A Running List Of Trump’s Picks For His New Administration

President-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to name loyal aides and allies to key posts in his new administration, as the transition to a second Trump term begins.

Here’s a running list of who he’s inviting to join him in the White House:

Wiles, the manager of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, is expected to become the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff when Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Wiles is a longtime Washington confidant and worked on the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. She has largely avoided the spotlight, but has been a long-standing figure in Trump’s inner circle, a rarity for the president-elect.

“Susie is tough, smart, innovative and is universally admired and respected,” Trump said last week. “I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”

Trump calls Wiles the “ice maiden.”

Miller has been by Trump’s side since the president-elect’s first bid for office and has long been considered one of his most influential aides. He’s an architect of Trump’s immigration policies and said on the campaign trail that he would “send the illegals back home.”

So far, Miller has spoken the most about the next administration’s plans to unleash a massive deportation program targeting the nation’s undocumented immigrants. He said in September the plan would be “an undertaking that would be greater than any national infrastructure project we’ve done to date.”

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R), a key campaign surrogate for the former president, will reportedly be nominated as the next secretary of state. In the role, the lawmaker would be responsible for handling the complicated task of guiding the U.S. through twin international crises: the widening war between Israel and Hamas and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is a loyal ally to the president-elect and serves as the House Republican Conference chair. But she has little foreign policy experience, presenting concerns about Trump’s decision to nominate her for a role facing off against the ambassadors of antagonistic nations like Russia and China.

She would succeed U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat and former assistant secretary of state for Africa.

Trump tapped Tom Homan, a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to be his “border czar” and enact his sweeping plans to tackle undocumented immigration. The president-elect said Homan would be in charge “of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin.”

Homan recently told Democratic governors planning to obstruct those efforts to “get the hell out of the way,” warning of unnamed consequences if they don’t.

Trump announced he will nominate former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) to serve as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the onetime House member would work to pass “fair and swift deregulatory decisions.” Zeldin does not seem to have much experience with environmental issues.

The former lawmaker has promised to deliver on Trump’s key campaign pledges, including the restoration of “U.S. energy dominance” and the American auto industry.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, has reportedly been asked to be Trump’s national security adviser. He is considered a hawk on China and urged the U.S. to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Waltz has been a member of several House committees related to national security.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been nominated to serve as Trump’s secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, a role that will put her in close proximity to Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, both of whom are eager to orchestrate Trump’s mass deportation scheme.

Noem was rumored to be in the running for Trump’s vice presidential pick until the release of her 2024 memoir, “No Going Back,” tanked her political standing. The book featured numerous questionable anecdotes about world leaders, including a falsehood about having once stared down North Korean despot Kim Jong Un. Noem also bragged about killing her puppy.

All nine of South Dakota’s indigenous tribes have banned Noem from entering their land — equivalent to roughly 20% of the state — after she baselessly began accusing tribal leaders of cooperating with Mexican drug cartels.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is Trump’s pick to serve as ambassador to Israel, a pick with heightened importance given Israel’s assault on Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon since Hamas’ October 2023 terror attacks on Israel.

“I am pleased to announce that the Highly Respected former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, has been nominated to be The United States Ambassador to Israel,” Trump said in a statement. “Mike has been a great public servant, Governor, and Leader in Faith for many years. He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him.”

In June, Huckabee criticized the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a cease-fire in the region.

“This is like trying to negotiate with the Nazis in World War II. You just don’t,” he told NewsNation. “You beat them. You defeat them. You eradicate them.”

Huckabee’s daughter, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the current governor of Arkansas, served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017-2019 and acknowledged under oath that she had lied to the press during her tenure.