Trump hands out top jobs - here's who is in and who is out

As the dust settles on Donald Trump's US election win, the president-elect has been choosing who will be in his administration for his second stint in the White House.

During the campaign, Mr Trump avoided directly confirming any appointments but frequently dropped hints about who he would like in his top team.

Nominees must be questioned by members of the Senate before it votes on their appointment. Even with the Republicans in control some of the picks are very controversial and could be blocked.

Who is in?

Brooke Rollins

Former White House aide Brooke Rollins will be Mr Trump's nominee for agriculture secretary - and is the president-elect's final pick for executive agencies.

The sprawling agricultural agency covers everything from farming, forestry and ranching to food quality and nutrition.

Ms Rollins is a lawyer and runs a conservative thinktank called the America First Policy Institute that was founded to promote Donald Trump and his allies.

She studied agricultural development at university and, at her previous jobs, has warned against Chinese ownership of American farmland and promoted fossil fuels.

Scott Bessent

Scott Bessent, a top fundraiser to the Trump campaign, is the president-elect's pick for treasury secretary.

He'll be tasked with implementing any tax cuts a Republican-controlled Congress may pursue.

Mr Bessent has advocated for tax reform and deregulation to spur more bank lending and energy production, as he argued in a recent opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.

Russ Vought

Russ Vought has been picked to be director of the US Office of Management and Budget, a powerful agency helping to decide the president's policies and how to fund them.

Mr Vought is a key architect of so-called Project 2025, the controversial conservative plan to overhaul the government.

Martin Makary

Surgeon and writer Martin Makary is the president-elect's pick to lead the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the world's most influential drug regulator.

Mr Makary is a physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital who has spoken out against what he called "massive overtreatment" in the US - "an epidemic of inappropriate care".

He raised concerns about a number of public health issues during the COVID pandemic, touting protection from natural immunity and opposing vaccine mandates.

Susie Wiles

Susie Wiles is a veteran Republican campaign manager - having helped Ronald Reagan and Ron DeSantis get elected as well as Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024. She was the first member of his team to be announced - and becomes the first female chief-of-staff in American history.

The 67-year-old, who lives in Florida, has a political career that spans decades but has largely kept out of the limelight and rarely given interviews.

She is the daughter of late American footballer Pat Summerall and one of her first jobs in politics was as an assistant to one of his former New York Giants teammates when he became a Republican representative.

Outside politics, she has worked in the private sector as a lobbyist, for both Ballard Partners, whose clients include Amazon, Google, and the MLB (Major League Baseball), and then Mercury, which works with Elon Musk's SpaceX and the embassy of Qatar.

This time around, Mr Trump credited her with his "best-run" presidential campaign, describing her as "incredible" at a Milwaukee rally earlier this year, and an "ice maiden" in his victory speech.

Elon Musk

Tech billionaire Elon Musk became one of Mr Trump's staunchest supporters in the months leading up to the election and spent at least $119m (£92m) canvassing for him in the seven battleground states.

Awarding his loyalty, Mr Trump announced Mr Musk will co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

In a statement on Tuesday, the president-elect said Mr Musk and Mr Ramaswamy "will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure federal agencies".

Despite its name, the DOGE is not a government agency and is instead set to provide "advice and guidance" from the outside of government.

The statement released by Mr Trump said it will partner with the office of management and budget to "drive large-scale structural reform, and create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before".

The department has been given a deadline of 4 July 2026 to conclude its work.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy will join Elon Musk in leading DOGE.

Mr Ramaswamy, the founder of a pharmaceutical company, suspended his campaign in January to support Mr Trump.

In his 2021 bestseller book Woke, Inc, Mr Ramaswamy criticised the decisions of some big companies to base business strategy around social justice and climate change concerns.

Dave Weldon

The president-elect has picked former congressman and medical doctor Dave Weldon as his choice to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC responds to infectious disease outbreaks, including recommending routine vaccines used in childhood.

Pam Bondi

Pam Bondi has been named as Mr Trump's nomination for attorney general, the country's top legal official.

A former attorney general of Florida, Ms Bondi was also one of Mr Trump's lawyers during his first impeachment trial.

She was among a group of Republicans who turned up in a show of support for Mr Trump at his hush money criminal trial in New York in May.

She's been a chair at the America First Policy Institute, which is a think tank set up by Mr Trump's former staff.

Pete Hegseth

Fox News commentator and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth has been picked as Mr Trump's defence secretary.

In a statement, the president-elect described the 44-year-old as "tough, smart and a true believer in America First".

He said: "With Pete at the helm, America's enemies are on notice - our military will be great again, and America will never back down."

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Hegseth could make good on Mr Trump's campaign promises to rid the US military of
generals who he accuses of pursuing progressive policies on diversity in the ranks that conservatives have rallied against.

In the past Mr Hegseth has expressed disdain for the so-called "woke" policies of Pentagon leaders including its top military officer.

He has also railed against NATO allies for being weak and claimed China is on the verge of dominating its neighbours.

Mr Hegseth has pushed for making the US military more lethal and argued allowing women to serve in combat hurts that effort.

"Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat, that means casualties are worse," he said in an interview on The Shawn Ryan Show podcast.

Though he said diversity in the military is a strength, he said that was because minority and white men "can perform similarly" but the same is not true for women.

Critics have pointed to Mr Hegseth's lack of experience with some suggesting he could be defence secretary in name only as the Trump White House runs the department.

"There is reason for concern that this is not a person who is a serious enough policymaker, serious enough policy implementer, to do a successful job," said Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Janette Nesheiwat

The next surgeon general - the country's top health educator - of the US will be Janette Nesheiwat, if Mr Trump has his way.

Ms Nesheiwat is a GP who served as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centres in New York and New Jersey.

She is also a contributor on Fox News.

Robert F Kennedy Jr

Mr Trump has confirmed vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as his pick for health secretary - meaning he'll oversee a huge department that includes the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Medicare.

The president-elect wrote on X that RFK Jr will "restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again".

RFK Jr abandoned his independent presidential campaign to back Mr Trump in August.

It was a move that saw RFK Jr condemned by many members of his family, but as with Musk, his public support has been rewarded.

Mr Kennedy - the son of politician Robert F Kennedy and the nephew of assassinated president John F Kennedy - made a name for himself as a vaccine sceptic during the COVID-19 pandemic and has frequently repeated debunked claims, including linking vaccines to autism in children.

He has claimed Mr Trump will push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office. The addition of the compound has been cited as helping to improve dental health.

RFK Jr's controversial views could see him struggle to land enough votes to have his role confirmed, even in a Republican-controlled Senate.

Dr Mehmet Oz

Mr Trump named Dr Mehmet Oz as his administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

"Dr Oz will be a leader in incentivising disease prevention, so we get the best results in the world for every dollar we spend on healthcare in our great country," the president-elect 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 healthcare spend, and a quarter of our entire national budget."

Dr Oz unsuccessfully ran for Senate in Pennsylvania as a Republican in 2022 and is an outspoken supporter of Trump.

Best known as a broadcaster, The Dr Oz Show aired its final episode on 14 January, 2022, after over a decade on the air.

His promotion of Oz's promotion of alternative medicine, faith healing and various paranormal beliefs has earned him criticism from a number of medical publications and physicians.

Marco Rubio

Donald Trump has named Marco Rubio as his secretary of state, making him the first Latino member of the president-elect's top team.

Mr Rubio, a Florida senator, unsuccessfully ran against Mr Trump to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2016.

In the past, the 53-year-old has advocated for muscular foreign policy with respect to the US's geopolitical rivals, including China, Iran and Cuba.

However, over the last several years he has softened some of his stances to align more closely with Mr Trump's views.

He was a contender to be his 2024 running mate before JD Vance landed the role.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Mr Trump has chosen congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as labour secretary to build the workforce and support Americans.

Ms Chavez-DeRemer, who was elected to Congress in 2022, lost her seat to Democrat Janelle Bynum earlier in November.

Scott Turner

National Football League (NFL) veteran Scott Turner is Mr Trump's pick to serve as housing and urban development secretary.

He also ran the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Mr Trump's first term in office.

Sebastian Gorka

Mr Trump has chosen Sebastian Gorka to be senior director for counterterrorism, adding he has more than 30 years of experience in national security.

Linda McMahon

Billionaire professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon has been nominated to be secretary of the Education Department, tasked with overseeing an agency Mr Trump has promised to dismantle.

Mrs McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump's initial term from 2017 to 2019 and twice ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the US Senate in Connecticut.

McMahon served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009 and has spent years on the board of trustees for Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.

She's seen as a relative unknown in education circles, though she has expressed support for charter schools and school choice.

Elise Stefanik

According to US network CNN, Mr Trump has offered fierce ally Elise Stefanik the job as US ambassador to the UN.

Citing two anonymous sources, CNN confirms rumours the Republican - who represents New York in the House - was lined up for the role.

Ms Stefanik has built up a national profile as an unwavering ally of the president-elect, shedding her early reputation as a moderate - having worked on Mitt Romney's 2012 campaign - to become the highest-ranking woman in the House Republican leadership.

Sky News' US partner network NBC News reported in January this year she was being considered as Mr Trump's pick for vice president.

Mr Trump reportedly described her as a "killer".

Tom Homan

Mr Trump said late on Sunday that Tom Homan will return to government to be in charge of US borders and the deportation of illegal immigrants.

Announcing the news on Truth Social, the president-elect said "there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders" than his new "border czar".

Mr Homan served as former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Mr Trump's first term, and was an early backer of the president's "zero tolerance" policy - which NBC News reported led to at least 5,500 families being separated at the southern border in 2018.

Earlier this year, he told a conservative conference he would "run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen," per NBC.

Mr Homan was also a contributor to Project 2025's Mandate for Leadership book.

Mike Waltz

Trump loyalist Mike Waltz is the president-elect's national security adviser - a powerful role which does not require confirmation from the Senate.

The 50-year-old, who served in the National Guard, will be responsible for briefing Mr Trump on key national security issues and coordinating with different agencies.

Having praised Mr Trump's foreign policy views, Mr Waltz is a leading critic of China, and has spoken out about the country's activity in the Asia-Pacific, claiming the US needs to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.

Alex Wong

Former State Department official Alex Wong is Mr Trump's choice for deputy national security adviser.

Mr Wong served as deputy special representative for North Korea during the first Trump administration and "helped negotiate" the summit with Kim Jong Un, Mr Trump said.

Kristi Noem

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem has been picked to serve as the next homeland security secretary.

Once seen as a possible running mate for the president-elect, Ms Noem is currently serving her second four-year term as South Dakota's governor, having risen to prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask order during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As head of homeland security, she will be responsible for everything from border protection and immigration to disaster response and the US Secret Service.

In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Trump said: "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."

He said Ms Noem would work closely with his "border czar," Mr Homan.

Stephen Miller

Mr Trump has named Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, to be his deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.

Mr Miller was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Mr Trump's priority of mass deportations.

The 39-year-old previously served as a senior adviser during Mr Trump's first administration.

Mr Miller has been a central figure in some of Mr Trump's policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families.

John Ratcliffe

Former director of national intelligence John Ratcliffe has been picked by Mr Trump to serve as director of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

A former congressman and prosecutor, Mr Ratcliffe is seen as a Trump loyalist who is likely to win Senate confirmation.

Tulsi Gabbard

Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and presidential candidate, has been chosen to serve as director of national intelligence.

"As a former Candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination, she has broad support in both Parties - She is now a proud Republican!" Mr Trump said.

"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. Tulsi will make us all proud!"

She has been accused of amplifying Russian propaganda and would come to the job having never worked in the intelligence world or served on a congressional intelligence committee.

Two years ago it was claimed she echoed Russian propaganda by posting a video saying there were bio labs across Ukraine funded by the US.

Karoline Leavitt

The chief spokesperson for the president-elect's transition team, Karoline Leavitt, has been appointed as his White House press secretary.

At 27, she will be the youngest person to ever hold the title.

Ms Leavitt previously served as an assistant press secretary during the latter part of Mr Trump's first term.

"I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we, Make America Great Again," Mr Trump said in a statement.

The job of the White House press secretary is to promote the president's activities without betraying the confidence of the boss.

Mr Trump had four press secretaries during his first term in office: Sarah Sanders, Stephanie Grisham, Kayleigh McEnany and Sean Spicer who resigned after falsely claiming that Mr Trump's inauguration attracted the largest audience ever.

Chris Wright

The oil and gas industry executive has been appointed as energy secretary, and is expected to be involved in the country's expansion of nuclear power.

Mr Wright is also a staunch defender of fossil fuel and is the founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, an oilfield services firm based in Denver.

He is expected to support the president-elect's plan to maximize the production of oil and gas.

Mr Wright has said in the past "there is no climate crisis" and in 2019 drank fracking fluid on camera to demonstrate it was not dangerous.

Sean Duffy

The former reality TV star, and ex-Wisconsin representative, Sean Duffy has been selected to take up the role of transportation secretary.

Mr Duffy is a former lumberjack athlete and featured on several MTV shows from the late 1990s before serving as district attorney of Ashland County, Wisconsin, in 2002. He was elected to the House of Representatives as part of a tea party wave in 2010 and served on two committees in Congress.

He left office nine years later to spend more time with his family, saying at the time he needed time to care for his nine children, one of whom has a heart condition.

In 2023 he became co-host of a show on Fox Business, called the Bottom Line. He is also married to Fox News host, Rachel Campos-Duffy.

Confirming his nomination on Monday, Mr Trump said Mr Duffy would "maintain and rebuild our Nation's Infrastructure" and "greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!"

Who is out?

Matt Gaetz

Mr Trump initially picked Matt Gaetz, a man who once faced a federal sex trafficking probe, to be attorney general.

Mr Gaetz denied the allegations and the investigation, carried out by the Justice Department he was picked to lead, ended without charges.

Mr Gaetz had also been under scrutiny by the House Ethics Committee over wider allegations including sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and accepting improper gifts.

The inquiry was dropped on Wednesday 13 November when Mr Gaetz left Congress - the only forum where the committee has jurisdiction.

Mr Trump's decision to name him as his choice for attorney general led to significant scrutiny.

On 21 November, Mr Gaetz withdrew himself from contention, saying his selection was "unfairly becoming a distraction" to the transition of Mr Trump's administration into the White House.

He said in a post on X: "There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle, thus I'll be withdrawing my name from consideration to serve as attorney general. Trump's DOJ (Department of Justice) must be in place and ready on Day 1.

"I remain fully committed to seeing that Donald Trump is the most successful president in history. I will forever be honoured that President Trump nominated me to lead the Department of Justice and I'm certain he will Save America."

Mr Trump said in a post on his own social media site, Truth Social, that Mr Gaetz had a "wonderful future".

"I greatly appreciate the recent efforts of Matt Gaetz in seeking approval to be Attorney General," he wrote.

"He was doing very well but, at the same time, did not want to be a distraction for the administration, for which he has much respect."

Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley was once Mr Trump's main rival during his run for the Republican presidential nomination.

Despite losing the contest, she proved her popularity with parts of the GOP and previously served in his first presidential cabinet as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

The 51-year-old also served as governor of South Carolina but news of her not being involved this time around was broken by the president-elect on his own social media platform, Truth Social.

In a short statement, Mr Trump said he would not be inviting either her or former secretary of state Mike Pompeo back but thanked them for their service.

In response, Ms Haley, who eventually endorsed Mr Trump despite harshly criticising him in the party primaries, said: "I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations.

"I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years."

Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo also served as the director of the CIA under Mr Trump and had been mentioned in some reports as a possible defence secretary or in relation to another role linked to national security, intelligence or diplomacy.

Mr Trump confirmed Mr Pompeo would not be returning to his cabinet in the same post that he ruled out Ms Haley.

Previously among Mr Trump's closest allies, Mr Pompeo is one of the fiercest US defenders of Ukraine.

Who is yet to be decided?

Don Jr, Eric and Lara Trump

Mr Trump's daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were among his senior advisers during his first term. But will the businessman once again keep any family members close when he is in the Oval Office?

In June 2023, Mr Trump said he did not want his children to serve in a second administration, saying it was "too painful for the family".

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Nevertheless, while Ms Trump and Mr Kushner have stayed away from politics since, two of Mr Trump's other sons - Don Jr and Eric - have played prominent roles on the campaign trail.

Eric's wife, Lara Trump, already has a significant role in US politics, as she serves as co-chair of the Republican Party.

Larry Kudlow

Fox News personality Larry Kudlow served as director of the National Economic Council for much of Mr Trump's first term and is said to have an outside shot at becoming his treasury secretary this time.

Other names being linked to the post include John Paulson - a billionaire hedge fund manager and donor, who hosted a fundraiser that raked in more than $50m (£38m) for the former president.

(c) Sky News 2024: Trump hands out top jobs - here's who is in and who is out