Trump’s allies are already jockeying for high-powered spots in his administration
By Kristen Holmes, Jeremy Herb, Kayla Tausche, Evan Perez and Kaitlan Collins, CNN
(CNN) — President-elect Donald Trump’s allies are quickly jockeying for positions in a new Trump administration on the heels of his decisive victory, sources familiar with the matter told CNN, pitting loyalists against each other to land top roles in the new government.
Those with particular positions in mind have begun reaching out to members of Trump’s inner circle to try and talk themselves up. Trump, who is known to be superstitious, largely avoided these conversations in recent weeks, despite allies who believed they proved their loyalty trying to position themselves favorably.
Many hopefuls were at Trump’s victory parties in Florida Tuesday night and delayed their flights or adjusted their travel schedules to remain in the Palm Beach area. Trump could announce his decision on some key positions within days, sources told CNN.
Trump has also prepared a raft of executive orders, policy papers and regulation reversals to go on day one of taking office, according to sources, describing a president-elect who is focused on what he’ll do immediately after taking the oath of office.
Ahead of the election, transition heads Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon met with some potential candidates for high-ranking positions within the administration to discuss what that would look like, sources familiar with the meetings told CNN.
Occasionally over the past few months, Trump would float names as possible administration picks, but he would not engage further. Sources close to the former president said that because he was superstitious, Trump often refused to engage in lengthier conversations about who would be placed in an administration before the election took place.
Now Trump can’t ignore the decisions about who will staff the key roles in his administration tasked with implementing the president-elect’s sweeping plans to remake the federal government.
During private conversations in the last few days, Trump has made one thing clear: He wants to reward those who stood by him during the last two years of his presidential bid.
Trump has said he regretted many of the people he put in senior roles when he won the White House in 2016, angry with top aides and Cabinet officials who tried to thwart his often-impulsive demands and desires. Many of the loyalists lining up for positions say they intend to operate in the new administration free of any officials who will undercut Trump.
During the campaign, the president-elect fiercely distanced himself from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation effort to map out a sweeping agenda for the new Trump administration, along with vetting hundreds of people who could join the federal government and were deemed loyal to Trump.
John McEntee, a Trump ally who served as director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office and remains close to him, helmed the personnel operation – which is expected to provide recommendations to the transition for administration posts. Cliff Sims, another top aide during his first term, and Ross Werner, a former Pentagon and Goldman Sachs official, have also assisted with vetting.
Some advisers have proposed a work around to traditional background checks conducted for specific White House jobs that would allow for a quicker installation of loyalists into the administration, according to two sources briefed on the proposal. Some of Trump’s hires during his first administration were held up or thwarted due to lengthy and in-depth background checks, which could be a problem again this time around.
The West Wing
One of Trump’s most important picks will be his White House chief of staff. During his first term, Trump churned through four chiefs of staff, including John Kelly, who said last month that Trump fits “into the general definition of fascist.”
There are at least three people being floated as potential chiefs of staff for the new Trump administration. That list includes his 2024 co-campaign manager, Susie Wiles, who sources close to Trump believe is the frontrunner. Wiles remained loyal to Trump when several Republicans tried to distance themselves from him after he left the White House in 2021.
“She makes him feel comfortable,” one source close to Trump said of Wiles.
Russ Vought, Trump’s former budget director who oversaw a widespread push to deregulate, could find himself in pole position if Trump decides to embrace the pillars of Project 2025, which Vought co-authored.
The list of potential White House chiefs also includes CEO of the America First Policy Institute, Brooke Rollins, and Bob Lighthizer, Trump’s former US trade representative.
Karoline Leavitt, who was Trump’s campaign spokeswoman, is being considered as White House press secretary – a job that typically is the most public-facing position in the White House.
Musk and RFK Jr.
One of the key decisions Trump will have to make is what to do with the high-profile but polarizing supporters who boosted his campaign in the final months, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X.
It’s not clear yet whether either could be confirmed by the Senate for a Cabinet position – a question that may be decided by the ultimate margin that Republicans have next year.
Musk, whose pro-Trump super PAC spent more than $118 million in the 2024 campaign, has pitched himself to lead a broad effort to slash spending inside the federal government.
A source familiar with the conversations around Musk said it seemed unlikely that he would even want a full-time government position, given what that would mean for his role in the various companies he helms.
Instead, it seemed more plausible that Musk would be appointed to a blue-ribbon committee where he would still have enormous access, but he would not be subject to government ethics rules, which would require him to divest or put assets in a blind trust to avoid conflicts of interest between his private business interests and government role.
While the president-elect continues to praise Kennedy publicly, advisers have acknowledged that he has caused some headaches for the campaign. An interview Wednesday further exacerbated that concern, when Kennedy was continually pressed on his stance on vaccines, just hours after Trump won the presidency in an historic political comeback.
“That is not what we want people focused on today,” a source close to Trump said of the exchange.
The Kennedy and Trump teams have been discussing the potential for a czar-like position with a broad remit and direct, regular access to the president. His wide-ranging interests – addiction, nutrition, mental health, vaccines, and the environment – span multiple agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture.
Inside Trump’s camp, questions have been raised about whether Kennedy could get confirmed or obtain a security clearance necessary for a Cabinet-level position. And even if he could, they doubt Kennedy would want to go through those processes.
“If you dump a bear in Central Park and think you’re above the law, you don’t want to have to go through that gauntlet of political correctness,” said a former Trump official briefed on the discussions.
Immigration and the law
Roles overseeing immigration and law enforcement will be central in Trump’s ability to advance an agenda that he has suggested will include mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and prosecutions of his political enemies. Many Trump loyalists have suggested those are mandates his departments of Justice and Homeland Security should carry out.
Among those being floated for attorney general, which Trump has suggested will be among the most important roles he fills: Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who, like Trump, was both indicted and impeached; Matt Whitaker, who served in an acting capacity after Trump fired then-AG Jeff Sessions; Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. Conservative attorney Mark Paoletta has been pitched directly to Trump, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Kash Patel, a former Trump national security official who is helping organize the next administration’s transition, spent Wednesday taking meetings and calls at a Palm Beach County office from a flood of people interested in jobs in the incoming administration, according to a former Trump administration official involved in the process. Patel is helping to manage a somewhat chaotic process with multiple Trump campaign officials pushing lists of potential nominees for key jobs.
Patel and Trump are both vowing to oust officials who played any role in investigations of Trump and his supporters. Trump has vowed to fire Christopher Wray, who Trump appointed in 2017 after firing James Comey, and whose 10-year term has more than two years remaining. Jeffrey Jensen, a former Trump-appointed US attorney in St. Louis, is among the names being considered to run the FBI.
Then-Attorney General Bill Barr appointed Jensen in 2020 to review several politically sensitive prosecutions, including the one of Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI before Barr ordered the case to be dropped.
National security posts
Trump has suggested his national security team would be tasked with reassessing the United States’ posture toward Ukraine and Russia, China, Iran, and the simmering conflict in the Middle East. The debate over a renewed Trump’s “America First” agenda is expected to pit Republican national security hawks against the party’s isolationist wing.
Secretary of state and national security adviser will be among the most hard-fought positions to stand at the forefront of those shifts.
For Foggy Bottom, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a China hawk and finalist for Trump’s VP, is under consideration, as is Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Japan during his first term.
Richard Grenell, a Trump loyalist and former ambassador to Germany, has also been floated for the position, though he could end up in a number of potential slots. Grenell is one of several Trump loyalists who is seen as a shoo-in for a position, with questions over the particular role. Grenell was Trump’s acting director of national intelligence for several months in 2020 and has also been suggested for a role such as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, where he may be urged by Trump to unearth the so-called “deep state.”
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Keith Kellogg, and Ratcliffe are also in the mix for intelligence or national security roles.
Patel himself has told associates that he wants to be CIA director, people briefed on the matter say. It would be a triumph after Trump contemplated in his final months in office putting Patel in key jobs at FBI or CIA. That idea was blocked by opposition from then CIA Director Gina Haspel and Barr.
Cotton is also among those being floated for secretary of defense, in addition to Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican who is House GOP Conference Chair, is being strongly considered as United Nations ambassador, and has been mentioned for CIA. She’s met with the transition team about the prospect of the UN role.
A number of others are also being floated for the UN ambassador job, including former State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus, former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and Kelly Craft, who was the UN ambassador at the end of Trump’s first term.
Economic roles
To promote his economic platform of broad-brush tariffs and tax cuts, Trump is expected to lean on longtime allies and loyalists, while tapping into Wall Street heavyweights to round out his domestic agencies.
There are several names being batted around for Treasury secretary. They include Scott Bessent, who prepared Trump for his economic club speeches.
“He’s a former Soros guy who captured the MAGA movement. The president loves that, former Democrats that he’s flipped. That’s why he loves Elon so much,” said a source familiar with the matter.
Hank Paulson, a former Goldman Sachs CEO who led George Bush’s Treasury Department during the onset of the Great Recession, is also under consideration – in large part because of the diplomatic ties he’s forged with top officials in the Chinese Communist Party. Jay Clayton, a former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, is seen as a “dark horse,” according to one source.
Lighthizer has also expressed interest in the Treasury post. Both Lighthizer and McMahon are also under consideration to run the Commerce Department.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who was a finalist to be Trump’s vice-presidential pick, is being floated as interior secretary.
At the Office of the US Trade Representative – a once-sleepy outfit across the street from the White House – the Trump team is looking for someone who wouldn’t flinch at his often mercurial whims on tariff policy. Jamieson Greer, who served as Lighthizer’s deputy when Trump instituted across-the-board tariffs on adversaries and allies alike, is the name sources raise most often for this role.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Kevin Liptak, Alayna Treene, Hannah Rabinowitz and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
