinley
President-elect Donald Trump has selected William J. McGinley to serve as his next White House General Counsel.
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McGinley is a longtime election attorney who served as White House cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term. During the 2024 election, he took on a new role as outside counsel for election integrity at the Republican National Committee.
The role if White House general counsel serves as the point legal adviser for the president in regards to ethics, oversight and judicial nominations. The general counsel also is the point of contact between the White House and the Justice Department. Read more about Bill McGinley.
— Ximena Bustillo
Secretary of Defense — Pete Hegseth
Host Pete Hegseth speaks onstage during the 2023 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at The Grand Ole Opry on Nov. 16, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn.
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In a flurry of announcements on Tuesday evening, Trump said he will nominate Hegseth, a Fox News host, to serve as Secretary of Defense. While some former Fox News personalities have voiced support for Trump, Hegseth is the first current employee to be nominated for a position in his administration. It’s an unexpected choice that deviates from most of Trump’s recent staff picks for his White House, who largely descend from political roles in federal and state governments.
Hegseth is a veteran of the Army National Guard, where he did tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay as an infantry officer. During his military service, he was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge. Read more about Pete Hegseth.
— Elena Moore
Department of Homeland Security Secretary — Gov. Kristi Noem
Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisc., in July.
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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The role holds significant weight for Trump, who campaigned heavily on the issue of immigration, pledging to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Noem, a devout Christian who is the first woman elected to serve as governor of South Dakota, is in her second term.
In his statement, Trump cited one of her notable moves leading her state: “Kristi has been very strong on Border Security. She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times.” Read more about Kristi Noem.
— Jeongyoon Han and Elena Moore
Central Intelligence Agency Director — John Ratcliffe
John Ratcliffe, then serving as Director of National Intelligence under President Trump, on Dec. 12, 2020.
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Ratcliffe previously served as the Director of National Intelligence from 2020-2021, where he oversaw all 17 of the nation’s intelligence agencies. He took the job after serving in the House, where he represented Texas’s 4th District. In Congress, Ratcliffe was an outspoken supporter of Trump and at times questioned the validity of the Russia investigation.
“From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties at the FISA Court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public. When 51 intelligence officials were lying about Hunter Biden’s laptop, there was one, John Ratcliffe, telling the truth to the American People,” Trump said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Secretary of State — Marco Rubio
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks before the arrival of former president Donald Trump at the Club 47 group in the Palm Beach Convention Center on June 14, in West Palm Beach, Fla.
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Trump is expected to nominate Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to serve as secretary of state, according to a source familiar with the selection. If confirmed, Rubio would become the first Latino to ever serve as the nation’s top diplomat.
The selection officially brings Rubio into Trump’s fold and offers a new chapter in the evolving relationship between the former rivals for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. In the years since, Rubio has become a close adviser to Trump on foreign relations, and was even a top contender for vice president up until the day Trump announced Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate. Read more about Marco Rubio
— Jeongyoon Han and Claudia Grisales
National Security Adviser — Mike Waltz
US Representative Mike Waltz, Republican of Florida, speaks during a hearing of the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Penn., on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Sept. 26.
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As national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz will play an integral role in shaping U.S. policy on geopolitical conflicts ranging from the war in Ukraine to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Waltz, a former Army Green Beret, is a longtime Trump ally who has established himself as a leading critic of China in Congress.
Since winning his seat in 2018, he has championed legislation to reduce U.S. reliance on critical minerals from China and safeguard American colleges and universities from Chinese espionage. Read more about Mike Waltz.
— Jason Breslow and Tom Bowman
“Border czar” — Tom Homan
Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan speaks during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc., on July 17.
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Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Homan served as acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term in office. In Trump’s second term, he will serve as “border czar” — which does not require Senate confirmation. The role will have Homan in charge of the southern and northern U.S. borders, as well as “all Maritime and Aviation Security,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The former police officer and Border Patrol agent has worked under six presidents during his three decades in law enforcement. He was executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement under President Obama. During that administration, ICE carried out a record number of deportations. Read more about Tom Homan.
— Rachel Treisman
U.S. ambassador to Israel — Mike Huckabee
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee moderates a roundtable discussion with Republican presidential nominee, former U.S. President Donald Trump at the Drexelbrook Catering & Event Center on Oct. 29, in Drexel Hill, Penn.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is a longtime supporter of Israel and a critic of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. He has previously spoken out against efforts to negotiate a ceasefire deal and called unauthorized settlements in the occupied West Bank “communities.”
“Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years,” Trump wrote in a statement announcing his intention to nominate Huckabee. “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!” Read more about Mike Huckabee.
— Stephen Fowler
EPA Administrator — Former Rep. Lee Zeldin
New York Rupublican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin gives a speech at his election night party on Nov. 8, 2022 in New York City.
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In announcing his pick for the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses,” adding that Zeldin will still maintain “the highest environmental standards.”
Zeldin, who previously represented Long Island, opposed a handful of climate-related legislation while serving in Congress, according to the environmental advocacy group League of Conservation Voters. Read more about Rep. Lee Zeldin
— Elena Moore
“Department of Government Efficiency” — Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
Entrepreneur and former Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy and SpaceX, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk will lead a so-called Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration.
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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Alain Jocard/AFP via Getty Images
Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and Republican primary candidate, have been tapped by Trump to lead what he’s calling the “Department of Government Efficiency,” or DOGE, an apparent wink to the cryptocurrency by the same name and the meme of a Shiba Inu.
Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will “pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies,” which he called “essential to the Save America Movement.” Read more about Musk and Ramaswamy’s new roles.
— Megan Pratz
