Tracking Trump’s picks for his Cabinet and administration
Here are the people Donald Trump has selected or is considering to fill his Cabinet and key positions in his administration.
Click on named or expected-to-be-named picks to learn more
The latest: President-elect Donald Trump said he plans to replace FBI Director Christopher A. Wray with Kash Patel, a move that would install a staunch loyalist atop an agency Trump has repeatedly criticized. He also said he plans to nominate Chad Chronister, a Florida sheriff, to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Trump and his team are rapidly announcing key Cabinet and White House roles, with all core Cabinet positions now named. Loyalty to the president is a top consideration, and in some instances, Trump and his team have taken an unorthodox approach, creating “czar” positions to oversee broad policy portfolios and picking people with controversial backgrounds and little relevant policy experience.
Here are the people Trump has named to his incoming administration or the top contenders for unfilled roles based on our reporting. We will continue to update this article.
correction
An earlier version of this article incorrectly named Kevin Hassett as Trump's Council of Economic Advisers chair. He is Trump's White House National Economic Council director. The article has been corrected.
Vice president
JD Vance
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
The vice president is second-in-command, and unlike other Cabinet positions, it’s announced before the presidential election. Trump picked his VP during the Republican National Convention in July.
📝 About Trump’s pick
JD Vance, a one-term senator from Ohio, is one of the youngest vice presidents in history and a rising star in the Republican Party. A former Trump critic who wrote a best-selling memoir on his upbringing in rural Appalachia, he’s worked to more closely align himself with Trump over the years and is now one of his staunchest defenders.
Secretary of state
Marco Rubio
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The secretary of state is America’s lead diplomat and will be the face of Trump’s foreign policy abroad. They are charged with being the principal interlocutor as the president reshapes alliances such as NATO, presses on Iran and seeks to encircle China. This secretary of state will inherit a far more dangerous world stage than existed in Trump’s first term, with raging conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. Trump has vowed to resolve both in his first days in office.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Marco Rubio is a Florida senator and hawk on China and Venezuela and has previously supported robust aid for Ukraine and advocates a robust U.S. presence in the world. Rubio ran for president in 2016 and clashed bitterly with Trump in the Republican primary, though they repaired their relationship and Trump considered Rubio as a potential running mate earlier this year.
Secretary of the treasury
Scott Bessent
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The head of the Treasury Department will play a key role in setting the economic agenda of the second Trump administration. The treasury secretary is the nation’s chief economic steward, responsible for helping set policy on taxation, trade, debt and financial regulation, while typically taking a leading role in negotiations over all economic policy with Congress.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Scott Bessent, who had virtually no role during the first Trump administration, emerged as a key adviser to Trump over the course of the 2024 presidential campaign and is expected to be Trump’s pick for treasury secretary, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private deliberations. Bessent is a longtime hedge fund executive who made a fortune working for George Soros, the billionaire investor hated by much of the right, and has also taught economics at Yale. Trump has praised him as “central casting.”
Secretary of defense
Pete Hegseth
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The defense secretary is the senior executive in the Defense Department, overseeing the U.S. military and Pentagon bureaucracy, and reporting directly to the president.
📝 About Trump’s pick
A combat veteran and Fox News host, Pete Hegseth has called for a more muscular approach to running the U.S. military. He was not widely expected to fill the role and is likely to undergo a tough Senate confirmation hearing. Hegseth, who served as an Army infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Minnesota National Guard, has criticized the Biden administration’s approach to national security as weak. He has also written a book describing the military’s leadership as more focused on diversity than confronting global threats.
Attorney general
Pam Bondi
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The attorney general heads the nation’s massive federal law enforcement agency, with more than 100,000 employees. The FBI is its principal investigative arm; other agencies that fall under the Justice Department include the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The department leads federal investigations and prosecutions, including criminal, civil and civil rights cases. On the campaign trail, Trump criticized the justice system as “weaponized” against him. He has vowed to reduce the agency’s independence from the White House and use its investigative powers to go after his political enemies.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Pam Bondi, former Florida attorney general, was named by Trump as his attorney general, hours after Gaetz withdrew from consideration. Bondi is a longtime Trump loyalist who served on the defense team during his first impeachment trial. She also played a leading role in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and is a partner at Ballard Partners, a powerhouse lobbying firm where Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff Susie Wiles once worked.
❌ Withdrawn candidates
Matt Gaetz, a former Florida representative, has said he is withdrawing his bid to be attorney general for Trump’s incoming administration, saying his confirmation was “unfairly becoming a distraction.” The decision to withdraw comes a day after the House Ethics Committee declined to release its report on sexual misconduct allegations against Gaetz. The committee obtained records showing that he paid more than $10,000 to two women, who testified before the panel, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material. Gaetz, who has served in Congress since 2017, has been a loyal and outspoken supporter of Trump, defending the former president after a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to overturn the election results on Jan. 6, 2021.
Secretary of interior
Doug Burgum
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The Department of the Interior oversees hundreds of millions of acres of federal land and other natural resources that will be key to the Trump administration’s plans to boost U.S. oil and gas production.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Doug Burgum is governor of North Dakota and a staunch advocate of expanded fossil fuel production. Trump has also named Burgum to a newly created “energy czar” position (for more detail, jump to Other top administrative roles). He’s also a close ally of oil industry tycoon Harold Hamm. The two have been key advisers to Trump since Burgum dropped his own presidential bid and endorsed Trump. After Trump asked oil industry executives to help steer $1 billon toward his campaign, Burgum talked extensively with oil donors and CEOs, and he helped lead the campaign’s development of its energy policy. But unlike many others in Trump’s orbit, Burgum believes human activity is causing climate change. He has pushed plans in his state to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the energy sector, charting a path favored by oil and gas companies that relies on nascent technologies to lower the carbon footprint of energy production. Many climate experts, thought, warn it is not possible to meet crucial targets for slowing warming without cutting production. Burgum supports a vast expansion of oil and gas production.
Secretary of agriculture
Brooke Rollins
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The secretary of agriculture and is responsible for overseeing various farm, ranching and forestry industries as well as regulating aspects of food quality, safety and nutrition labeling. In addition, the department of agriculture manages several welfare programs such as free school lunches and food stamps. Trump and his allies have proposed making large cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or the food stamp program known as SNAP. Trump’s incoming agriculture secretary is also expected to play a role in shaping Trump’s plans for sweeping tariffs, which are expected to impact the American agriculture industry.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Brooke Rollins is a former Trump White House policy adviser. Rollins is the president of the America First Policy Institute, a group that has put together policy proposals for a second Trump term that is chaired by Linda McMahon, Trump’s pick for education secretary. Rollins previously led the White House Domestic Policy Council during Trump’s first term. Before joining the Trump administration she led the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank.
Secretary of commerce
Howard Lutnick
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The department oversees a broad array of federal policies, including on semiconductors, cybersecurity and patents. If confirmed, Lutnick would have considerable influence over the trajectory of the U.S. economy over the next four years, responsible for executing some of the promises central to Trump’s 2024 campaign.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Howard Lutnick serves as co-chair of Trump’s transition team and is the CEO and chairman of Cantor Fitzgerald, an investment firm. As commerce secretary, Lutnick would play a leading role in implementing the president’s economic and trade agenda.
Secretary of labor
Lori Chavez-DeRemer
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The labor secretary oversees pressing issues impacting American workers and employers, ranging from artificial intelligence and workplace safety to child labor and overtime regulations. Trump’s pick is expected to enact a pro-business agenda that unwinds labor-friendly policies promulgated by the Biden administration.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the Oregon congresswoman, was a surprise in Washington and marked an unusual nod toward the labor movement, whose rank-and-file members often embraced Trump during the election. DeRemer, 56, is a moderate Republican who has served on bipartisan congressional caucuses and has supported pro-union legislation. She lost her reelection bid this month. Politico reported that the Teamsters pushed for her selection.
Secretary of health and human services
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The Department of Health and Human Services, with a nearly $2 trillion budget, oversees health insurance programs such as the Affordable Care Act, which Trump has pledged to run even though he has said he would prefer to overhaul it. HHS and its subagencies are also responsible for administering Medicare and Medicaid; leading the federal response to public health emergencies and outbreaks such as the coronavirus pandemic; and approving medical treatments, vaccines and devices, among numerous other functions. Regulations linked to abortion medication, drug-price negotiations and protections for transgender patients are among the flash points expected under Trump.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a former Democrat and independent 2024 presidential candidate, whom Trump has named to run the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy threw his support to Trump in August. His “Make America Healthy Again” agenda targets chronic disease and childhood illness; he also founded a prominent anti-vaccine group and has a history of promoting debunked claims about vaccine safety. He recently said the Trump administration would push to get fluoride out of drinking water. Republican advisers have cautioned that Kennedy could face a difficult path to winning Senate confirmation to lead HHS, given his past statements on drugs and vaccines that are not based in science, and his many personal entanglements — a reality that Kennedy and his advisers have acknowledged.
Secretary of housing and urban development
Scott Turner
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The secretary of housing and urban development helps direct and steer policies around fair housing, which can include promoting homeownership, protecting the supply of affordable rental units and eliminating discriminatory housing practices. Housing issues played a major role in the 2024 presidential election, and Trump’s pick to run HUD will be key to forwarding the administration’s goals, especially around affordability.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Scott Turner, a former professional football player, served in Trump’s first administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, a group of White House advisers tasked with magnifying effects of opportunity zones, an economic tool for investing in distressed areas.
Secretary of transportation
Sean P. Duffy
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The secretary oversees the funding of roads, bridges and rail lines, as well as the running of the aviation system. The post has typically been low-profile, but the current secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has elevated the role, as did the passage of a huge infrastructure funding law early in Biden’s term.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Sean P. Duffy, a former congressman and Fox Business host, was an early reality television star in the 1990s, appearing on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston,” before entering politics. He served as district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin, before being elected to Congress as part of the Republican wave in 2010. With responsibility for vehicle safety and space launches, the transportation secretary will be a key player in the relationship between the government and tech billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump who has been tasked with leading a panel to slash the federal government.
Secretary of energy
Chris Wright
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The Energy Department oversees energy production in the United States and will be key to the Trump administration’s plans to boost oil and gas output.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Chris Wright is the head of fracking company Liberty Energy and a skeptic of mainstream science on global warming who argues the “climate crisis” is a myth. The oil executive runs a foundation focused on dispelling the conventional wisdom on climate change and promoting expanded fossil fuel production as a solution to many of the world’s problems, an approach others say would drive dangerous levels of warming. Wright will also serve on Trump’s newly created National Energy Council.
Secretary of education
Linda McMahon
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The secretary of education, the administration’s leading voice on schools, typically has a K-12 background, though much of the job deals with higher education, including administering the $1.6 trillion student loan program. The secretary is responsible for enforcing civil rights laws that bar discrimination on the basis of race, sex and other factors in schools. And it runs grant programs that aid high-poverty K-12 schools and subsidize the cost of educating students with disabilities. Trump paid scant attention to education issues during his first term, but campaigned vigorously on the issue this year.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Linda McMahon serves as co-chair of Trump’s transition team, is a major GOP donor and retired World Wrestling Entertainment executive. The role would be McMahon’s second round of service under Trump. During the first two years of his first term, McMahon led the Small Business Administration. In recent years, she has chaired the board of the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that sought to lay the groundwork for a second Trump term. McMahon is not particularly known for work on education policy or practice, though she served for two years on the Connecticut state board of education.
Secretary of veterans affairs
Douglas A. Collins
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The Department of Veterans Affairs, the government’s second-largest agency with more than 450,000 employees, oversees health care, disability and other benefits as well as burial services for millions of former service members. Its health-care system is the largest government-run health system in the country. Donald Trump and his allies have pledged to increase the agency’s reliance on private medical care for veterans and have long been critical of the government-run system.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Douglas A. Collins, an Iraq War veteran who is now a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command, has been tapped to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. Collins served in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021 and resigned to run an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate. He emerged as a strong loyalist during Trump’s first impeachment inquiry, when he was the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. Collins also represented Trump in his efforts to contest the 2020 election results in Georgia. During the new Trump administration, Veterans Affairs is likely to focus heavily on increasing veterans’ options to seek health care from private doctors, a costly policy that Denis McDonough, the current secretary, has tried to curtail.
Secretary of homeland security
Kristi L. Noem
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The homeland security secretary oversees a sprawling federal bureaucracy with a $60 billion budget and more than 230,000 employees. This role is key to Trump’s domestic policy agenda, especially given his pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and his promise of a harsh crackdown at the U.S.-Mexico border.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Kristi L. Noem has served as the governor of South Dakota since 2019 and was an active supporter of Trump on the 2024 campaign trail. She previously served as the state’s at-large member of the U.S. House and in the state legislature. Noem brings less relevant experience to the Cabinet job than recent homeland security secretaries, including those who served during Trump’s first term.
CIA director
John Ratcliffe
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The director of the CIA manages the government’s premier agency tasked with the acquisition of foreign intelligence through human sources, analyzing all sources of intelligence and conducting covert action.
📝 About Trump’s pick
John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman and federal prosecutor, has been named as the new director of the CIA. He served as director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021 in the first Trump administration. He is viewed as a stalwart Trump loyalist.
White House chief of staff
Susie Wiles
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
The chief of staff is often considered the president’s gatekeeper, shaping his schedule and presidential access to him. They serve as a close adviser and also oversee White House staffing.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Susie Wiles, was Trump’s campaign manager, leading his operation since 2021, and played a big role in charting his comeback. She will be the first female White House chief of staff.
Council of Economic Advisers chair
The White House Council of Economic Advisers is primarily responsible for providing analyses about the effect of administration proposals on the economy. The council, led by a chair, is traditionally viewed as a safeguard against ideas from other parts of the administration that could prove harmful to the economy.
📝 Potential picks
Casey Mulligan is a University of Chicago economist who served in Trump’s first administration. He is a conservative and strident critic of President Joe Biden’s administration and has been floated by some officials as a potential choice for the post. He also published a book in 2020 about the “untold successes and failures” of Trump’s first administration.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Lee Zeldin
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The EPA chief will play a central role in the Trump administration’s rollbacks of the Biden administration’s environmental rules. Under Trump, the agency is expected to weaken or scrap dozens of protections for the nation’s air, water and climate, including strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars and power plants. The EPA boss will oversee a workforce of nearly 15,000 employees at the headquarters in Washington as well as 10 regional offices.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Lee Zeldin, a former New York congressman who ran a failed campaign for New York governor in 2022, is a lawyer by trade and does not have an extensive background in environmental issues. During his time in Congress, he sought to protect the Long Island Sound from dredge sediment dumping. But he also voted to end Clean Air Act standards and has a 14 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters, an environmental group, for his votes against many environmental bills, with the notable exception involving a measure to protect ecologically and culturally significant areas. He has been a strong defender of Trump, especially during his first impeachment and after he lost the 2020 election.
Office of Management and Budget director
Russell Vought
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The office implements budget policy across the administration, overseeing spending and regulation.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Russell Vought was the director of the Office of Management and Budget early in Trump’s first presidency, and according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private conversations, Trump is leaning toward naming Vought to once again lead the office. Vought wrote a chapter of Project 2025 on transforming the executive office and if named to the position, is expected in his capacity to work closely with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s government efficiency panel. Vought is expected to meet with Trump about the job Wednesday at Mar-a-Lago, two of the people said.
Director of national intelligence
Tulsi Gabbard
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The director of national intelligence serves as the head of the U.S. intelligence community, acting as principal adviser to the president on intelligence matters related to national security and overseeing a budget of $76.5 billion.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Tulsi Gabbard is a former Democratic representative from Hawaii who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 and later became a Republican. Gabbard, a military veteran, is a critic of foreign wars and helped Trump throughout the campaign – even preparing him for the debate. Trump indicated in his announcement that he thinks Gabbard’s history as a Democrat could help her win Senate confirmation, but she is still likely to face tough questions from members of both parties over her unorthodox foreign policy views.
Trade representative
Jamieson Greer
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The trade representative is responsible for negotiating trade agreement with foreign governments and pushing forward the president’s policy positions. Trump appears “very serious” about his proposed tariffs, which are likely to be an “entry point” for negotiations, according to an individual who talks to the president-elect, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. It is Trump’s commerce secretary, and not the trade representative, however, that will control the new administration’s “tariff and trade agenda” if confirmed.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Jamieson Greer is a partner at King & Spalding in Washington, D.C., and served as chief of staff to U.S. Trade Representative Robert E. Lighthizer in Trump’s first term.
Ambassador to the United Nations
Elise Stefanik
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The U.N. ambassador is the United States’ America’s representative at the United Nations, and meets regularly with the representatives of other countries to advance U.S. priorities and relationships on the world stage.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Elise Stefanik, a congresswoman from New York, is the fourth most senior Republican in the House, as chair of the House Republican Conference, and has been an outspoken defender of Trump in recent years. Stefanik has been deeply hostile to the United Nations, referring to it in recent months as “corrupt, defunct, and paralyzed”; “a cesspool of antisemitism” and as a entity that “rewards barbaric Iranian terrorists while punishing Israel for defending itself,”; and she has called U.N. Secretary -General António Guterres “an absolute disgrace.” Stefanik recently proposed withdrawing U.S. membership from the United Nations, should the body resist certain changes reform sought by the Trump administration.
Border czar
Tom Homan
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
This is a new senior official position in the Trump White House that is intended to help oversee the U.S. border and the deportation of undocumented immigrants.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Tom Homan is a former police officer, Border Patrol agent and special immigration agent investigating fraud and other crimes. Homan has years of experience running deportation operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and he served as the agency’s acting director under Trump from January 2017 to June 2018. He won praise for deporting serious criminals under President Barack Obama but faced criticism for separating migrant families under Trump. The Senate never confirmed Homan, and he later became a Fox News analyst.
Energy czar
Doug Burgum
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
This is a new role in the Trump administration that is intended to help repeal climate rules, scrap clean-energy subsidies and boost oil and gas production on millions of acres of federal lands nationwide.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Doug Burgum is governor of North Dakota and also Trump’s pick to lead the Department of the Interior. Trump has said that, as “energy czar,” Burgum would lead a new National Energy Council comprising all agencies and departments involved in the production, regulation and transportation of energy in the United States. In this role, Burgum could address a number of Trump’s priorities on energy, including plans to revoke limits on planet-warming pollution from cars and power plants, end a “pause” on new exports of liquefied natural gas, and abdicate America’s leadership role in global climate negotiations. Two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, also had a top White House climate and energy adviser that did not serve in the Cabinet.
Department of Government Efficiency
This is a new commission Trump has created to cut government spending and regulation. Trump has said the department would operate outside of government to drive “drastic change,” while partnering with the White House and its budget office to provide recommendations to slash regulations, cut staff and overhaul federal operations. It is unclear how such an effort would be funded or run.
NAMED
Elon Musk is a tech billionaire who was one of Trump’s top donors and most vocal supporters during his presidential campaign. During the campaign, Musk championed the idea of this commission, calling for huge cuts to the federal budget and workforce. Musk’s role in leading this effort could pose a conflict of interest given many of his businesses, like SpaceX, rely on government contracts and subsidies, and he has long criticized government regulation of his firms. Musk has adopted the nickname “DOGE” for the commission, a reference to a meme-based cryptocurrency he also touted.
Vivek Ramaswamy is a former pharmaceutical executive who ran in the 2024 Republican primary as a staunch defender of Trump. During that campaign, Ramaswamy rose to prominence and embraced extreme cuts to the federal government — at one point calling for reducing the workforce by more than 75 percent.
National Economic Council director
Kevin Hassett
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
The director of the White House National Economic Council is typically responsible for setting the president’s agenda on a wide array of economic policy matters, including taxes, trade, government spending and more. Trump has pledged to extend his 2017 tax cuts and push for additional corporate tax reductions, and he announced plans to impose new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China — the top three U.S. trading partners — on Monday.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Kevin Hassett served as chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers during Trump’s first term in office and advised Trump on economic policy during the 2024 presidential campaign. A conservative economist who worked for the American Enterprise Institute, a center-right think tank, Hassett is now a fellow in economics at the Hoover Institution, another right-leaning think tank.
National security adviser
Michael Waltz
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
The role and power of the national security adviser vary from president to president. Officially, the adviser coordinates among the members of the National Security Council — the secretaries of state and defense, and the heads of other security agencies — to formulate options for the president on security issues and strategies, and sees that presidential decisions are carried out. But the adviser, based just steps from the Oval Office, has often been a powerful influence on those decisions.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Michael Waltz, a Florida congressman and retired Special Forces officer, has been tapped to be Trump’s national security adviser. Waltz advised George W. Bush’s administration on defense at the Pentagon and the White House, and in Congress, he is known as a China hawk. He serves on the House Armed Services Committee, the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Intelligence Committee.
Other senior White House roles
There are a number of senior White House roles, but here are a few of the key positions that will likely play an outsized role in shaping the president’s agenda:
NAMED
James Blair, deputy chief of staff: Blair was the political director on Trump’s presidential campaign and as a deputy chief of staff will focus on legislative, political and public affairs.
Taylor Budowich, deputy chief of staff: Budowich ran Trump’s main super PAC, MAGA Inc., before joining the campaign. He is a trusted lieutenant of Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and will focus on communications and personnel.
Dan Scavino, deputy chief of staff: Scavino was a senior adviser on Trump’s presidential campaign and a longtime top social media aide and confidante to Trump.
Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff: Miller was also a senior advisor on Trump’s presidential campaign and is his top immigration adviser and speechwriter. Miller will focus on homeland security.
Steven Cheung, communications director: Cheung was a top communications adviser on Trump’s presidential campaign and will now serve as his communications director in the White House.
William McGinley, White House counsel: McGinley previously served as the White House Cabinet secretary under Trump and as general counsel to the National Republican Senatorial Committee. This role is expected to be central in the incoming president’s plan to expand executive authority.
White House press secretary
Karoline Leavitt
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
The press secretary is the president’s most visible spokesperson. Traditionally, they hold regular briefings for reporters — which grew especially combative and less frequent in Trump’s first term. Past press secretaries for Trump include Sarah Huckabee Sanders, now the governor of Arkansas, and Sean Spicer, who famously began his tenure by insisting, inaccurately, that Trump drew the largest-ever audience to witness a presidential inauguration.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Karoline Leavitt was a national press secretary for Trump’s 2024 campaign who handled inquiries from reporters and played a highly visible role on TV. An alum of the first Trump administration and a former congressional candidate, she shares Trump’s criticisms of the press. “I have the great pleasure of fighting the fake news media all day, every day,” she said in a warm-up speech at one of Trump’s rallies.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director
Dave Weldon
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The mission of the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director is to protect the public’s health through disease prevention, health promotion, and preparedness. For the first time, the position will require Senate confirmation.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Dave Weldon, a former Florida congressman, was praised by Trump for being “a respected conservative leader on fiscal and social issues” and for having “successfully worked with the CDC to enact a ban on patents for human embryos.” While in Congress, Weldon supported the idea that a vaccine preservative had caused a spike in autism cases around the world — a claim that has been debunked by scientists.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator
Mehmet Oz
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The agency provides health insurance to more than 150 million Americans, including low-income Americans, older Americans, children and other vulnerable populations. It is responsible for more than $1 trillion in annual spending.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Mehmet Oz is a well-known TV physician and former Republican Senate candidate. Oz gained national attention for his appearances as a health expert on Oprah Winfrey’s television show before hosting his own Winfrey-backed TV program. His claims on that show, including segments on possible weight-loss regimens and dietary supplements, were frequently panned by public health experts. Oz also pressed federal officials in 2020 to authorize the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment. Trump publicly touted the drug despite repeated warnings from health officials that it was unproven as a possible treatment for the virus. The CMS director reports to the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Trump has named Kennedy to that role, which also requires Senate confirmation.
DEA administrator
Chad Chronister
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The Drug Enforcement Administration enforces laws and regulations of controlled substances in the U.S. The change in DEA leadership comes as the agency — and the nation — is still grappling with a drug crisis fueled by the flow of illicit fentanyl primarily made in Mexico with precursor chemicals from China.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Chad Chronister is the sheriff of Hillsborough County, Florida. He has three decades of law enforcement experience, but seemingly little time in the national spotlight or working directly for federal agencies. He will replace current DEA administrator Anne Milgram.
FBI Director
Kash Patel
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The FBI is an agency within the Justice Department and is the country’s premier law enforcement agency. Directors typically have 10-year tenures — unique among appointments in the executive branch — so Trump would have to fire FBI Director Christopher A. Wray for his pick to take over the bureau. The agency, however, has long been a target of Trump’s anger. While in office and afterward, Trump derided it as “badly broken” and said it “lost the confidence of America.” Trump has also singled out Wray, whom he picked to be the FBI director during his first term, for criticism over the years.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Kash Patel is Trump’s pick to replace FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. Patel is a staunch loyalist and former Justice Department prosecutor, who worked in Trump’s first administration. He advised on counterterrorism before moving to the Defense Department as chief of staff to acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller during Trump’s final months in office after he lost the 2020 election. Previously, Patel was an adviser to then-Rep. Devin Nunes when the California Republican and Trump ally chaired the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 and 2018. He was a leading critic of the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and has publicly mused about targeting journalists and government officials, publishing a list of “deep state” names in a book last year titled “Government Gangsters.”
Federal Communications Commission chairman
Brendan Carr
NAMED
Does not require Senate confirmation
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent government agency that regulates TV and radio broadcasting, telephone and internet service providers, as well as satellites.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Brendan Carr is the senior Republican among the FCC’s five commissioners. He has worked at the agency since 2012 and was appointed a commissioner in 2017 by Trump, rising through the ranks as an aide to Republican FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. Earlier this year, Carr laid out an aggressive agenda for the FCC that involved targeting social media companies in Project 2025, a conservative proposal for Trump’s second term developed by the Heritage Foundation. Carr has been a vocal supporter of billionaire Elon Musk and an advocate of tougher restrictions on China.
Food and Drug Administration commissioner
Marty Makary
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The Food and Drug Administration is a roughly $7 billion agency charged with making decisions touching the daily lives of every American. It is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Marty Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and Fox News contributor. Trump said in his announcement post on Truth Social that Makary will focus on evaluating “harmful chemicals poisoning” in the food supply and drugs given to youths, in an effort to focus on the childhood chronic disease epidemic.
National Institutes of Health director
Jay Bhattacharya
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The National Institutes of Health is a nearly $50 billion agency that oversees the nation’s biomedical research. It is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Jay Bhattacharya is a Stanford-trained physician and economist, who emerged as a prominent critic of the federal government’s coronavirus response and was among several academics who met with Trump in the Oval Office in August 2020, telling the then-president the coronavirus pandemic was not as severe as public health officials had warned. Bhattacharya has called for shifting the agency’s focus toward funding more innovative research and reducing the influence of some of its longest-serving career officials, among other ideas.
Surgeon general
Janette Nesheiwat
NAMED
Requires Senate confirmation
The role, frequently invoked as America’s doctor, has a large bully pulpit, if limited federal resources. Recent surgeons general have used their perch to warn about the dangers of opioids, social media and loneliness. The surgeon general also oversees the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, a cadre of uniformed medical personnel who help provide care in rural and isolated parts of America.
📝 About Trump’s pick
Janette Nesheiwat is Trump’s pick for the next surgeon general. “Dr. Nesheiwat is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health,” Trump said in a statement. “She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives.” Nesheiwat is a double board-certified medical doctor who serves as a medical contributor on Fox News.