President-elect Donald Trump has begun announcing nominations to fill his Cabinet and other key positions. Read below for updates on the announcements so far.
Cabinet Nominations
Attorney General: Pam Bondi
Pam Bondi served formerly as the attorney general of Florida from 2011 to 2019, the first woman elected to the office. In 2020, Bondi was one of President Donald Trump's defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial Bondi also served on the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during Trump's first term.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 21, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
*Note: Matt Gaetz was nominated on November 13, 2024 (Statement, Trump Vance Transition). On November 21, Matt Gaetz withdrew from Attorney General consideration.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director: John Ratcliffe
John Ratcliffe is an attorney and previously served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 4th district from 2015 to 2020. Ratcliffe also served as Trump’s director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021. In 2020, Ratcliffe was narrowly confirmed by the Senate to the Director of National Intelligence role but may experience a smoother confirmation process in the Republican-controlled Senate next year.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Defense Secretary: Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend” and has been a contributor with the network since 2014.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard
Tulsi Gabbard served as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021 and was the first Samoan-American member of Congress. Gabbard was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in the 2020 election, but suspended her presidential campaign in March 2020.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 13, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Energy Secretary: Chris Wright
Chris Wright is the CEO of Liberty Energy, an oilfield services firm based in Denver, Colorado. Wright is a board member of Oklo Inc., a nuclear technology company backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman that is developing micro reactors, and EMX RoyaltyWright.
In 1992, Wright founded Pinnacle Technologies, whose innovations helped launch commercial shale gas production and created an industry in hydraulic fracture mapping. Wright served as CEO of Pinnacle until 2006. Wright was Chairman of Stroud Energy, an early shale gas producer, before selling to shale pioneer Range Resources in 2006.
Wright will step down as CEO and chairman of the board at Liberty upon his confirmation as energy secretary. Wright is expected to support President-elect Trump's plan to maximize production of oil and gas and to seek ways to boost electricity generation.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator: Lee Zeldin
Lee Zeldin is a former Representative of New York, a veteran of the U.S. Army. Former Rep. Zeldin served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Financial Services Committee during his seven terms in Congress.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 11, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Health and Human Services Secretary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an environmental lawyer, and founder of the Waterkeeper Alliance and served as its chairman and attorney. Kennedy founded the Children’s Health Defense where he served as chairman and chief litigation counsel. In the 2024 election, Kennedy also ran for president as an independent after initially launching as a Democratic candidate. Kennedy withdrew from the presidential election in August 2024 and endorsed president-elect Donald Trump.
Statement, Trump-Vance Transition (November 14, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Homeland Security Secretary: Kristi Noem
Kristi Noem is the Governor of South Dakota, currently in her second term. Noem is a former Congresswoman and was the U.S. representative for South Dakota’s at-large congressional district from 2011 to 2019, and a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives for the 6th district from 2007 to 2011. In U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s statement, he cited one of her notable moves leading her state: "Kristi has been very strong on Border Security. She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times."
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Interior Secretary: Doug Burgum
Doug Burgum currently serves as the Governor of North Dakota. Burgum has been Governor since 2016 and in January 2024, declined to seek a third term. Burgum also ran against Trump for the GOP presidential nomination this year. After ending his own campaign, Burgum endorsed Trump and became the Trump campaign's leading energy policy advisor. Burgum was also the founder and CEO of Great Plains Software, a company that was acquired by Microsoft in 2001. Burgum was on Trump’s short list to lead the Department of Energy.
Trump made the announcement during a gala for the America First Policy Institute held on November 14
Statement, Trump-Vance Transition (November 15, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
Senator Marco Rubio is currently serving as the senior U.S. Senator from Florida, which he has held since 2011. Senator Rubio served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2008.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 13, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Transportation Secretary: Sean Duffy
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 18, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
United Nations Advisor: Elise Stefanik
Representative Elise Stefanik is the U.S. representative for New York’s 21st congressional district and has represented New York in Congress since 2015. Rep. Stefanik is a former aide to George W. Bush.
Rep. Stefanik’s nomination is expected to face little resistance from Republicans in the Senate due to her position as chair of the House Republican Conference and her extensive relationships across Congress.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 11, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Veterans Affairs Secretary: Doug Collins
Doug Collins is a lawyer and former Congressman of Georgia. Former Rep. Collins served in Congress as the U.S. representative for Georgia's 9th congressional from 2013 to 2021. Collins was vice chairman of the House Republican Conference and a member of the powerful House Rules Committee. Collins ran for U.S. senator of Georgia in 2020. Collins has served as a legal counsel for Trump since leaving Congress three years ago.
Statement, Trump-Vance Transition (November 14, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
White House Picks
Border Czar: Tom Homan
Tom Homan is a former Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director. Homan oversaw ICE under the Trump administration for a year and a half.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Chief of Staff: Susie Wiles
Susie Wiles is Trump’s co-campaign manager for the 2024 election and worked on all three of Trump's presidential campaigns. Wiles will be the first woman to hold the position for any White House. Wiles was the chief strategist in Florida for the 2016 campaign, ran Trump’s Florida campaign in 2020, and then went on to run Trump's Save America PAC.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President: Dan Scavino
Dan Scavino was a senior aide during Trump’s first term and was a point person for Trump’s social media presence during his first presidency.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Energy Czar: Doug Burgum
In addition to being nominated as the Interior Secretary, Doug Burgum was also announced as energy czar. Energy czar is an advisory position that is expected to coordinate the administration’s efforts to slash regulations and increase oil and gas drilling.
Senate confirmation? No.
Homeland Security Adviser, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, and Assistant to the President: Stephen Miller
Stephen Miller is one of Trump’s top immigration advisers. Miller served as senior advisor to Trump and director of speechwriting during Trump’s first presidency. He is credited with shaping Trump’s immigration policies while president.
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
National Security Adviser: Mike Waltz
Representative Mike Waltz is the U.S. representative for Florida's 6th congressional district. Rep. Waltz is a Green Beret veteran who served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. Rep. Waltz was elected to Congress in 2018, replacing Ron DeSantis who had been elected Florida's governor.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
White House Counsel: William McGinley
William McGinley is an election attorney who served as cabinet secretary during Trump's first term. During the 2024 election, McGinley took on a new role as outside counsel for election integrity at the Republican National Committee.
This role serves as the legal adviser for the president regarding ethics, oversight and judicial nominations. General counsel also is the point of contact between the White House and the Justice Department.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Additional Announcements
Department of Government Efficiency: Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy
The Department of Government Efficiency is a new department announced by President-elect Trump on November 12, 2024. The new department would work with the White House and Office of Management & Budget to "drive large scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach" to government never seen before, Trump said.
Trump said in a statement that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy "will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies."
Trump said the new department will "provide advice and guidance from outside of government," signaling the Musk and Ramaswamy roles would be informal, without requiring Senate approval and allowing Musk to remain the head of Tesla.
Elon Musk a businessman and known for his key roles in the space company SpaceX and the automotive company Tesla, Inc. Musk’s other involvements include ownership of X Corp., the company that operates the social media platform X, and his role in the founding of the Boring Company, xAI, Neuralink, and OpenAI.
Vivek Ramaswamy is the founder and CEO of Roivant Sciences, a pharmaceutical company, in 2014. In February 2023, Ramaswamy ran for the Republican Party nomination in the 2024 presidential election and then after dropping out, threw his support behind Trump.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
Deputy Attorney General: Todd Blanche
Todd Blanche is a former federal prosecutor. Blanche represented Trump in several of his legal cases including The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump. Blanche was a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. After leaving the prosecutor’s office, he became a private practice defense lawyer.
Statement, Trump-Vance Transition (November 14, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman: Brandon Carr
Brandon Carr serves as the senior Republican on the FCC, an independent agency that regulates licenses for television and radio, pricing of home internet, and other communications issues in the United States.
The five-person commission will have a 3-2 Democratic majority until next year, when Trump will get to appoint a new member. Carr has also been the commission's general counsel and was confirmed unanimously by the Senate three times and nominated by both Trump and President Biden to the commission.
Senate confirmation? Yes.
Solicitor General: Dean John Sauer
Dean John Sauer is a lawyer and served as the Solicitor General of Missouri from 2017 to 2023. Sauer represented President-elect Donald Trump in his successful appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. United States. Sauer also previously served as a federal prosecutor for five years.
Statement, Trump-Vance Transition (November 14, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Special Envoy to the Middle East: Steven Witkoff
Steven Witkoff is the Chairman and CEO of Witkoff, a company he founded in 1997. Before establishing Witkoff, Steven Witkoff co-founded Stellar Management Company. Earlier in his career, he practiced real estate law at Dreyer & Traub and Rosenman & Colin, where he represented large developers and investors.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? No.
United States Ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee served as governor of Arkansas from 1996-2007, winning two full terms after taking over for former Governor Jim Guy Tucker, who resigned. Huckabee ran unsuccessful presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2016. Huckabee is also a former TV host and Baptist preacher.
Statement, Trump Vance Transition (November 12, 2024).
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York: Jay Clayton
Jay Clayton is a former chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Clayton was chair during Trump’s first term. If confirmed by the Senate, Clayton would lead one of the most important federal prosecutor offices in the U.S. Trump previously nominated Clayton to be the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, replacing Geoffrey Berman, but this was stalled after Biden won the presidency in 2020.
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes.
Senate Confirmation Process
After an election, the president-elect begins making decisions on appointments, including Senate-confirmed appointments. Under the Appointments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the nominations for senior executive positions, such as cabinet posts and judicial appointments, by the president of the United States must then be approved and appointed with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.
The Senate’s role begins once it receives an official written nomination from the president regarding the prospective appointment, which is then sent to the appropriate committee. Once reported out from the committee, the nomination may be called up for consideration and a vote by the full Senate.
Many appointments are routinely confirmed, but a small number of nominees either are rejected by the Senate or receive no action. Trump’s nominations may benefit from a likely smooth confirmation process due to the Republican-controlled Senate. However, delays may still occur. A nomination hearing is expected to be held in January, after the new Congress is seated.
Recess Appointments
Typically, the Constitution requires the Senate to confirm high-level federal positions such as Cabinet officials, federal judges, and the like. However, when the Senate is in recess, the president can appoint officials through a recess appointment, allowing the White House to temporarily bypass Senate confirmation votes for high-level appointments.
President-elect Donald Trump has stated the incoming leader of the Senate must support recess appointments to install at least some administration officials without Senate approval. On November 13, Senate Republicans elected John Thune (SD), as their new leader in the chamber.
Initial Priorities for the Trump Administration
These priorities will likely include confirming appointees and rolling back regulations via the Congressional Review Act (CRA) since Republicans retained control of the House and tax and spending legislation through budget reconciliation.
APGA staff will continue to provide updates here as additional appointments and information become available.
For more information on the election results, click here. For questions on this article, please contact Sydney Novoa by phone at 202-464-0834 or by email at snovoa@apga.org.