Trump's return to the White House: his cabinet choices so far

Donald Trump, fresh off an election win earlier this month that capped a stunning comeback, is quickly announcing plans for an emboldened new administration.

Trump's first term as president between 2017 and 2021 was marked by heavy turnover, and he made strategic use at times of having people serve in an acting capacity in cabinet-level positions for several months.

Cabinet positions, along with several other administration roles, generally require Senate approval. In a social media post on Nov. 10, Trump said anyone seeking to be Republican majority leader must agree not to stand in the way of temporary presidential appointments.

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So-called recess appointments are a practice generally shunned since a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2014, and are meant to be used when the chamber has a legitimate break. At least one constitutional expert has expressed concern that Trump could be looking to circumvent challenging confirmation hearings on contentious nominees.

In addition to his cabinet choices, the fate of FBI director Christopher Wray will also be closely watched. Wray, a Republican, was appointed by Trump but has been criticized by the former president given the role of FBI agents in helping investigate cases that led to criminal indictments he faced.

Scott Bessent, treasury secretary

Trump has picked Scott Bessent as his nominee for treasury secretary. The image above shows the two men at an event in Asheville, N.C., in August 2024. (Matt Kelley/The Associated Press)

Bessent's name had been floated for some time as a possible treasury secretary. Trump called Bessent "one of the top analysts on Wall Street" at an event in October and made the nomination official on Nov. 22.

The 62-year-old Bessent founded the 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 country's first openly gay treasury secretary.

Pam Bondi, attorney general

Pam Bondi is seen attending a campaign event for Donald Trump, in Gastonia, N.C., on Nov. 2, just a few days ahead of the U.S. presidential election. Trump won the Oval Office made Bondi his substituted pick for his attorney general, after Matt Gaetz withdrew his own name from consideration for the role. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

Bondi was substituted as Trump's pick for attorney general after his initial choice — former Republican congressman Matt Gaetz — withdrew his name from consideration on Nov. 21.

Bondi, 59, is a longtime Trump ally and a former attorney general for the state of Florida.

She's also been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, a think-tank set up by former Trump administration staffers.

Gaetz's short-lived candidacy for the role was controversial from the get-go. He stepped aside amid continued fallout over a federal sex trafficking investigation that cast doubt on his ability to be confirmed as the nation's chief federal law enforcement officer. Gaetz vehemently denied the allegations, but his nomination stunned many career lawyers inside the Justice Department. Gaetz, who passed the bar but barely worked as a lawyer, had little relevant experience for the job.

Bondi comes with years of legal work under her belt and that other trait Trump prizes above all: loyalty.

Doug Collins, veterans affairs secretary

Former Republican Rep. Doug Collins speaks at a campaign event for Donald Trump that was held in Atlanta last month. (John Bazemore/The Associated Press)

Collins, a former congressman from Georgia, is the president-elect's choice to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.

"We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform," Trump said in a statement.

Collins, 58, is a chaplain in the U.S. air force reserve command. The Republican served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 and helped defend Trump during his first impeachment process.

Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence

Tulsi Gabbard is seen at a Trump campaign event held in Pittsburgh on Nov. 4, the day before the 2024 U.S. presidential election. (Matt Freed/The Associated Press)

Trump has chosen Tulsi Gabbard, a 43-year-old former Democratic representative and critic of the Biden administration, as his director of national intelligence.

Gabbard, who left the Democratic party in 2022 to become an independent and was considered a possible candidate to become Trump's running mate, would take over from Avril Haines as the top official in the U.S. intelligence community after the Republican president-elect starts his second term in January.

She is not expected to face difficulty being confirmed in the Senate, where Trump's fellow Republicans will hold a majority of seats starting early next year.

"I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our intelligence community, championing our constitutional rights and securing peace through strength," Trump said in a statement.

Gabbard has little direct experience with intelligence work and had not been widely expected to be tapped for the post.

She was deployed in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a major in the Hawaii National Guard and is now a lieutenant-colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Pete Hegseth, secretary of defence

Fox and Friends co-host Pete Hegseth interviews Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 6, 2017. Hegseth helped push for Trump to weigh in on cases involving soldiers accused of war crimes. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Trump's announcement of his intention to nominate Hegseth, a 44-year-old Fox News anchor, to lead the Pentagon seemed to catch even some Republican legislators off guard, with reactions on Capitol Hill ranging from "wow" to "who?" to "interesting."

After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay. He then lobbied on behalf of Eddie Gallagher and Mathew Golsteyn, military members accused of war crimes, leading to an unprecedented intervention by a U.S. president as military tribunals were examining the allegations.

Hegseth, who has complained about "woke" diversity initiatives within the military and questioned women having combat roles, has never led a large organization, let alone one with an estimated 24,000 employees as the Pentagon. The next defence secretary confronts a tumultuous geopolitical situation that includes an emboldened North Korea, Russia's war on Ukraine and Israel's war with Hamas and Hezbollah, which has exacerbated already poor relations between Israel and Iran.

"I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our service members," Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a social media post on Tuesday. "Donald Trump's pick will make us less safe and must be rejected."

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., health and human services secretary

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., attends a rally for Trump in Milwaukee on Nov. 1, just a few days before the U.S. presidential election. (Morry Gash/The Associated Press)

Kennedy made a presidential run as an Independent candidate in 2024, eventually suspending it and throwing his support to Trump. That has culminated in Trump announcing that he'll make Kennedy his pick for health and human services secretary.

If Kennedy, a lawyer and anti-vaccine activist, ends up taking on that role, he'll take charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.

The 70-year-old Kennedy is the son of the late U.S. senator Robert Kennedy. He's also the nephew of the late president John F. Kennedy. Both his father and his uncle died in separate assassinations in the 1960s.

Howard Lutnick, commerce secretary

Howard Lutnick is seen speaking alongside Donald Trump in Auburn Hills, Mich., in October 2024. (Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images)

Two weeks after the U.S. election, Trump announced that he wants Lutnick, head of brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, to be his pick for commerce secretary.

Serving in that role, Lutnick would have a key role in carrying out Trump's plans to raise and enforce tariffs.

The nomination would also put Lutnick in charge of a sprawling cabinet agency that is involved in funding new computer chip factories, imposing trade restrictions, releasing economic data and monitoring the weather. It is also a position in which connections to CEOs and the wider business community are crucial.

Linda McMahon, education secretary

Linda McMahon is seen speaking at the Milwaukee-hosted Republican National Convention this past July. Trump has nominated her as education secretary. (Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images)

McMahon served in Trump's first administration and appears set to do so again, with Trump naming the former pro-wrestling mogul as his pick to lead the Education Department.

During Trump's first term, McMahon led the U.S. Small Business Administration.

After that, she became the chair of the board of the America First Policy Institute, a think-tank created by Trump supporters and former officials who have been preparing for his return to government. McMahon has also been chair of the pro-Trump America First Action SuperPAC.

Kristi Noem, homeland security secretary

Trump and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem are shown during a Republican Party campaign rally in Oaks, Pa., on Oct. 14. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

Noem grew up on a farm and interned on Capitol Hill, before serving in both U.S. and state legislatures. She was elected governor in 2019, but a memoir released this year of her life and career was criticized both for factually dubious anecdotes and her description of shooting dead a misbehaving dog.

South Dakota has one of the lowest percentages of foreign-born citizens of any state, but Noem, 52, has made asylum and irregular immigration from the southern border a preoccupation. She sent state National Guard troops for Texas's controversial Operation Lone Star.

Noem has claimed that drugs are flooding her state due to a porous border, though federal government statistics indicate the vast majority comes through points of entry, not between them. Reporting to her could be Tom Homan, a Trump pick to lead Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Homan has spoken enthusiastically about large-scale deportations of those in the country without legal status.

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Mehmet Oz, head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services

Dr. Mehmet Oz is shown in courtside seats during a basketball game between the Atlanta Hawks against the Miami Heat at State Farm Arena in January 2023. (Dale Zanine/USA TODAY Sports)

Trump wants Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Dr. Oz will be a leader in incentivizing disease prevention, so we get the best results in the world for every dollar we spend on health care in our great country," Trump said in a statement.

"He will also cut waste and fraud within our country's most expensive government agency, which is a third of our nation's health-care spend, and a quarter of our entire national budget."

The physician-turned-TV host made a unsuccessful run for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania two years ago but was bested at the polls by now-Sen. John Fetterman.

Oz has been an outspoken supporter of Trump's, and in recent days expressed support for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination by Trump for the nation's top health agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

As the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Oz would report to Kennedy.

John Ratcliffe, CIA director

John Ratcliffe is shown testifying before a House of Representatives subcommittee on April 18, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Ratcliffe, a 59-year-old U.S. attorney in the George W. Bush administration serving the Eastern District of Texas, was a congressman from the state for five years. Once rejected as a nominee for director of national intelligence in 2019 after bipartisan Senate criticism over his lack of experience and some questionable claims on his resumé, he was confirmed by the chamber several months later.

He faced criticism just weeks before election day in 2020 for declassifying Russian intelligence alleging damaging information about Democrats while acknowledging that it was unverified. While Democrats decried the move as a partisan stunt that politicized intelligence, even former Trump defence secretary Mark Esper suggested in his 2022 book A Sacred Oath that it was inappropriate.

Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of state

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio arrives at a rally for Trump in Allentown, Pa., on Oct. 29. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

Trump said he would nominate Rubio, a veteran Republican senator from Florida, to be his pick for U.S. secretary of state.

The 53-year-old Rubio supported Trump during his presidential run, and reportedly had been in the running to be the president-elect's running mate. The two men had a more adversarial relationship in the past.

The conservative lawmaker is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran.

On Capitol Hill, Rubio is the vice-chairman of the Senate intelligence committee and a member of the Senate foreign relations committee.

Elise Stefanik, ambassador to United Nations

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik is shown at a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 10. (Cliff Owen/The Associated Press)

Stefanik, a Republican House member since 2014, appeared skeptical of Trump initially but over time became one of his most vociferous supporters. She was among many Republicans who objected to the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election win; she is also one of very few who have mimicked Trump's description of defendants charged and sentenced in the 2021 Capitol riot as "hostages," seeming to indicate they were political prisoners.

Stefanik, 40, saw her profile rise after the Israel-Hamas war for her aggressive questioning of American university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses. She has gone as far as calling last month for a "complete reassessment" of U.S. funding for the United Nations, and could be viewed with suspicion at the UN by some countries in the Middle East after helping push for the blocking of American support for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

Lee Zeldin, environmental protection agency administrator

Lee Zeldin is shown speaking at a political rally in Concord, N.H., on Jan. 19. After an unsuccessful bid for New York governor, Zeldin is set to be back in federal politics. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)

Zeldin, 44, who ran for governor of New York in 2022, previously served eight years in the House of Representatives and was among the Republicans in Congress who voted against certifying the 2020 election results. He did not serve on any House committees with oversight of environmental policy and had a low lifetime score of 14 per cent from advocacy group the League of Conservation Voters during his eight years in Congress.

Trump is in favour of boosting production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, the main causes of climate change. He has vowed to end subsidies for wind power that were included in legislation signed by U.S. President Joe Biden two years ago.

In his first turn as president, Trump rolled back more than 100 environmental laws and regulations.

Chris Wright, energy secretary

Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright rings a ceremonial bell at the New York Stock Exchange in January 2018. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

CEO of Denver-based Liberty Energy, Wright is a vocal advocate of oil and gas development, including fracking, a key pillar of Trump's quest to achieve U.S. "energy dominance" in the global market.

Wright has been one of the industry's loudest voices against efforts to fight climate change and could give fossil fuels a boost, including quick action to end a year-long pause on natural gas export approvals by the Biden administration.

He has criticized what he calls a "top-down" approach to climate by liberal and left-wing groups and said the climate movement around the world is "collapsing under its own weight."

Brooke Rollins, agriculture secretary

Trump looks on as Brooke Rollins speaks during a prison reform roundtable in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in January 2018. (Carolyn Kaster/The Associated Press)

Rollins, who graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in agricultural development, is a longtime Trump associate who served as his former domestic policy chief.

She is president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, a group helping to lay the groundwork for a second Trump administration.

Rollins, 52, previously served as an aide to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and ran a think-tank, the Texas Public Policy Foundation.