- Trump picks Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff.
- Mike Pompeo considered top contender for secretary of defense.
- President-elect starts process of choosing his top officials.
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has begun the process of choosing a cabinet and selecting other high-ranking administration officials following his presidential election victory.
Here are the early picks and top contenders for some of the key posts overseeing defense, intelligence, diplomacy, trade, immigration and economic policymaking.
Some are in contention for a range of posts.
Susie Wiles, chief of staff
Trump on Thursday announced that Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, will be his White House chief of staff.
While the specifics of her political views are somewhat unclear, Wiles is credited with running a successful and efficient campaign. Supporters hope she would instill a sense of order and discipline that was often lacking during Trump’s first term, when he cycled through a number of chiefs of staff.
Scott Bessent, potential treasury secretary
Bessent, a key economic adviser to Trump, is widely seen as a top candidate for treasury secretary. A longtime hedge fund investor who taught at Yale University for several years, Bessent has a warm relationship with the president-elect.
While Bessent has long favored the laissez-faire policies that were popular in the pre-Trump Republican Party, he has also spoken highly of Trump’s use of tariffs as a negotiating tool. He has praised the president-elect’s economic philosophy, which rests on a skepticism of both regulations and international trade.
John Paulson, potential treasury secretary
Paulson, a billionaire hedge fund manager and major Trump donor, is another top contender for treasury secretary. The longtime financier has told associates he would be interested in the job.
A longtime proponent of tax cuts and deregulation, Paulson’s profile is broadly similar to that of other potential members of Trump’s economic team. He has publicly supported targeted tariffs as a tool to ensure US national security and combat unfair trade practices abroad.
One high-profile fundraiser hosted by Paulson in April raked in over $50 million for the former president.
Larry Kudlow, potential treasury secretary
FOX Business Network personality Larry Kudlow, who served as director of the National Economic Council for much of Trump’s first term, has an outside shot at becoming his treasury secretary and would likely have an opportunity to take a separate economics-focused position if he is interested.
While he is privately skeptical of broad tariffs, there is publicly little daylight between the policies Kudlow advocates and those of the president-elect.
Robert Lighthizer, potential treasury secretary
A loyalist who served as Trump’s US trade representative for essentially the then-president’s entire term, Lighthizer will almost certainly be invited back. Though Bessent and Paulson likely have a better shot at becoming treasury secretary, Lighthizer has an outside chance, and he might be able to reprise his old role if he’s interested.
Like Trump, Lighthizer is a trade skeptic and a firm believer in tariffs. He was one of the leading figures in Trump’s trade war with China and the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, with Mexico and Canada during Trump’s first term.
Howard Lutnick, potential treasury secretary
The co-chair of Trump’s transition effort and the longtime chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick is in the running for treasury secretary.
A bombastic New Yorker like Trump, Lutnick has uniformly praised the president-elect’s economic policies, including his use of tariffs.
He has at times given elaborate, unvarnished opinions about what policies will be enacted in Trump’s second term. Some Trump allies had privately complained that he too often presented himself as speaking on behalf of the campaign.
Richard Grenell, potential secretary of state
Grenell is among Trump’s closest foreign policy advisers. During the president-elect’s first four-year term, he served as acting director of national intelligence and US ambassador to Germany. When Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in September, Grenell sat in on the private meeting.
Grenell’s private dealings with foreign leaders and often-caustic personality have made him the center of multiple controversies, though significant Republican gains in the Senate mean he could likely be confirmed. He is also considered a top contender for national security adviser, which does not require Senate confirmation.
Among the policies he has advocated for is setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine to end the war there, a position Kyiv considers unacceptable.
Robert O’Brien, potential secretary of state
O’Brien, Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser during his first term, maintains a close relationship with Trump, and the two often speak on national security matters.
He is likely in the running for secretary of state or other top foreign policy and national security posts. He has maintained close contacts with foreign leaders since Trump left office, having met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel in May.
His views are somewhat more hawkish than some of Trump’s advisers. He has, for instance, been more supportive of military aid for Ukraine than many of his Republican contemporaries, and he is a proponent of banning TikTok in the United States.
Bill Hagerty, potential secretary of state
A US senator from Tennessee who worked on Trump’s 2016 transition effort, Hagerty is considered a top contender for secretary of state. He has maintained solid relations with essentially all factions of the Republican Party, and could likely be confirmed with ease in the Senate.
He served as US ambassador to Japan in the first Trump administration at a time when the president touted his warm relationship with then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Hagerty’s policies are broadly in line with those of Trump. Earlier in the year, he voted against a major military aid package for Ukraine.
Marco Rubio, potential secretary of state
Rubio, a US senator from Florida and 2016 Republican presidential candidate, is also a top secretary of state contender whose policies hew closely to those of Trump. Like Hagerty, he was a contender to be Trump’s 2024 running mate.
Rubio has long been involved in foreign affairs in the Senate, particularly as it relates to Latin America, and he has solid relationships throughout the party.
Mike Waltz, potential defense secretary
A former Army Green Beret who is currently a US congressman from Florida, Waltz has established himself as one of the foremost China hawks in the House of Representatives. Among the various China-related bills he has co-sponsored are measures designed to lessen US reliance on critical minerals mined in China.
Waltz is on speaking terms with Trump and is widely considered to be a serious contender for secretary of defense.
Mike Pompeo, potential defense secretary
Pompeo, who served as CIA director and secretary of state during Trump’s first term, is considered a top contender for secretary of defense but could land in various slots involving national security, intelligence or diplomacy.
While he flirted with a Republican primary challenge against Trump, Pompeo never pulled the trigger, and he is now back on friendly terms with the president-elect after a period of awkwardness. He stands out as possibly the fiercest defender of Ukraine among Trump’s close allies, a position that puts him at odds with most high-ranking figures in his potential boss’s camp.
Keith Kellogg, potential candidate for national security posts
A retired lieutenant general who served as chief of staff to the National Security Council under Trump, Kellogg has Trump’s ear and is a contender for several national security-related positions, though it is unclear precisely where he would land.
During the campaign, he presented Trump with a plan to end the war in Ukraine, which involved forcing both parties to the negotiating table and ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine for the foreseeable future, among other measures.
Tom Homan, potential homeland security secretary
Homan, who served as the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a year and a half during Trump’s first term, is a contender for secretary of homeland security. Trump made cracking down on illegal immigration the central element of his campaign, promising mass deportations.
Trump frequently praised Homan during the campaign, and Homan often hit the trail to rally supporters. During Trump’s first term, Homan was a leading advocate of the administration’s controversial child separation policy, during which children of immigrants who had entered the country illegally were detained separately from their parents.
Chad Wolf, potential homeland security secretary
Wolf, who served as Trump’s acting secretary of homeland security for roughly 14 months during his first presidency, may have a shot at heading back to DHS.
Wolf loyally carried out Trump’s hardline immigration policies, and he deployed federal agents to Portland, Oregon, to control protests during the riots that followed the murder of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer.
He may have some strikes against him. He resigned on Jan. 11, 2021, just days after the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Trump has expressed misgivings about bringing back those who resigned in the final days of his term. Wolf, however, cited the legal controversy around his appointment as DHS secretary – rather than the Capitol attack – when he stepped down. Multiple judges ruled that his appointment by Trump, which effectively circumvented the Senate, was illegal.
Mark Green, potential homeland security secretary
A former Army flight surgeon and the current chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, Green is considered by some Trump allies in Washington as a contender for the top job at DHS. His supporters describe him as a Trump loyalist and immigration hardliner who also has significant legislative experience.
Green was nominated by Trump during his first term to serve as secretary of the Army, but he withdrew his name as past statements, which were widely seen as transphobic and Islamophobic, drew more scrutiny.
John Ratcliffe, potential attorney general
A former congressman and prosecutor who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s last year in office, Ratcliffe is seen as a potential attorney general, though he could also take a separate national security or intelligence position.
The president-elect’s allies view Ratcliffe as a hardcore Trump loyalist who could likely win Senate confirmation. Still, during his time as director of national intelligence, Ratcliffe often contradicted the assessments of career civil servants, drawing criticism from Democrats who said he politicized the role.
Mike Lee, potential attorney general
A US senator from Utah, Lee is widely seen as another top candidate for attorney general. Though the former prosecutor declined to vote for Trump during the 2016 election, he later became an unwavering ally, and he has become something of an intellectual hero among some factions of Trumpworld.
Lee was a key figure in attempts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, and has spread unfounded conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Kash Patel, potential candidate for national security posts
A former Republican House staffer who served in various high-ranking staff roles in the defense and intelligence communities during Trump’s first term, Patel has frequently appeared on the campaign trail to rally support for the candidate.
Some Trump allies would like to see Patel, considered the ultimate Trump loyalist, appointed CIA director. Any position requiring Senate confirmation may be a challenge, however.
Patel has leaned into controversy throughout his career. In an interview with Trump ally Steve Bannon last year, he promised to “come after” politicians and journalists perceived to be enemies of the president-elect. During Trump’s first term, Patel drew animosity from some more experienced national security officials, who saw him as volatile and too eager to please the then-president.