President-elect Donald Trump has been rolling out staffing decisions for his incoming administration, naming some of his top allies to prominent positions in his Cabinet and beyond.
With a slew of dramatic changes expected in his second term, Trump will rely on his band of loyalists to carry out his agenda. The president-elect has demanded Senate Republicans allow his picks to skirt the Senate confirmation process — an extraordinary blow to the country’s system of checks and balances should his party members oblige him.
Here are all the staffing decisions Trump has made for his second term so far.
Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff
Wiles, who worked on all three of Trump’s presidential campaigns, will be the first woman to hold the position in the Oval Office. But it is a notoriously challenging role under Trump, who cycled through four chiefs of staff in his first term.
Wiles, the 67-year-old daughter of the late NFL legend Pat Summerall, is the only campaign manager to have lasted an entire Trump campaign, according to The New York Times.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff for policy
The president-elect has announced Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy, which would likely task an immigration hard-liner to the job of implementing Trump’s mass deportation plan.
Miller served as a senior White House adviser in the first Trump administration. He’s widely considered to be one of the chief architects of the first Trump administration’s Muslim travel ban, which sought to restrict U.S. travel and immigration from several countries with large Muslim populations.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Rep. Mike Waltz, national security adviser
Waltz, a Florida Republican, is a Trump loyalist who has echoed Trump’s complaint about a “woke” military. He is a member of the House Armed Services, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees. He also served in the Defense Department during the George W. Bush administration and was a counterterrorism adviser to then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
Waltz is widely seen as hawkish on China. A member of the House’s China Task Force, he has argued that the United States is not sufficiently prepared for a conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Tom Homan, border czar
Homan, a former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, will play a major role in carrying out the president-elect’s hard-line immigration agenda.
Trump has repeatedly said on the campaign trail that he would enact “the largest deportation program in American history,” a plan that would pose monumental logistical, financial and personnel challenges. Trump told NBC News last week that there would be no “price tag” on his mass deportation plan.
Earlier this year, Homan said that if Trump wins the election, he’d be on Trump’s “heels” and “run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen.” Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Homan — who was significantly involved in the first Trump administration’s family separation policy — said ICE would implement Trump’s deportation program in a “humane manner.”
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, Environmental Protection Agency administrator
In a statement released Nov. 11, Trump said he will appoint Zeldin, a New York Republican, to lead the EPA.
“He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump said in his statement.
The president-elect has vowed to roll back President Joe Biden’s climate regulation policies, and he has said he will withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement. Zeldin has little experience with environmental regulation, but he has similarly criticized Biden’s climate policies and voted against the Paris Agreement in the House.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
Stefanik, one of Trump’s staunchest allies in the House, will be nominated as United Nations ambassador.
As my colleague Hayes Brown has pointed out, the New York Republican has little diplomatic experience other than her vocal support for Israel in Congress. She has also criticized the U.N. over the organization’s opposition to Israel’s brutal military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel
Trump announced Tuesday that he will appoint Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, as ambassador to Israel. “He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike will work tirelessly to bring about Peace in the Middle East!”
Huckabee has been a vocal defender of Israel’s war on Hamas. He has also advocated against a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas, saying that Israel should “eradicate them.”
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Steven Witkoff, special envoy to the Middle East
Trump picked Witkoff, a New York real estate investor and golf buddy, to serve as his special envoy to the Middle East.
“Steve is a Highly Respected Leader in Business and Philanthropy, who has made every project and community he has been involved with stronger and more prosperous,” Trump said in a statement announcing his selection.
Witkoff, who is Jewish, helped recruit pro-Israel donors to Trump’s campaign. “I personally received and helped secure large Jewish donors,” he told The Bulwark in May, adding: “[A]nd I’m not talking four-figure donations. I’m talking six-figure and seven-figure donations.”
He is also co-chairing Trump’s inaugural committee alongside former Sen. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, the Trump campaign has said.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
John Ratcliffe, CIA director
Trump tapped Ratcliffe, who served as the director of national intelligence during his first term, to serve as the head of the CIA in his second administration.
Critics accused Ratcliffe, a former congressman from Texas, of politicizing national intelligence during his time as the DNI.
He is currently a co-chair of the Center for American Security at the Trump-aligned group America First Policy Institute.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Pete Hegseth, defense secretary
Trump nominated Hegseth, a Fox News host and Army veteran, to lead the Defense Department.
“With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice — Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down,” Trump said in a statement. He continued: “Nobody fights harder for the Troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘Peace through Strength’ policy.
The 44-year-old Minnesota native has falsely claimed that Democrats created variants of the Covid virus for political purposes.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Kristi Noem, homeland security secretary
Trump plans to nominate Noem, South Dakota’s Republican governor, to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
As NBC News reported, the 52-year-old former congresswoman has “no significant experience with homeland security issues but has voiced support for Trump’s hard-line immigration policies.”
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Dan Scavino, deputy White House chief of staff
A longtime political adviser to Trump, Scavino will return to the White House as an assistant to the president and the deputy White House chief of staff. He served as deputy White House chief of staff for communications and White House director of social media during Trump’s first administration.
Scavino’s close relationship with Trump began in the 1990s when he was hand-picked at 16 years old to serve as the real estate mogul’s golf caddie.
In announcing his new role, the Trump transition described Scavino as one of Trump’s “longest serving and most trusted aides.”
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Sen. Marco Rubio, secretary of state
Trump said he will nominate Rubio, a fellow Florida Republican, to be secretary of state.
Rubio, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and vice chair of the Select Committee on Intelligence, is more hawkish than Trump on foreign policy. But the president-elect’s allies have said that Rubio is seen as a pick who can appeal to Trump’s isolationist tendencies without alienating foreign allies, NBC News reported.
A former fierce critic of the president-elect, Rubio has returned to Trump’s good graces in recent years and was even rumored to be on the shortlist for his vice presidential pick earlier this year.
Rubio would be the first Latino to serve as secretary of state.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence
Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress-turned-Republican ally to Trump, will be nominated as his director of national intelligence.
A U.S. Army reserve officer, Gabbard served in the U.S. House of Representatives and ran a failed presidential campaign in 2020. In 2017, she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a trip that sparked intense criticism.
Gabbard announced in 2022 that she was leaving the Democratic Party. She was an independent for a short time before joining the Republican Party — and Trump’s campaign — earlier this year. She is currently a co-chair of Trump’s transition team.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
