Donald Trump’s Cabinet-in-waiting: What we know so far
There are only a few key spots left as Washington watches to see who President-elect Donald Trump will select to fill the final spots in his Cabinet.
The people Trump picks will not only be tasked with running entire departments, they'll be the best indication of how Trump intends to govern and which of his many (and sometimes contradictory) policy positions he intends to pursue.
Here are the picks announced so far for Cabinet and Cabinet-level jobs:
Chief of staff
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus will be Trumps chief of staff.
Treasury secretary
Steven Mnuchin, a 17-year-veteran of Goldman Sachs, is Trumps pick for Treasury secretary.
Secretary of state
Trump tapped ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department.
Secretary of defense
Trump picked retired Marine General James Mattis as his defense secretary.
Attorney general
President-elect Trump has tapped Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
Commerce secretary
Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, a Trump economic adviser, is Trumps pick for commerce secretary.
Labor secretary
Trump has tapped Andy Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which included the Carls Jr. fast food chain.
Health and Human Services secretary
Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), the chairman of the House Budget Committee and an early Trump backer, was chosen to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Housing and Urban Development secretary
Trump tapped retired neurosurgeon and former GOP primary rival Ben Carson to serve as HUD secretary.
Transportation secretary
Trump picked former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to serve as secretary of transportation. Chao served as deputy secretary of transportation under President George H.W. Bush and is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Education secretary
Trump announced that he will nominate Betsy DeVos, a prominent advocate for school choice and charter schools, as education secretary.
Homeland Security secretary
Trump has decided to nominate Marine Gen. John Kelly, the former U.S. Southern Command chief, to run the Department of Homeland Security.
Interior Secretary
Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, a first-term congressman, was Trump's choice.
Energy secretary
Trump picked former Texas Gov. Rick Perry for energy secretary.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Trump picked Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the EPA.
Ambassador to the United Nations
Trump has tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Trump tapped Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a conservative South Carolina Republican, to lead the Office of Management and Budget.
Here are Trumps choices for other White House and administration jobs:
White House counselor
Kellyanne Conway, Donald Trumps campaign manager and a senior transition adviser, will serve in the White House as a counselor to Trump.
Chief strategist
Former Breitbart News executive Steve Bannon, who was Trumps campaign CEO, will be Trumps chief White House strategist.
White House national security adviser
Trump has picked Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn for national security adviser.
White House counsel
Trump tapped Donald McGahn, a partner at the firm Jones Day who served as the Trump campaigns general counsel, for the job. McGahn is a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Trump has chosen Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo for the job.
White House communications team
Sean Spicer will serve as Trumps White House press secretary, Hope Hicks will be Trumps strategic communications director, and Dan Scavino will be social media director.
Small Business Administration administrator
Trump has picked Linda McMahon, a professional wrestling executive and former Republican contender for Connecticut's U.S. Senate seats, to lead the Small Business Administration.
Deputy commerce secretary
Trump tapped Todd Ricketts, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and a member of the powerful conservative Ricketts family, to be deputy secretary of commerce.
Deputy national security adviser
Trump has selected K.T. McFarland, a Fox News analyst who served as an official in the Reagan White House, to be his deputy national security adviser.
Senior policy adviser to the president for policy
Stephen Miller, a key campaign aide, will serve in this post.
Director, National Economic Council
Gary Cohn, the president and COO of Goldman Sachs, was the president-elect's pick to lead the NEC.
Republican National Committee
Michigan GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel was picked by the president-elect to succeed Priebus as the national chair.
Regulatory reform adviser
Investor Carl Icahn will serve as Trumps special adviser for overhauling regulations.
Director of the White House National Trade Council
Peter Navarro, an economics and public policy professor who helped craft Trump's trade policies during the campaign, will lead a new trade council inside the White House.
The following is a list of likely contenders and will be frequently updated as new information becomes available.
Agriculture secretary
Trump is slated to meet with Elsa Murano, a former president at Texas A&M University and USDA food safety official, to discuss the agriculture secretary job.
Three-term Idaho Gov. Butch Otter added his name to the mix of candidates for agriculture secretary when one of his spokesman told an Idaho radio station he was being vetted.
Susan Combs, a former Texas agriculture commissioner, is another possible candidate for the job. Combs recently met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.) was previously seen as the leading candidate, but sources say both Democratic leadership, concerned about the loss of a Senate seat, and many of Trumps agriculture advisors are against the move. Heitkamp said recently shes likely to remain in the Senate.
Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue visited Trump tower on Nov. 30 and was earlier considered to be in the mix.
Other names include: Charles Herbster, a Nebraska-based agribusinessman who helped to organize Trumps agriculture advisory council; one-time deputy agriculture secretary Chuck Conner; Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback; former Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman; and Sid Miller, the current secretary of agriculture in Texas.
Veterans Affairs secretary
Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove has emerged as the top contender to be Trumps secretary of Veterans Affairs.
Trump has also met twice to discuss the VA post with Pete Hegseth, the former head of Concerned Veterans for America, a conservative advocacy group established in 2012 and backed by the industrialist Koch brothers.
Hegseth, a 36-year-old Iraq War veteran, has butted heads with the more traditional veterans groups for some of his aggressive tactics and they have raised concerns that as secretary of Veterans Affairs he would make radical changes that could hurt veterans, like pushing for privatization of health care services.
Some of those groups have urged Trump to keep on Bob McDonald, the former CEO of Procter & Gamble who has been running the VA since 2014.
But others, including VA whistleblowers who have reported a series of dangerous failures at the agencies, recently wrote to Trump endorsing Hegseth.
These organizations each want to keep the status quo and to keep lining their pockets at the expense of our nations heroes, they wrote of the more established vets groups. That is exactly the reason Mr. Hegseth is the right choice to run the VA.
Trump has also met with former Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts to discuss the VA post. And House Veterans Affairs Chairman Jeff Miller, whos retiring from the House and was an early Trump backer, has also been seen as a potential candidate though has not met with the president-elect about it.
U.S. trade representative
Among the top contenders Trump is considering for U.S. trade representative are two men leading the transition at the agency: Dan DiMicco, a former steel company executive who advised Trump on trade throughout his campaign; and Robert Lighthizer, a longtime trade lawyer who has spent much of his legal career representing U.S. steel companies.
Both men align with Trumps defensive view of trade, and picking either would send a signal he is likely to follow through on promises to get tough on China and other nations that break the rules on trade.
Another name that has recently entered the mix is that of Wayne Berman, a senior executive at the Blackstone Group and a Republican mega-donor. Others said to be in the running but seen as less likely candidates include David McCormick, president of Bridgewater Associates, and former Rep. Charles Boustany, a Louisiana Republican and longtime advocate of free trade.
Kathryn A. Wolfe, Bryan Bender, Jeremy Herb, Connor O'Brien, Joanne Kenen, Helena Bottemiller Evich, Ian Kullgren, Ben White, Darius Dixon, Esther Whieldon, Marianne Levine, Caitlin Emma, Jennifer Scholtes, Lauren Gardner, Lorraine Woellert, Ellen Mitchell, Rachana Pradhan, Ben Weyl, Cory Bennett, and Megan Cassella and Nahal Toosi contributed to this story.
Read this article:
Donald Trump's Cabinet-in-waiting: What we know so far
- Donald Trump reveals exclusively to The Post what he and Biden spoke about at DC meeting - New York Post - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Donald Trump and the party control of government - The Associated Press - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Tells House Republicans He Won't Seek a Third Term Unless They 'Figure' Out a Way to Allow It - PEOPLE - November 14th, 2024 [November 14th, 2024]
- Tesla is not the only winner under Donald Trump - The Economist - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Jr. Opts Out of White House to Join 1789 Capital - Bloomberg - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- Opinion | Americans ordered up Donald Trump. The world will foot the bill. - The Washington Post - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- Opinion: Reflections from across The Pond on Donald Trump's re-election - Palm Beach Post - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- How could Donald Trump target the LGBTQ+ community? Project 2025 is a ready blueprint for discrimination - The Conversation - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Heres what hes proposed - The Associated Press - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- UK minister grilled over tweet branding Donald Trump a self-confessed groper - POLITICO Europe - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- South Korean president practising golf to prepare for future meetings with Donald Trump - The Guardian - November 12th, 2024 [November 12th, 2024]
- Kamala Harris and Donald Trump hold dueling rallies in swing-state Michigan as it happened - The Guardian US - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- I visited a small, struggling, climate-ravaged town in Louisiana. Why is Donald Trump certain to win here? - The Guardian US - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump, Not at All Worried About Losing the Election, Demands Kamala Harris Be Forced Off the Campaign - Vanity Fair - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Just Insulted Every Autoworker in Michigan - The Nation - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump doesnt sound too excited about asking Nikki Haley for help - Semafor - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Says Hell Ask Rupert Murdoch to Direct Fox News to Halt Negative Ads Against Him - Hollywood Reporter - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Says On Fox & Friends That Hes Meeting With Rupert Murdoch To Tell Him To Pull Negative Ads And Ban Horrible Democratic Critics -... - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Exhausted and Refusing Interviews: Report - The Daily Beast - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Shares Candid Thoughts on Harvey Weinstein: 'He Got Schlonged' - Newsweek - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Donald Trump says Apple boss Tim Cook called him with EU concerns - BBC.com - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- A failed mic leaves Donald Trump pacing the stage in silence for nearly 20 minutes - Yahoo! Voices - October 18th, 2024 [October 18th, 2024]
- Why is Donald Trump campaigning in California, a state hes almost certain to lose? - The Associated Press - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]
- Sebastian Stan on Losing Sleep Over Not Resembling Donald Trump, That Scene From The Apprentice and Fing Hard Action Movies: Tom Cruise Is Not a... - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]
- That Sure Is One Way to Convince Young Men Not to Vote for Donald Trump - Slate - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]
- The View co-hosts come out swinging at Donald Trump a day after he insulted them - The Associated Press - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]
- Opinion | Yes, this is what Donald Trump really sounds like. No, you cannot ignore it. - The Washington Post - October 12th, 2024 [October 12th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Bemoans His Team Using Wrong Picture at Rally: 'So Stupid' - Newsweek - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Disaster politics: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are the latest to deal with fallout - USA TODAY - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Donald Trump makes a theatrical return to Butler, scene of assassination attempt - The Guardian US - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Opinion | JD Vance Is Smoother but No Better Than Donald Trump - The New York Times - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Mike Johnson refuses to say Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden - USA TODAY - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Melania Trump says Donald Trump 'knew my position and my beliefs' on abortion 'since the day we met' - NBC News - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- How Donald Trump Jr. Became the Crown Prince of MAGA World - The Wall Street Journal - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Donald Trump in Bulter: Time stood still at site of assassination attempt, he says - BBC.com - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Noticias Univision Townhall with Former President Donald Trump Moved to Wednesday, Oct. 16 Due to Hurricane Milton - Univision Communications - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Donald Trump returns to scene of rally shooting in Butler - BBC.com - October 7th, 2024 [October 7th, 2024]
- Joe: Vance clearly said he was going to continue the lies of Donald Trump - MSNBC - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- JD Vance again refuses to say Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election - The Associated Press - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Donald Trump Claims Kim Jong Un Is Trying to Kill Me, Rants About Water-Free Bathrooms During Incoherent-Even-for-Him Remarks - Vanity Fair - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Donald Trump Mocked Jimmy Carter on the Former President's 100th Birthday - Newsweek - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Make Them Riot: Newly Unsealed Filing Gives New Details Of Federal Election Conspiracy Case Against Donald Trump - Deadline - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Donald Trump Gets October Boost as Flurry of Polls Give Him the Edge - Newsweek - October 3rd, 2024 [October 3rd, 2024]
- Opinion | The Dangers of Donald Trump, From Those Who Know Him - The New York Times - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump says he will protect women. Many dont see it that way. - The Washington Post - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Surges in Top Election Forecast - Newsweek - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Opinion | Why Do People Like Elon Musk Love Donald Trump? Its Not Just About Money. - The New York Times - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Is Quitting Golf on His Own Courses - The Daily Beast - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump briefed on suspected Iranian assassination plot - The Guardian US - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Ignores the Elephant in the Room at North Carolina Rally - Newsweek - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump is coming to the Alabama-Georgia game. Heres his unusual food request - AL.com - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- The Republican Party is less white than ever. Thank Donald Trump. - Vox.com - September 26th, 2024 [September 26th, 2024]
- Donald Trump: Project 2025 Will Lay Groundwork for Second Term - The Daily Beast - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Donald Trump says hes unlikely to run for president in 2028 if he loses in November - New York Post - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Mike Johnson Delivers Bad News to Donald Trump on Government Shutdown - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Mark Cuban Confronts Donald Trump Allies With Flurry of Posts - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Stephen King Using Republican's Words Against Donald Trump Takes Off Online - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Kamala Harris Cuts Donald Trump's Advantage on the Economy in Half: Poll - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- That Will Be It: Donald Trump Says He Wont Run In 2028 If He Loses In 2024 - Deadline - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Donald Trump's Vision for Women Is out of 'The Handmaid's Tale': Attorney - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- North Carolina Democrat on his opponent: Robinson exists because Donald Trump has lifted him up - The Hill - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Donald Trump coming back to Metro Detroit this week for Town Hall - WXYZ 7 Action News Detroit - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Donald Trump Launches Attack on Oprah Winfrey: 'This Isn't the Real Oprah' - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Donald Trump Responds After Kamala Harris Agrees to Second CNN Debate - The Daily Beast - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Kamala Harris' Chances of Beating Donald Trump in 7 Swing States: Poll - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- JD Vance and Donald Trump Told To 'Stay Away' In Ohio Newspaper - Newsweek - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- Donald Trump Hate-Watches Oprahs Interview With Kamala Harris at MAGA Rally - The Daily Beast - September 22nd, 2024 [September 22nd, 2024]
- That Time Donald Trump Walked Into a Bar and Bought a Round Using Bitcoin - The Wall Street Journal - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- George Clooney Amps Up His Feud With Donald Trump - The New York Times - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Buys Fans Burgers and Pays With Bitcoin at New York Bar - Bloomberg - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Donald Trump 'They're Eating the Dogs' Song Takes Off Online - Newsweek - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Donald Trump Draws Red Lines for Republicans on Government Shutdown - Newsweek - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Kamala Harris' and Donald Trump's Biggest Problems Are Growing - Newsweek - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Opinion: Donald Trump's politics of hate have come for Taylor Swift - Los Angeles Times - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- What the debate revealed about Donald Trump - The Hill - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Are Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle done? If so, this weekend may get awkward - Miami Herald - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Donald Trump and Polish president to visit Catholic shrine in Pennsylvania - Catholic News Agency - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- How views of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump changed after their debate - YouGov US - September 19th, 2024 [September 19th, 2024]
- Pop group ABBA ask Donald Trump to stop using their songs, but Trump team says they have the OK - The Associated Press - August 31st, 2024 [August 31st, 2024]
- When is the debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris? What to know - El Paso Times - August 31st, 2024 [August 31st, 2024]