Who Is in Trump’s Administration So Far?

Since becoming president-elect last Tuesday, Donald Trump has been announcing members in his new administration. This is who Trump has chosen so far.

Chief of staff: Susie Wiles will serve as chief of staff. She is the daughter of the late American footballer Pat Summerall. Wiles served in Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns and is the only campaign manager Trump has not let go.

Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected. Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again.
—Donald Trump

Border czar: Tom Homan, a former police officer and Border Patrol agent, will serve as “border czar.” He served previously as Trump’s acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and is known for his involvement in the controversial “family separation” policy in Trump’s first term to deal with the illegal immigration problem.

“Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all deportation of illegal aliens back to their country of origin,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that “there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders.”

• “I will run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen,” Homan said in a conference in July. “You better start packing now … ’cause you’re going home.”

Ambassador to the UN: Elise Stefanik will serve as the new ambassador to the United Nations. Trump praised Stefanik for confronting the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, who said it would be appropriate to call for the genocide of Jews depending on the context. She supports ending American support for UN-led humanitarian aid to Palestine.

• “The work ahead is immense as we see anti-Semitism skyrocketing coupled with four years of catastrophically weak U.S. leadership that significantly weakened our national security and diminished our standing in the eyes of both allies and adversaries,” Stefanik told the New York Post.

Stefanik also defended Trump during his impeachment trials and spoke out against the criminal indictment cases.

Deputy chief of policy: Stephen Miller followed Trump on his 2020 election campaign and served as a senior adviser in the White House during Trump’s first term. He will now serve as deputy chief of policy.

Miller is best known for his influential role forming Trump’s immigration policy during his first term, and he is expected to form similar plans for Trump’s second term, including the deportation of millions of illegal immigrants.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator: Lee Zeldin served as military intelligence officer, prosecutor and military magistrate in the Army. He also served as a federal lawmaker in New York at age 23. He will now serve as administrator of the Environmental Protect Agecny.

We will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the U.S. the global leader of AI.
—Lee Zeldin

National security adviser: Mike Waltz, who will serve as national security adverser, supports Trump’s idea that Europe should contribute more to nato instead of relying on U.S. funding.

• “Stopping Russia before it draws nato and therefore the U.S. into war is the right thing to do,” Waltz wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News. “But the burden cannot continue to be solely on the shoulders of the American people, especially while Western Europe gets a pass.”

Waltz has a reputation for an aggressive approach toward China. He will play an important role in U.S. involvement in the Israel-Hamas war.

A culture change in how we approach our defense establishment, on how we buy things within the Pentagon. There is a whole slew of new technologies from Silicon Valley and elsewhere that are really chomping at the bit to help with our defense and security issues.
—Mike Waltz

Others appointments: Marco Rubio is expected to be appointed as secretary of state and Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary.

Learn more: Read “Saving America—Temporarily.”