Donald Trump is building his team, appointing cabinet members and key advisors. In key roles he has placed those he considers his loyalists. Trump has chosen Robert F. Kennedy Jr., anti-vax activist as next Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. “HHS will play an important role in helping ensure that everyone is protected from the harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country,” the president-elect wrote on . A source told CNN that Kennedy accepted the offer. Kennedy was in Palm Beach, Florida, for several days after the election. Here’s how the new US administration is taking shape:
Susie Wiles: Chief of Staff
She is the first nominee by Trump, who served as co-coordinator of the election campaign and will be the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff. She has worked for Trump on and off since 2016. Wiles ran the campaign quietly, making very few public or media appearances, although Trump proudly introduced her during his election night speech in Palm Beach as “the damsel of ice”.
Stephen Miller: Deputy Chief of Staff
He will have policy responsibility, a role that would see him play a leading role in drafting and implementing the administration’s immigration agenda that includes plans for mass deportations of illegal immigrants. He is one of Trump’s longest-serving and most trusted advisors. She worked with him on the 2016 presidential campaign before becoming a senior White House adviser.
Bill McGinley: White House Counsel
He served as White House cabinet secretary during Trump’s first term. During the 2024 elections, he took on a new role as outside election integrity counsel at the Republican National Committee.
The White House general counsel role serves as the president’s go-to legal advisor on ethics, oversight, and judicial appointments and is also the point of contact between the White House and the Department of Justice.
Pete Hegseth: Defense Minister
An unexpected choice, that of the Fox News host, which differs from most of those of Trump’s staff who largely come from political roles in federal and state governments. Hegseth is an Army National Guard veteran, serving tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo as an infantry officer. During his military service, he was awarded two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman Badge. He has already stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy by saying he doesn’t want women in roles in the army forces that could take them into combat theaters.
Matt Gaetz: Attorney General
He is the most discussed choice so far: the congressman from Florida has been a faithful ally of Trump in the House since his first term, he was the main promoter of the political defenestration of Kevin McCarthy who had not blocked an investigation by the House Ethics Committee linked to sex and drug trafficking charges leveled against Gaetz. Charges that Gaetz rejected, noting that a related FBI investigation that began in 2020 had been closed without charges. If confirmed, Gaetz would supervise the FBI.
“Matt is a tenacious and deeply gifted lawyer, educated at William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress by his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice,” Trump said on Truth, its social media platform. “Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan militarization of our justice system. Matt will end militarized government, secure our borders, dismantle criminal organizations, and restore Americans’ badly damaged faith and trust in the Department of Justice “.
Doug Burgum: Secretary of the Interior
Governor of North Dakota, a billionaire-turned-politician like Trump, has been chosen to lead the Interior Department, which oversees federal lands, including their oil and gas production. Burgum is running against Trump in the 2024 Republican primaries.
Doug Collins: Head of the Department of Veterans Affairs
The former congressman is currently a chaplain with the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command. The Republican served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 and helped defend Trump during his first impeachment trial.
Kristi Noem: Secretary of Homeland Security
A role that has considerable weight for Trump, who conducted a very intense electoral campaign on the issue of immigration, promising to carry out mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Noem, a devout Christian and the first woman elected governor of South Dakota, was the first governor to send National Guard soldiers to help Texas fight the border crisis. She also ended up at the center of a storm of controversy for having said in an autobiography that she had shot her hunting dog that was not doing its duty well.
John Ratcliffe: Director of the CIA
He served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, overseeing all 18 of the nation’s intelligence agencies. Known as one of the most conservative members of Congress and an avowed Trump supporter, he has at times questioned the validity of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Marco Rubio: Secretary of State
If confirmed, he would be the first Latino to hold the role of head of US diplomacy. Rubio was a close advisor to Trump on foreign relations and even a leading candidate for vice president until the day Trump announced that he had chosen Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate.
Tulsi Gabbard: Director of National Intelligence
The former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii has changed her political affiliation in recent years, going from a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination to a staunch Trump supporter and conservative media personality. If confirmed for the role, Gabbard, who has been critical of America’s involvement abroad, would oversee all 18 of the country’s intelligence agencies.
Mike Waltz: National Security Advisor
He will play a key role in shaping US policy on geopolitical conflicts, 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 and has established himself as one of China’s leading critics in Congress. Since winning his seat in Congress in 2018, he has supported legislation to reduce U.S. dependence on critical minerals from China and safeguard American colleges and universities from Chinese espionage.
Tom Homan: border ‘czar’
He served as acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Trump’s first term. In his second term he will be “border czar”, a role that does not require Senate confirmation and which will see him responsible for the southern and northern borders of the United States, as well as “all maritime and air security”. A former police and border patrol officer, he worked under six presidents during his three decades in law enforcement. He served as executive associate director of enforcement and removal operations for ICE under President Obama, an administration that completed a record number of deportations.
Mike Huckabee: ambasciatore in Israele
A former governor of Arkansas, he is a longtime supporter of Israel and a critic of the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. He has previously spoken out against efforts to negotiate a ceasefire agreement and called unauthorized settlements in the occupied West Bank “communities.” “Mike has been a great public servant, governor and faith leader for many years,” Trump wrote in the statement announcing his intention to nominate Huckabee. “He loves Israel and the people of Israel and, equally, the people of Israel love him. Mike will work tirelessly to bring peace to the Middle East.”
Elise Stefanik: ambasciatore all’Onu
She was the highest-ranking Republican congresswoman in the House and was a key ally of Trump over the years, so much so that she was talked about as a vice presidential candidate. When Stefanik was elected to represent New York’s 21st district in 2014, she was the youngest woman elected to Congress in American history. Before that, Stefanik began her political career as a moderate conservative, working for George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.
Lee Zeldin: Director of the Environmental Protection Agency
In announcing his pick, Trump said Zeldin will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that are implemented in a way that unleashes the power of American companies,” adding that he will still maintain “the highest environmental standards.” Zeldin, who previously represented Long Island, opposed climate legislation during his tenure in Congress.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: Department for Government Efficiency
The CEO of Tesla and the entrepreneur and candidate in the Republican primaries were chosen to lead the Doge, an obvious homage to Trump’s favorite cryptocurrency of the same name and to the meme of a Shiba Inu. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy “will lead the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, cut excessive regulations, cut wasteful spending and restructure federal agencies,” which he called “essential to the Save America movement.”
Robert F. Kennedy: Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
A long-time environmentalist, he is also a prominent anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist, convinced that childhood vaccines cause autism and that anti-Covid vaccines are deadly.