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US PRESIDENT-ELECT Donald Trump has raised a few eyebrows as he builds his administration ahead of returning to the White House in January.
Some of the top roles handed out to date have been given to controversial figures such as Matt Gaetz – the Republican politician has been tapped to lead the Justice Department which was previously tasked with carrying out a sex trafficking investigation into him.
Trump’s nominations are not set in stone, they still have been passed by the US Senate.
While senators will grill some nominees in upcoming hearings, the Republican party took control of the Senate after the recent election – meaning Trump’s picks have a good chance of getting the roles they’ve been offered.
We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments. We cannot let Schumer and Senate Dems block the will of the American people.https://t.co/h6gDmjhbqn
— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) November 10, 2024
The president-elect could also circumvent scrutiny through a process called ‘recess appointments’ – where a president makes appointments when Congress is on recess, bypassing hearings.
Trump recently said the Senate “must agree” to recess appointments, as otherwise “we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner”.
Senator John Thune, the new majority leader, this week agreed to use recess appointments to fill the posts quickly.
Let’s take a look at some of the most high-profile people offered roles in the Trump administration to date.
Trump’s announcement of Gaetz for the top law enforcement post stirred instant controversy. A pro-Trump figure in Congress, Gaetz was subject to a House ethics probe into alleged sex trafficking.
The Justice Department, which he could soon lead, announced last year it would not bring charges in the same case, after a lengthy inquiry.
Hours after Trump’s announcement yesterday, Gaetz resigned from his post in the House of Representatives as a congressman from Florida.
The House Ethics Committee has been investigating an allegation that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old, though that probe effectively ended when he resigned. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has been named to lead a newly created entity called the Department of Government Efficiency, along with another wealthy Trump ally, Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk says he is targeting $2 trillion (about €1.9 trillion) in cuts from the federal government’s $7 trillion (around €6.6 trillion) budget, without explaining how.
There has also been no explanation of how the Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink boss would navigate conflicts of interest arising from his position as a major US government contractor.
Musk reportedly spent about $200 million (around €190 million) to help get Trump re-elected, including offering payments to people who voted.
Trump has tapped Florida senator Marco Rubio as his top diplomat, in a move that will likely intensify the US power struggle with China.
Rubio has said China “doesn’t just seek to be the most powerful nation in the world, they seek to reorient the world”.
He is a fervent supporter of Israel, and longtime critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin – which could prove interesting amid concerns the Trump administration will cut military aid to Ukraine despite the ongoing war.
Trump stunned the Pentagon and the broader defence world by nominating Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defence secretary, looking to someone largely inexperienced on the global stage to take over the world’s largest and most powerful military.
Hegseth is a veteran of US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He joined Fox News — Trump’s favourite television network — in 2014 and is a host on Fox and Friends Weekend and Fox Nation.
While some Republicans’ response to the announcement was muted, others called Hegseth’s combat experience an asset or said he was “tremendously capable”.
Hegseth could bring sweeping changes to the American military. He has made it clear that, like Trump, he is stridently opposed to so-called “woke” programmes that promote equality and inclusion.
He has questioned the role of women in combat and advocated pardoning service members charged with war crimes.
Hegseth also has a history of anti-Islamic views. In his 2020 book American Crusade, he warned about Muslim birth rates in the US.
The Pentagon employs some 2.9 million people and has a budget close to three quarters of a trillion dollars (over €700 billion).
Congressman and former special forces officer Mike Waltz has been tapped as Trump’s top White House foreign policy advisor.
Waltz is critical of both China, which he calls an “existential” threat, and Russia – but backs winding down support for Ukraine.
He has also repeated Trump’s frequent complaints about so-called “woke” US military initiatives.
John Ratcliffe, director of national intelligence at the tumultuous end of Trump’s first term as president, is tapped to lead the Central Intelligence Agency.
The former US representative is close to Trump and defended him during his first impeachment trial for allegedly blackmailing Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ratcliffe is seen as somewhat of an institutionalist and a relatively safe pair of hands at the CIA.
Tulsi Gabbard, a former Hawaii congresswoman, switched sides from the Democrats to back Trump’s reelection.
She has long held isolationist foreign policy views and made comments supportive of US adversaries, including Russia.
As director of national intelligence, she would oversee coordination of the 18 intelligence agencies.
A longtime Trump loyalist and South Dakota governor, Kristi Noem would play a key role in any Trump effort to restrict immigration and deport undocumented migrants.
Noem became famous for admitting that she shot an “untrainable” pet dog, saying this showed her ability to make tough choices.
Meanwhile, veteran immigration official Tom Homan is set to be the new “border czar”.
New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a vocal Trump ally and pro-Israel stalwart, has been tipped to become the new US ambassador to the United Nations.
Since Trump offered her the role, she has refused to stand by her previous support of Ukraine joining Nato.
Trump has said Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and Christian pastor-turned-politician, “loves Israel and the people of Israel and, likewise, the people of Israel love him”.
Though yet to be announced, Robert F Kennedy Jr is expected to be given a senior health role in the Trump administration.
Last week, an Irish expert told The Journal that RFK Jr could have a major negative impact on trust in vaccines and scientific institutions globally.
Trump recently pledged to give Kennedy, a leading figure in the anti-vaccine movement, a “big role” in healthcare, saying he would let him “go wild”.
Contains reporting from © AFP 2024 and Press Association
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