Here are Trump’s picks for senior positions that are not in the Cabinet but are crucial in implementing his agenda.
By Jackson Richman, Joseph Lord, Sam Dorman | Epoch Times
President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet has been taking shape. Same with other senior positions that are not in the Cabinet but are crucial in implementing his agenda.
Below are the picks so far, with more to come, and it will be updated accordingly.
US Ambassador to Canada
Trump has selected former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Canada.
Hoekstra brings several years of experience in foreign relations. He was U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands under Trump’s first administration. He also played a significant role in bringing about the U.S.–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2020, according to Trump, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement.
He was chairman of the Michigan Republican Party during the 2024 presidential election.
US Ambassador to NATO
Trump selected Matthew Whitaker as his U.S. ambassador to NATO. The role involves advancing the United States’ foreign policy interests within NATO’s 32-member military alliance.
Whitaker served as Trump’s acting attorney general from November 2018 until February 2019, during the president-elect’s first term in office. He also served as a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Iowa before running in the 2014 Iowa Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator
Trump selected Dr. Mehmet Oz to be his administrator of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. Trump said Oz will work with Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “to take on the illness industrial complex,” and eliminate waste and fraud from “our country’s most expensive government agency.”
Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is a graduate of Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania School and Medicine, and Wharton Business School. He was also the host of “The Dr. Oz Show” from 2009 to 2022. As a Republican candidate, Oz made an unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat in 2022 in Pennsylvania, losing to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.).
Federal Communications Commission Chairman
Trump has chosen Brendan Carr to be the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The role entails leading the bipartisan agency of five commissioners, which regulates radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable communications in the United States.
Carr is the senior Republican commissioner at the FCC, a role he has held in two administrations since Trump first appointed him in 2017. He has advocated for banning TikTok over national security concerns.
White House Staff Secretary
Trump has selected William Owen Scharf to be his White House staff secretary. The role entails ensuring the circulation of documents among White House staff.
Scharf has clerked for two federal appeals court judges and has worked as a federal prosecutor. He also represented Trump in a Supreme Court case this year concerning presidential immunity.
White House Press Secretary
President-elect Donald Trump has selected Karoline Leavitt to be his White House press secretary. The role entails acting as a spokesperson for the executive branch—the president in particular—and involves routine White House press briefings.
Leavitt served as the assistant White House press secretary in Trump’s first term, as the 2024 Trump campaign’s national press secretary, and is currently serving as a spokeswoman for the transition team.
President of the Presidential Personnel Office
President-elect Donald Trump picked Sergio Gor to be the President of the Presidential Personnel Office. This office is tasked with recruiting, vetting, and nominating the thousands of appointees who will work in federal agencies across the U.S. government to advance the agenda and goals of Trump’s administration.
Gor has been with Trump since his first campaign in 2016. He is also the president and founder of Winning Team Publishing, and led the Pro-Trump Super PAC Right for America.
Director of Communications
President-elect Donald Trump has decided to make his campaign spokesperson and current communications director Steven Cheung assistant to the president and director of communications at the White House.
Cheung will be returning to the White House after serving in Trump’s first term as director of strategic response. He also served on Trump’s first campaign and transition team, and he previously worked for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
U.S. Solicitor General
Trump has selected D. John Sauer to serve as U.S. Solicitor General, a position within the Department of Justice (DOJ) responsible for defending federal law before the Supreme Court.
Sauer advocated for Trump in his appeal of special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference case in Washington this year. That included participating in oral arguments before the Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that presidents have varying levels of immunity from criminal prosecution.
Deputy Attorney General
Todd Blanche, who defended Trump during his New York falsified documents trial, has been selected to serve as deputy attorney general, which is second to the head of the department.
According to the DOJ, the deputy attorney general “is authorized to exercise all the power and authority of the Attorney General” with some exceptions. Trump on Wednesday chose Rep. Matt Gaetz as U.S. Attorney General, pending confirmation.
Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General
Emil Bove, who has represented Trump in multiple criminal cases this year, was selected by Trump to serve as principal associate deputy attorney general and acting deputy attorney general during Todd Blanche’s confirmation process.
Bove previously served in the DOJ by leading the National Security Unit within the Southern District of New York.
White House Counsel
Attorney William McGinley will be the White House counsel, who primarily provides legal advice to the president. McGinley was counsel at the Republican National Committee, focusing on election integrity.
During his first administration, Trump had three White House counsels, one of whom, Emmet Flood, served in an acting capacity. During that time, McGinley was the White House Cabinet secretary, whose role is to coordinate between the White House and the agencies of Cabinet members.
McGinley was also counsel at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and a partner at Patton Boggs and Jones Day, two prominent law firms.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy
Trump has picked Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy.
Miller, who will also be Trump’s homeland security advisor, is known for his hawkish stance on immigration.
Miller served in the first Trump administration as a senior adviser to the president and the White House director of speechwriting.
After Trump’s term ended, Miller founded America First Legal, which has challenged the Biden administration in court on a number of policies.
Border Czar
Trump has selected Tom Homan as his border czar amid the crisis at the southern border.
Homan served in the Trump administration as the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement when the Department of Justice implemented a “zero-tolerance” policy over illegal entrants into the United States.
In an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes” in October, Homan laid out what a mass deportation program under Trump would look like. He said that families can stick together as they are deported.
The current border czar is Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been criticized for only going to the border twice and focusing primarily on migration from Latin America as opposed to the crisis at the border.
Ambassador to Israel
Trump named former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to be his ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee, who was governor between 1996 and 2007, is a staunch supporter of the Jewish state and will have to deal with the Israel-Hamas war, Israel–Hezbollah conflict, the Iranian threat, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He will also look to be part of the effort to expand the Abraham Accords, which the Trump administration brokered in 2020 between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco.
Huckabee, who ran for president in 2008 and 2016, called it “a privilege” and said that he first visited Israel in 1973, when he was a teenager. That was the year of the Yom Kippur War, when Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel during the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Special Envoy to the Middle East
Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer based in New York, will be Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East—the first time such a position has been created.
Witkoff, a longtime friend of Trump, will likely be tasked with dealing with the volatile region amid the Iranian threat, the Israel–Hamas war, the Israel–Hezbollah war, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. He likely will also look to expand the Abraham Accords.
Witkoff was golfing with Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when a man pointed a firearm through a perimeter fence—only to be spotted by a Secret Service agent. The agent fired at the man, who was later captured and identified as Ryan Routh.
Witkoff has three sons, one of whom died of a drug overdose.
Department of Government Efficiency
Trump named Tesla CEO Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy as the co-chairs of an outside group called the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
In a statement, Trump said DOGE “will pave the way for my Administration to dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies.”
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Trump said the initiative could be “‘The Manhattan Project’ of our time.”
DOGE will work with the Office of Management and Budget and end its work no later than America’s 250th anniversary, July 4, 2026.
“I look forward to Elon and Vivek making changes to the Federal Bureaucracy with an eye on efficiency and, at the same time, making life better for all Americans,” said Trump.
“Importantly, we will drive out the massive waste and fraud which exists throughout our annual $6.5 Trillion Dollars of Government Spending. They will work together to liberate our Economy, and make the U.S. Government accountable to ‘WE THE PEOPLE,’” he continued.
Ramaswamy unsuccessfully ran for the 2024 GOP presidential nod. He dropped out after the Iowa Caucus in January and immediately endorsed Trump. Before 2024, Musk said he had never voted Republican.
Deputy Chief of Staff
Trump has selected Dan Scavino, a longtime ally, as his deputy chief of staff.
Scavino has been with Trump since before Trump entered politics, serving previously as a general manager for the Trump National Golf Club Westchester.
Scavino was also responsible for social media during Trump’s 2016 campaign. He stayed in similar roles after Trump won that election, serving first as Trump’s director of social media and later as the deputy chief of staff for communications.
He’ll serve directly under Susie Wiles, the incoming chief of staff.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political, and Public Affairs
James Blair, who served as the political director for Trump’s 2024 campaign, will serve as deputy chief of staff for legislative, political, and public affairs in the incoming White House.
In his campaign capacity, Blair was in part responsible for Trump’s unorthodox ground game that brought in thousands of young and low-propensity voters.
In the past, Blair has provided general political consulting services, having had a role in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s underdog 2018 victory to become Florida’s governor.
His current role will involve a mix of legislative advocacy, discussions with Congress, political strategy, and public communications.
Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Personnel
Taylor Budowich, another Trump campaign staffer, will serve as the deputy chief of staff for communications and personnel.
Budowich was responsible for running Trump’s main PAC, MAGA Inc. He joined Trump’s campaign over the summer.He’ll be in charge of overseeing communications and managing personnel-related matters.