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US President-elect Donald Trump has been building his administration as he prepares to return to the White House, handing top roles to political allies and firebrands.
Some have little experience. Others have caused such a stir that even Republicans have questioned Trump’s choices.
Many of the positions require approval by the Senate, but Trump’s selection offers a glimpse of what can be expected of his second term in office.
CNA takes a look at the picks for some of the key roles – from a controversial attorney general to a new entity to cut bureaucracy.
Trump’s choice of Matt Gaetz for the top law enforcement post stirred instant controversy.
As attorney general, Gaetz would drive all aspects of the Justice Department, which includes units such as the FBI.
Gaetz worked at a Florida law firm before being elected to the House in 2016. But he has never worked in the Justice Department or as a prosecutor at any level of government.
He was under investigation for alleged sex trafficking before the Justice Department announced last year that there would be no charges against him.
Gaetz was also the subject of a House ethics probe into his involvement in a scheme that led to the sex trafficking of a 17-year-old girl.
He has categorically denied all the allegations. His resignation from the House on Wednesday, hours after Trump’s announcement, ended the investigation.
Trump’s inner circle has described the attorney general position as one of the most important, as it is key to his plans to pardon Jan 6 rioters and seek retribution against those who prosecuted him over the past four years.
“Few issues in America are more important than ending the partisan Weaponization of our Justice System,” Trump said on social media, adding that Gaetz would root out the “systemic corruption” at the Justice Department.
A source close to Trump said they believed the president-elect picked Gaetz as he would “do exactly as Trump says”.
But some Republicans expressed shock over the nomination. “I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general,” Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters at the Capitol.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy have been tasked to lead a new panel meant to “dismantle” government bureaucracy.
According to Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency will provide advice from outside the government on cutting excess regulations, reducing spending and restructuring federal agencies.
Musk owns electric vehicle maker Tesla and commercial space company SpaceX.
He also has extensive federal contracts for rockets and other space operations with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Pentagon.
His co-head Ramaswamy is the founder of pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences. Ramaswamy entered the 2024 presidential race in February last year before dropping out.
Both parties have tussled with and criticised the US government’s regulations. Musk has repeatedly accused regulators of launching trivial probes against his companies.
During his presidential campaign, Ramaswamy said he would fire more than 75 per cent of the federal workforce and shut down several major agencies, including the Department of Education and the FBI.
Musk has suggested that the panel would make dramatic cuts. He also talked about creating a list of “dumb” spending, which he noted would be “extremely entertaining”.
Fox News host and National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth was nominated to be Secretary of Defense.
According to Hegseth’s website, he served in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.
The 44-year-old has been critical of some of the military’s generals and elite service academy leaders, complaining that they left America’s army dangerously weak and “effeminate” by promoting diversity, equity and inclusion.
He has also criticised America’s NATO allies for not spending enough on their own defences.
His limited experience has prompted some to question his suitability for the role.
“A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense,” said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, who leads the Senate military personnel panel, as reported by the BBC.
However, others have defended Hegseth, with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson stating that he will bring a “fresh perspective” to the Pentagon.
If successfully appointed, Hegseth will be guiding the US military in dealing with large-scale conflicts on multiple fronts, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict in the Middle East.
Senator Marco Rubio, once a rival of Trump, is the incoming president’s pick for secretary of state, putting the Florida-born politician on track to be the first Latino to serve as the United States’ top diplomat.
The senator is known for his tough stance towards China. He has said that Beijing “doesn’t just seek to be the most powerful nation in the world, they seek to reorient the world”.
Earlier this year, he demanded that the Biden administration block all sales to Huawei after the Chinese tech company released a new laptop powered by an Intel AI processor chip.
The 53-year-old has warned that China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are increasingly partnering against the US.
“They all share one goal, and that is, they want to weaken America, weaken our alliances, weaken our standing and our capability and our will,” he said in a speech last March.
He is a fervent supporter of Israel.
In terms of the Ukraine war, Rubio was one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a US$95 billion military aid package for Ukraine, passed in April.
Another critic of China, Mike Waltz, has been tapped as Trump’s top White House foreign policy advisor.
He has criticised Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific and has voiced the need for the US to be ready for a potential conflict in the region.
Waltz has publicly framed China as an “existential” threat to the US and serves on the House China Task Force that seeks to develop solutions to address the Chinese Communist Party’s influence.
Born in Florida, Waltz served in the US Army and National Guard for 27 years.
He was also a defence policy director for Secretaries of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates, and advised the Bush Administration on military policy.
Like Rubio, Waltz is known to be a foreign policy hawk.
Trump described the Republican congressman as “a nationally recognised leader in national security” and “an expert on the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, and global terrorism”.
The national security adviser is a powerful role, which does not require Senate confirmation.
Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick to head the US’ intelligence community, served four terms as a Democratic congresswoman for Hawaii. She also ran for president in the Democratic primary in 2020.
She left the Democratic party in 2022 and endorsed Trump in August.
In a statement on Gabbard’s appointment, Trump said her history as a former candidate for the Democrat Presidential Nomination provided her with broad support in both parties.
“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,” Trump said.
Gabbard was deployed in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a major in the Hawaii National Guard and is now a lieutenant colonel in the US Army Reserves.
However, she has little direct experience with intelligence work which could cause problems for securing a confirmation from the Senate.
“I have a lot of questions,” Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters after the pick was announced, as reported by political news site Politico.
South Dakota’s governor Kristi Noem was chosen by Trump to head the Department of Homeland Security. Created following the Sep 11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the department handles immigration enforcement, anti-terrorism work and cybersecurity.
It also manages the Secret Service, which came under fire after it failed to prevent an assassination attempt on Trump in July.
In a statement on her appointment, Trump credited Noem with being “very strong on border security”.
Immigration was a key focus of Trump’s campaign.
He vowed to tackle migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to enemy countries – as part of a mass deportation drive he christened “Operation Aurora”.
Noem was elected as South Dakota’s first female governor in 2018 and won her re-election bid in 2022.
She became famous for revealing in her memoir that she shot an “untrainable” pet dog, saying this showed her ability to make tough choices.
Trump also appointed two immigration hardliners, Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, to senior positions. Homan, set to be the “border czar”, was the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump’s first administration.
Miller, tapped as the deputy chief of staff for policy, was a trusted adviser during Trump’s first administration. He is said to have helped draft many of Trump’s hardline speeches and plans on immigration.
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