Who Has Trump Tapped For His Cabinet?
While returning president-elect Donald Trump's announcement to tap Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida as his secretary of state garnered some bipartisan support, other cabinet picks for the second Trump administration are more controversial.
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-01) was Trump's pick for attorney general, which turned some heads as Gaetz had recently been embroiled in ethics investigations that eventually led him to resign from Congress. The 42-year-old has since stepped away from the nomination due to the scandal that involved sexual relations with a minor. Pam Bondi, lawyer and long-time Trump ally, is the new pick.
Trump also picked Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense. The TV host, Fox News contributor, author, veteran and Army National Guard officer has no political experience but had reportedly also been considered for Trump's first cabinet. Military insiders told Politico the unusual choice caught them off guard. This was followed up by the pick of Linda McMahon as education secretary. The former wrestler and co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment had served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 during the first Trump term, but the choice was criticized due to McMahon's lack of experience in the education sector. John F. Kennedy Jr., who has supported vaccine conspiracy theories, was slated to head the Department of Health and Human Services. His supporter, TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, is the pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Another Covid critic, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, is to lead the National Institutes of Health.
Lee Zeldin as EPA administrator stands for Trump's push for deregulation of the agency. Trump's pick of fracking executive Chris Wright as energy secretary is in a similar vein, as are the choices of crypto advisor Paul Atkins as Securities and Exchange Commission chair and Brendan Carr as Federal Communications Commission chair, the latter being expected to have a deregulation agenda as well. Trump also announced that he would create a new department for government efficiency, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at the helm. Musk ally and venture capitalist David Sacks will serve as "White House AI & Crypto Czar".
Trump picked some more well-known Republicans for cabinet-level roles as well. Tulsi Gabbard is set to serve as Director of National Intelligence. The former Democratic Congresswoman, National Guard member, veteran and former presidential candidate hails from Hawaii. Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, was tapped to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21) is another relative newcomer in Washington and is slated as the U.S. embassador to the UN. Noem and Stefanik have made names for themselves as firebrands in the Republican Party. More moderate picks are Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor and John Ratcliffe as CIA director. Another relevant choice is Russell Vought as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Already having been active on budget in Trump's first term, he is one of the creators of Project 2025, which is aiming to built a class of non-appointed federal employees known as Schedule F, which are loyal to the president and not their department or agency.