Trump: Growing List of Appointees to Key Positions

Marco Rubio

Nominated to: Secretary of State

Presently: U.S. Senator (R-FL)

Sparred with Trump in the 2016 Presidential campaign trading insults. Trump dubbed him "Little Marco."

The announcement of his appointment has drawn support from both parties.

BIO:

Rubio is a Senator from Florida; born in Miami, Fla., May 28, 1971; graduated University of Florida, B.S., 1993; graduated University of Miami, J.D., 1996; lawyer; West Miami City Commission 1998-2000; member of the Florida house of representatives 2000-2008; majority leader 2003-2006; speaker 2006-2008; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 2010; reelected in 2016, and again in 2022 for the term ending January 3, 2029; chair, Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (One Hundred Sixteenth Congress); was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

Matthew Gaetz, II

Nominated: Attorney General

Presently: U.S. Congressman (resigned)

The Department of Justice investigated allegations against Gaetz.

Last year, it declined to bring charges over allegations he violated sex trafficking laws during a trip he took to the Bahamas with paid escorts. He was the subject of an ongoing ethics investigation in the House of Representatives into allegations of sexual misconduct, illicit drug use and misuse of campaign funds.

BIO:

Representative from Florida; born in Hollywood, Broward County, Fla., May 7, 1982; graduated from Niceville High School, Niceville, Fla., 2000; B.S., Florida State University, Tallahassee, Fla., 2003; J.D., William & Mary Law School, Williamsburg, VA, 2007; lawyer, private practice; member of the Florida state house of representatives, 2010-2016; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Fifteenth and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2017-present).

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Nominated: Secretary of Health and Human Services

Presently: former Presidential candidate

Campaign bio stated:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s career of public service began in 1985 as an attorney for the environmental nonprofit RiverKeeper. He eventually became one of the most influential environmentalists in the United States, receiving TIME Magazine's "Hero of the Planet” and the Sartisky Peace Award.

CNBC reported after the announcement, "Shares of vaccine makers fell on Thursday as President-elect Donald Trump nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services."

Leading healthcare experts blasted the appointment.

CNN reported:

“Infectious diseases are very much a part of our present and will be very much a part of our future, and he wants to stop studying them?” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an infectious diseases physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

‘A science denialist’

Offit said Kennedy has continued to make misleading or false statements about the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — including some that were linked to a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 — even as evidence shows they’re untrue. When it comes to vaccines, Offit said, “he’s a science denialist.”

John Ratcliffe

Nominated: CIA Director

Presently: Co-chair at the Center for American Security at the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-linked think tank.

BIO:

He is a former Congressman from Texas who served as the director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021 during Trump’s first term. His appointment was a key argument for critics who believed that Trump was using the intelligence community to serve his political needs.

Trump said about Ratcliffe’s loyalty Tuesday, “From exposing fake Russian collusion to be a Clinton campaign operation, to catching the FBI’s abuse of Civil Liberties at the FISA Court, John Ratcliffe has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public.”

Pete Hegseth

Nominated: Secretary of Defense

Presently: Fox News

BIO:

Hegseth is an American political commentator, television presenter, author and Army National Guard officer. He was in the U.S. military with deployments to Cuba and Iraq. He began working for Fox News as a commentator in 2014 and was a co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend from 2017 to 2024.

“I think he clearly is a loyalty choice. I think that’s what Trump is after. As I’ve said before, I don’t think loyalty is really the right word — I think it’s fealty. I think what Trump wants from his appointees is subservience,” John Bolton said Wednesday on CNN. 

Elise Stefanik

Nominated: U.N. Ambassador

Presently: U.S. Congresswoman 

BIO:

Stefanik proudly represents New York’s 21st District in her fifth term and serves as the House Republican Conference Chair and most senior Republican in New York.

At the time of her first election in 2014, Elise was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress in United States history. She continued this historic rise and she is currently the youngest woman ever to serve in top elected House leadership. Elise is known for her tireless work ethic, policy leadership, media savvy, genuine grassroots connection with constituents, and laser focus on delivering real results to Upstate New York and North Country. Elise has consistently won historic re-election victories, often by the largest margin of any Republican in the Northeast, and consistently earning the most votes in history for any congressional candidate in the North Country.

Lee Zeldin

Nominated: EPA Administrator

Presently: U.S. Congressman

BIO:

He is a Representative from New York; born in East Meadow, Nassau County, N.Y., January 30, 1980; graduated from William Floyd High School, Brookhaven, N.Y., 1998; B.A., State University of New York, Albany, N.Y., 2001; J.D., Albany Law School, Albany, N.Y., 2003; United States Army, 2003-2007; United States Army Reserve, 2007-present; lawyer, private practice; unsuccessful candidate for election to the One Hundred Eleventh Congress in 2008; member of the New York state senate, 2011-2014; elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Fourteenth and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2015-January 3, 2023); was not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Eighteenth Congress in 2022, but was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of New York.

Mike Waltz

Appointed: National Security Advisor

Presently: U.S. Congressman

BIO:

Waltz is a Colonel (Ret.) in the National Guard, a combat-decorated Green Beret, former White House and Pentagon policy advisor, a small business owner, an author, and a proud father. He is the first Green Beret to be elected to Congress.

Mike was born in Boynton Beach, Florida and grew up in Jacksonville, Florida. He was raised by a hard-working single mother and is the son and grandson of Navy Chiefs.

Mike has served his country his entire life. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with Honors and served 27 years in the U.S. Army and National Guard, retiring during his second term in Congress. After being commissioned as an Army lieutenant, Mike graduated Ranger School and was selected for the elite Green Berets, serving worldwide as a Special Forces officer with multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa. For his actions in combat, Mike was awarded four Bronze Stars, including two for Valor.

Kristi Noem

Nominated: Secretary of Homeland Security

Presently: Governor of South Dakota

BIO:

Noem is a rancher, farmer, small business owner, and New York Times bestselling author of both No Going Back and Not My First Rodeo.

In 2010, after serving in the South Dakota legislature for several years, Noem was elected to serve as South Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House of Representatives. During her time in Congress, in addition to many other successes, Governor Noem helped pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which put $2,400 back in the pockets of the average South Dakota family.

In 2018, with the platform of protecting South Dakotans against tax increases, government growth, federal intrusion, and government secrecy, she was elected as South Dakota's first-ever female Governor.

In 2022, Governor Noem was re-elected with the largest vote total in the history of South Dakota.

Tom Homan

Appointed: Border Czar

Presently: Fox News Analyst
 

BIO:

He is an American former police officer, immigration official, and political commentator who served during the Obama administration, and will have served in both Trump administrations. He served as acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from January 30, 2017, to June 29, 2018. Homan advocates deportation of illegal immigrants and opposes sanctuary city policies.