United States President-elect Donald Trump has wasted little time in choosing officials to take up key roles in his incoming administration.

Just days after his resounding election victory on November 5, Trump began naming advisers and political allies to serve in various posts, including on his cabinet.

Trump’s early nominations and appointments have also touched on hot-button election issues like immigration that were a focal point of his 2024 re-election campaign.

Here’s a look at some of the top nominees he has chosen so far:

Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff

Wiles was a senior adviser in Trump’s 2024 election campaign and a trusted member of his team.

Seen by many as the architect of Trump’s political comeback, the 67-year-old also worked on the 1980 campaign for the late President Ronald Reagan, a Republican icon.

Wiles also has a background in Florida politics: She helped Ron DeSantis win his first race to be governor of the state in 2018.

Later, she helped Trump to defeat DeSantis in the 2024 Republican primary.

“Susie Wiles just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history,” Trump said in a statement on November 7, announcing he had chosen her as his chief of staff.

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

Amy Koch, a Republican strategist, told Al Jazeera that Wiles is also someone who is “loyal” to the president-elect, which is “something he’s looking for” in his cabinet picks.

“She ran a campaign where he was able to sort of tamp down – sometimes – some of [Trump’s] rhetoric. She was able to direct his energies,” Koch said.

Marco Rubio, secretary of state

On November 13, Trump named Senator Rubio of Florida as secretary of state, setting him on the path to become the first Latino in the role. In the Senate, he served on the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Relations

The 53-year-old Rubio was once viewed as a hawk on foreign policy. However, he has shifted some views to align with Trump’s more noninterventionist stance, particularly regarding China, Iran and Cuba.

He has long been pro-Israel. In 2023, for instance, he told activists that he did not support a ceasefire amid Israel’s war in Gaza and that Hamas was “100 percent to blame” for Palestinian deaths during the conflict.

Rubio in fact once tried to portray Trump as anti-Israel, back in 2016 when the two were running against each other in the Republican presidential primaries.

During that race, Trump repeatedly mocked Rubio as “Little Marco”, calling him a “choker” and “Mr Meltdown”. Rubio shot back, saying that Trump had “small hands”.

But he eventually endorsed Trump and now is an ardent supporter of the president-elect.

Tom Homan, ‘border czar’

Trump named Homan, 62, as his “border czar” in a post on his Truth Social website on November 10, saying that “there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders”.

The president-elect also said that Homan – who served in Trump’s first administration as the former head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – would be in charge of carrying out “all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to the Country of Origin”.

Trump has promised to carry out the “largest deportation operation” in US history, a pledge that has drawn widespread concern from migrant and asylum advocates.

But Homan has offered his support for the plan. At a July conference in Washington, DC, Homan said he would “run the biggest deportation operation this country’s ever seen” under Trump’s command.

He also insisted the process would be humane.

Homan has been widely criticised for defending Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, which led to the separation of thousands of parents and children seeking asylum at the border.

In an interview with the CBS News programme 60 Minutes in late October, shortly before Trump won the election, Homan was asked if there was a way to carry out mass deportations without separating families.

He replied: “Of course there is. Families can be deported together.”

Elise Stefanik, US ambassador to the United Nations

Stefanik, 40, has been one of Trump’s staunchest defenders in the US Congress.

She has served as a Republican congresswoman for 10 years and took over as House Republican Conference chair in 2021 after the party removed Liz Cheney for criticising Trump.

Stefanik was a central figure in a recent push in Congress to address claims of anti-Semitism on US university campuses – something critics say was actually an effort to clamp down on criticism of Israel as it waged war on the Gaza Strip.

On November 11, Trump named Stefanik as his pick for ambassador to the United Nations.

If confirmed, Stefanik will be going to the UN at a time of heightened anxiety over the incoming Trump administration’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine: Many critics fear Trump will seek to withdraw US support for Ukraine.

She will also be representing the US as Israel’s war on Gaza and Lebanon continues to fuel fears of wider unrest in the Middle East. The US is Israel’s most powerful ally at the UN.

Reporting from Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna noted that Stefanik “is known as a very strong opponent of the United Nations”.

“She is an avowed supporter of Israel. That is going to cause some ructions within the world body and certainly test US relations with its international partners,” he said.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that Stefanik “will be an incredible Ambassador to the United Nations, delivering Peace through Strength and America First National Security policies!”

Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff for policy

On November 11, Vice President-elect JD Vance appeared to confirm media reports that Miller, 39, would be returning for a second term with Trump.

“This is another fantastic pick by the president,” Vance wrote on the social media response X.

Soon after, on November 13, Trump himself announced Miller’s return, saying he would serve as assistant to the president, deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor.

Miller is a hardline anti-immigration politician who helped craft some of the former president’s most high-profile policies during his first term, such as the separation of migrant families.

Olivia Troye – former aide to Mike Pence, who served as vice president from 2017 to 2021 – described the Trump administration’s use of a public health measure to effectively seal the US’s southern border during the COVID-19 pandemic as “a Stephen Miller special”.

Under the policy, known as Title 42, thousands of migrants and asylum seekers were expelled from the US and sent to dangerous Mexican border towns where they faced violence, including rape, murder and kidnappings.

Miller has championed Trump’s 2024 pledge to carry out mass deportations.

He also frequently uses extreme rhetoric to attack migrants, telling a Trump campaign rally in New York last month that “America is for Americans and Americans only”.

Lee Zeldin, head of the Environmental Protection Agency

Zeldin does not have any environmental experience, but he has been a loyal supporter of the president-elect.

A former US congressman from New York, the 44-year-old has pledged to support Trump’s plan to deregulate approvals of energy extraction and cut down on regulatory red tape.

In a post on X, Zeldin said it was an honour to take up the post.

“We will restore US energy dominance, revitalise our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the US the global leader of AI,” he wrote. “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water.”

During his campaign, Trump criticised the Biden government’s support for electric vehicles and restrictions on oil and gas drilling. He also often used the phrase “drill, baby, drill” to describe his new administration’s approach to petroleum exploration.

Zeldin “will set new standards on environmental review and maintenance, that will allow the United States to grow in a healthy and well-structured way”, Trump wrote on Truth Social on November 11.

Mike Waltz, national security adviser

Trump officially named the Florida congressman to the highly influential post on Tuesday, touting Waltz’s nearly three decades in the US military, including as a Green Beret.

“Mike retired as a Colonel, and is a nationally recognized leader in National Security, a bestselling author, and an expert on the threats posed by China, Russia, Iran, and global terrorism,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

During his re-election campaign, Trump slammed former Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney as a “radical war hawk” and pledged to pursue an “America First” foreign policy.

Nevertheless, his appointment of Waltz elevates someone who previously served as former Vice President Dick Cheney’s “counterterrorism” adviser during the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Waltz, a 50-year-old Trump loyalist, has also heavily criticised Chinese activity in the Asia-Pacific region and has voiced the need for the US to be ready for a potential conflict there.

In his forthcoming national security adviser post, which does not require Senate confirmation, Waltz will be responsible for briefing Trump on key national security issues and coordinating with different agencies.

Though he has slammed the Biden administration for a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Waltz has publicly praised Trump’s foreign policy views.

Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel

Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and one-time presidential candidate, has long been a staunch supporter of Israel and defended the Israeli government’s control over the occupied Palestinian territory.

On November 12, Trump named Huckabee as his pick for the ambassadorship in Israel.

“He loves Israel, and the people of Israel, and likewise, the people of Israel love him,” Trump wrote.

Over the course of his political career, Huckabee has travelled multiple times to Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law.

In 2017, during a visit to Maale Adumim, a large settlement near Jerusalem, he said: “There is no such thing as a West Bank. It’s Judea and Samaria. There’s no such thing as a settlement. They’re communities, they’re neighbourhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation.”

A year later, Huckabee travelled to Efrat – an Israeli settlement located between Bethlehem and Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank – and laid bricks at a new construction site. He described the settlement as a “bridge to peace”, Israeli media reported at the time.

A few years earlier, during his campaign for president, Huckabee – an Evangelical Christian – also said he did not believe the West Bank was being occupied by Israel.

“I think it is very important that as Americans, we show support for Israelis in their capacity to build their neighbourhoods in their own country,” he said during a visit to Shiloh, another illegal settlement north of Ramallah.

John Ratcliffe, CIA director

A close Trump ally, Ratcliffe served as director of national intelligence at the end of the Republican’s first term as president.

While in that role, Democrats and former intelligence officials accused Ratcliffe of declassifying intelligence for Trump and his Republican allies to use against political opponents, including Biden. Ratcliffe’s office denied that charge.

News outlets also reported on concerns that Ratcliffe – a former member of the House of Representatives and US attorney for Texas – exaggerated his “counterterrorism” experience as a federal prosecutor in Texas.

In 2019, Ratcliffe emerged as an ardent defender of Trump during the House of Representatives’ first impeachment proceedings against him. He was a member of the then-president’s impeachment advisory team and strenuously questioned witnesses during the impeachment hearings.

In a statement on November 12, Trump hailed Ratcliffe – whose nomination as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must be confirmed by the Senate – as someone who “has always been a warrior for Truth and Honesty with the American Public”.

“I look forward to John being the first person ever to serve in both of our Nation’s highest Intelligence positions,” Trump added.

Kristi Noem, secretary of homeland security

On November 12, Trump named the Republican governor of South Dakota as the next head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the government agency that oversees US borders, among other things.

“Kristi has been very strong on Border Security,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, noting that Noem was the first US governor to send National Guard troops to help Texas block migrants and asylum seekers from entering the country.

“She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries,” Trump said.

Noem, 52, was once seen as a possible running mate for Trump.

She rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also made headlines earlier this year after she admitted in her memoir that she shot and killed her dog.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Department of Government Efficiency

Trump appointed Musk, the Tesla CEO and billionaire, and Ramaswamy, his former Republican presidential challenger, to lead a new initiative seeking to help the administration “dismantle Government Bureaucracy”.

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Musk said in a statement shared by Trump on Truth Social.

The acronym of the new department – DOGE – coincides with the name of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin which Musk promotes.

Trump said the department would “provide advice and guidance from outside of Government” while partnering with the White House and Office of Management & Budget “to drive large scale structural reform”.

Musk gave millions of dollars to support Trump’s presidential campaign and made public appearances with him. Trump had said he would offer Musk, the world’s richest person, a role in his administration.

Pete Hegseth, secretary of defence

Trump announced he was nominating Hegseth as Pentagon chief on November 12.

The 44-year-old is a co-host of Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends Weekend show. He has been a contributor with the network since 2014, where he developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.

Hegseth is also the author of The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free, published earlier this year. One of the causes he championed has been to root out “woke-ness” in the military.

He was an infantry captain in the Army National Guard and served overseas in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was formerly head of Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and he unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012.

He also championed the case of four former Blackwater contractors convicted in a 2007 shooting rampage in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians. They were pardoned by Trump in one of his final acts in office.

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump wrote in announcing the pick. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”

Matt Gaetz, attorney general (withdrawn)

Gaetz, 42, was a surprise and controversial choice for attorney general. He has since withdrawn his name from contention.

A former US representative from Florida, Gaetz has been an ardent defender of Trump for years but has made enemies within the Republican Party, where he has not been afraid to attack members of the party establishment.

Last October, Gaetz led the charge to eject former Republican Kevin McCarthy as House speaker. It was the first time a speaker had been removed in US history.

In 2021, the Department of Justice also opened an investigation into allegations that Gaetz was involved in sex-trafficking, but the case eventually concluded in 2023 with no charges brought forward.

However, a parallel investigation was launched in the House of Representatives that same year, under the auspices of the chamber’s Ethics Committee.

Gaetz has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The committee was slated to release its report shortly after Gaetz was nominated for the attorney general role on November 13 — but Gaetz’s subsequent resignation from his House seat left the report in limbo.

Still, the committee faced pressure to release its report, ahead of Gaetz’s anticipated Senate confirmation proceedings.

On November 21, Gaetz announced he would withdraw his name from consideration as attorney general, citing the controversy.

“While the momentum was strong, it is clear that my confirmation was unfairly becoming a distraction to the critical work of the Trump/Vance Transition,” he wrote on social media. “There is no time to waste on a needlessly protracted Washington scuffle.”

Pam Bondi, attorney general

Bondi was nominated to be the country’s top federal prosecutor after Gaetz withdrew from the running. The 59-year-old made history in 2010 when she was elected as Florida’s first female attorney general, a position she held from 2011 to 2019.

In 2013, Bondi personally solicited a political contribution from Trump as her office weighed whether to join the state of New York in suing over fraud allegations involving Trump University, a for-profit teaching business.

The Trump Foundation donated $25,000 to a political action committee backing her, a potential violation of a federal ban on charities aiding political candidates. Both Bondi and Trump said they did nothing wrong.

Bondi has been in Trump’s orbit for years, getting a notable speaking spot at the 2016 Republican National Convention as he became the party’s nominee. As the crowd shouted “Lock her up!” about Trump’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, Bondi replied: “‘Lock her up.’ I love that.”

More recently, Bondi has served as chair of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a think tank set up by former Trump administration staffers to lay the groundwork if he won a second term.

She has been a vocal critic of the criminal cases against Trump, and she also helped spread the “Big Lie” that the 2020 election Trump lost to President Biden was stolen.

In announcing Bondi’s nomination on social media, Trump praised her for being “very tough on Violent Criminals”. He also called for reforms at the agency she is slated to head, the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.”

Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence

A former Democrat, Gabbard has adopted increasingly right-wing and pro-Trump positions since she left the US House of Representatives, where she represented Hawaii’s 2nd district.

Gabbard was formerly associated with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, and she endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for the presidency in 2016. Her platform included anti-interventionist foreign policy positions.

However, she has long railed against what she terms “radical Islam” and has long been associated with right-wing Hindu groups and pro-Israeli positions.

She ran in the Democratic Party 2020 presidential primary, eventually dropping out and endorsing Joe Biden. But Gabbard announced in 2022 that she was leaving the Democrats, saying that the party was driven by “cowardly wokeness” and was stoking “anti-white racism”.

The Samoan American joined the Republican Party in October of this year, having already endorsed Trump for president in August.

Trump nominated her for the role of director of national intelligence on November 13, praising her “fearless spirit”.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of health and human services

The son of former attorney general and the nephew of a late president, Kennedy grew up as the scion of a prominent Democratic family.

He initially joined the 2024 presidential race as a Democratic candidate for the presidency.

But in October 2023, he denounced the political divisions and declared himself an independent. His presidential bid continued until August, when he threw his support behind Trump, a Republican.

Like Trump, Kennedy is an outspoken vaccine sceptic who faced criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic. He has also spread disproven conspiracy theories about chemicals turning children transgender and the origins of AIDS.

On November 14, Trump fulfilled a campaign promise and nominated Kennedy as the head of health and human services, a top cabinet-level position in charge of Americans’ wellbeing.

Trump had previously promised to allow Kennedy to “go wild on health” and “on medicines” if elected.

Kennedy’s nomination, however, alarmed many in the healthcare community, who fear he could dismantle public health programmes.

He has already pledged to sack 600 positions in the National Institutes of Health and recommend the removal of the cavity-preventing mineral fluoride from public water.

Kennedy’s political ambitions have been criticised by members of his own family, and his strange behaviour – including publicly confessing to dropping a dead bear in New York’s Central Park – has made him fodder for media scrutiny.

Doug Burgum, secretary of the interior

In the waning months of his second term as governor of North Dakota, Burgum, 68, decided to compete in the Republican primaries for the 2024 presidential election.

That put him against figures like Trump in the race. But Burgum never emerged as a frontrunner.

Using the wealth he acquired during his career as a software entrepreneur, Burgum attempted to drum up support by offering gift cards to voters who donated as little as $1 to his campaign. That qualified him for the first two Republican primary debates, but he fell short from there onward.

By December 2023, Burgum announced he would withdraw from the race. He subsequently became a prominent surrogate for the future president-elect at rallies and events.

While governor of North Dakota, Burgum oversaw the state response to protesters fighting against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, including at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

His platform has often been to push for increased drilling for oil, to ensure the US’s independence from foreign fuel sources. If confirmed as Trump’s interior secretary, Burgum will likely be charged with opening up federal lands for further oil and natural gas exploration.

In announcing Burgum’s nomination, Trump spoke to his plans to create a new “National Energy Council” under Burgum’s command.

“The Radical Left’s War on American Energy has hurt our Allies by forcing them to buy from our adversaries, which in turn use those profits to fund Wars and Terror,” Trump wrote on November 15.

“ENERGY DOMINANCE will allow us to sell Energy to our friends, including all European Nations, which will make the World a safer place.”

Doug Collins, secretary of veterans affairs

In 2019, as the House Judiciary Committee considered articles of impeachment against Trump for the first time, one Republican representative gave a fiery response.

Doug Collins of Georgia, a ranking member of the committee, denounced the proceedings as a “sham impeachment” built on “lies”.

“What has our committee, our great committee, come to?” Collins asked.

Collins has since left office, after serving in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021. His attempt to compete for the US Senate in 2020 fell short: He placed third in the nonpartisan primary.

On November 14, however, Trump elevated Collins back to the national spotlight, naming the former representative as his pick to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform, and Doug will be a great advocate for our Active Duty Servicemembers, Veterans and Military Families,” Trump wrote in a statement.

Collins served as a chaplain for the US Navy and Air Force, including for a tour of five months during the US war in Iraq.

Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary

At just 27 years old, Leavitt will be the youngest person ever to serve as the public face of the White House.

A New Hampshire native, Leavitt previously worked at the White House press office during Trump’s first term and served as national press secretary for his most recent presidential campaign.

Before she joined the Trump campaign this time around, Leavitt was the spokesperson for MAGA Inc, a super PAC supporting Trump.

During the 2022 midterm elections, she also ran for US Congress, beating out a crowded Republican primary field before losing to Democrat Chris Pappas.

She has been a passionate defender of Trump and has particularly touted his appeal to younger voters – a bloc the former president improved upon this election cycle compared with his runs in 2016 and 2020.

In a statement, Trump said Leavitt “did a phenomenal job as the National Press Secretary on my Historic Campaign, and I am pleased to announce she will serve as White House Press Secretary”.

“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” he added. “I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again.”

During his first term, Trump favoured press secretaries who took a combative approach to the press corps, including Sean Spicer and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

He also tended to favour circumventing the position altogether, directly speaking to the public through rallies or in off-the-cuff news conferences.

Chris Wright, secretary of energy

In a boost to a controversial energy-extraction technique known as fracking, Trump named Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright as his pick to head the Department of Energy.

Wright’s company specialises in hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, the process of using pressure to release oil and natural gas by breaking shale and other bedrock in the ground.

Environmental advocates and others have expressed concerns about fracking’s unintended consequences, including groundwater contamination, pollution and even the increased likelihood of earthquakes.

In his announcement on November 16, Trump signalled his support for both Wright and fracking.

“Chris was one of the pioneers who helped launch the American Shale Revolution that fueled [sic] American Energy Independence,” Trump wrote.

He continued by promising to exploit “ALL forms of American Energy” and creating a new Council of National Energy to facilitate the process.

“This Council will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing the private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation,” Trump said in his statement.

Like Trump, Wright is a climate change sceptic. Last year, in a video posted on the job networking platform LinkedIn, Wright declared: “There is no climate crisis, and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition.”

Sean Duffy, secretary of transportation

Sean Duffy, a former MTV reality star, lumberjack and Tea Party-era Wisconsin congressman, has been tapped by Trump to be his new transportation secretary.

Duffy served as the US representative for Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district from 2011 to 2019.

Trump said that Duffy would “maintain and rebuild our Nation’s Infrastructure, and fulfill our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel”. Trump added Duffy will focus on “safety, efficiency, and innovation”.

“Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!” Trump added.

And like Trump, Duffy flourished in the trenches of reality television before launching his media career. Duffy appeared on MTV’s The Real World: Boston, in 1997. The following year, he met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of MTV’s Road Rules: All Stars.

In 2022, Duffy turned down a bid for Wisconsin’s governorship, despite Trump pressing him to run. Duffy reportedly passed on the job to care for his nine children, the youngest of whom has a heart condition.

The flannel-wearing Republican grew up chopping down trees and rolling logs in the backwoods of Hayward, Wisconsin. When Duffy first ran for Congress, he told voters that he came from a “long line of lumberjacks” – and pledged to bring his axe to Washington.

Indeed, growing up, Duffy’s family was a competitive force on the timber sport circuit, drawing the attention of ESPN, who dubbed them “the First Family of the lumberjack universe”.

Duffy joined Fox News as a contributor in 2020. He’s now the second Fox-affiliated host to join Trump’s cabinet, following Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defence.

Howard Lutnick, secretary of commerce

On the business side, Lutnick is the billionaire CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, described by Trump as “a dynamic force on Wall Street for more than 30 years”.

On the political side, he’s a longtime Trump superfan and the co-chair of the president-elect’s transition team.

Trump added that Lutnick would lead the “tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative”.

Lutnick is known for his hawkish views on China and has been a strong supporter of tariffs, like Trump himself.

At a Trump campaign rally at Madison Square Garden last month, Lutnick said that tariffs were necessary because the US had been “letting the rest of the world eat our lunch”.

In the same speech, Lutnick, who lost his brother and more than 600 employees of his firm in the 9/11 attacks, said that the first reason to re-elect Trump was “because we must crush jihad”.

Linda McMahon, secretary of education

McMahon, who has little experience in the educational field, is best known as the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment.

She was previously part of Trump’s first administration, where she served as the head of the Small Business Administration. In addition, she made two unsuccessful runs for the US Senate in Connecticut.

Despite her lack of experience, Trump said that McMahon would “spearhead” the effort to “send education back to the states”.

Trump has pledged to shutter the Department of Education and instead shift its functions to the education departments of individual states.

He also campaigned on a platform of “school choice”, which would allow parents to use taxpayer money to send their children to private and charter schools.

Critics warn this system will syphon money away from the public education system, in favour of schools where there is little government oversight.

In announcing her nomination on November 19, Trump gave a nod to his campaign pledge, writing: “As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families.”

Scott Bessent, secretary of the treasury

Bessent, a hedge fund manager, was picked for the important role of leading the US treasury on November 22.

The 62-year-old is the founder of investment firm Key Square Capital Management, and formerly worked for the billionaire George Soros – a leading funder of liberal causes who is often portrayed as a shadowy puppetmaster by the far-right.

But Bessent has proven his loyalty to Trump, donating at least $3m to his 2024 election campaign.

“Scott is widely respected as one of the world’s foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists,” Trump said in a statement late on Friday.

“He will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the world’s leading economy,” he said, adding that Bessent would also help “reinvigorate the private sector, and help curb the unsustainable path of federal debt”.

Lori Chavez-DeRemer, secretary of labour

Chavez-DeRemer, a Republican who represented the fifth district in Oregon but lost her re-election bid in November, was picked by Trump on November 22.

He said that she had “worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America”.

The congresswoman’s nomination has attracted interest because of her past pro-union policies, standing out among a Republican party that is traditionally anti-trade union.

She supported the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would make it easier for workers to unionise and protect their rights. Chavez-DeRemer is one of the few Republicans to support the bill, which was passed by the then-Democrat-controlled House of Representatives in 2021. It ultimately failed in the Senate.

That pro-union history has attracted Chavez-DeRemer endorsements from several unions, and the head of the powerful Teamsters union, Sean O’Brien, called on Trump to choose her for labour secretary.

The nomination hints at possible pro-labour policies from the new administration, although the influential people within the administration – including the co-head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk – have made clear their opposition to unions.

Brooke Rollins, secretary of agriculture

The president and CEO of the America First Policy Institute, Rollins, 52, has been tapped to lead the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) under the incoming Trump administration.

In announcing his selection on November 23, Trump highlighted her background in agriculture. Rollins received a degree in agricultural development from Texas A&M University, Trump wrote, and she has a “generational Family Farming background”.

“Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none,” Trump said in his announcement.

“As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country.”

As one of Trump’s last cabinet-level picks, Rollins’s selection came as a shock to some political insiders. The publication Politico noted that her resume was thinner than others, and that there was “intense internal fighting over the role”.

Like other cabinet nominees, Rollins is considered a Trump loyalist. She served during Trump’s first term in several roles, including in the Office of American Innovation and as the acting director of the Domestic Policy Council.

After Trump’s first term, in 2021, Rollins founded the America First Policy Institute to guide Trump’s agenda, in anticipation of a second term in office.

The nonprofit promoted the rollback of fossil-fuel restrictions, ending protections for civil service workers and the imposition of tariffs on foreign goods.

If confirmed to her role at the USDA, Rollins will be in charge of programmes overseeing food safety, providing nutrition assistance for low-income households, promoting domestic farming, and protecting natural resources through the US Forest Service.

She is originally from the small, central Texas town of Glen Rose.

Scott Turner, secretary of housing and urban affairs

A motivational speaker, pastor and former defensive back for the National Football League (NFL), Turner, 52, received Trump’s nod to lead the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

That federal body is charged with distributing housing assistance, preventing discrimination, addressing homelessness, making homeownership more accessible and compiling research on housing and affordability.

But Turner’s nomination to the department marks a significant boost in his political career.

Originally from Richardson, Texas, Turner spent nine years in the NFL, playing for teams like the Washington Redskins, the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos.

In 2006, a couple of years after his football career had ended, he made a failed bid to represent California’s 50th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives.

From there, he shifted his political ambitions to his home state of Texas, where he served two terms in the state’s House of Representatives, from 2013 to 2016.

Trump gave Turner a national political profile during his first term: In 2019, Turner became head of the newly created White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.

Turner has since served as part of the America First Policy Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to setting policy priorities for a second Trump term.

In announcing Turner’s nomination on November 22, Trump acknowledged the athlete’s work during his first term. The president-elect credited Turner with “helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities”.

Turner is the first Black person nominated to serve on Trump’s cabinet during his second term.

Dave Weldon, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

A vocal vaccine sceptic, Weldon, 71, is a doctor and army veteran who served seven terms as a Republican in the US House of Representatives, from 1995 to 2009.

He declined to run for an eighth term, with a spokesperson telling The Washington Post that he “never wanted to be a career politician”. Nevertheless, he made a failed bid for the US Senate in 2012.

But with his nomination to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Weldon is likely headed back to Washington, DC.

On November 22, Trump selected Weldon for the role, citing American distrust in the government as a key factor.

“Americans have lost trust in the CDC and in our Federal Health Authorities, who have engaged in censorship, data manipulation, and misinformation,” Trump wrote in his announcement, citing no details to back up his allegations.

“As a father of two and a husband of 45 years, Dave understands American Family Values, and views Health as one of utmost importance. Dave will prioritize Transparency, Competence and High Standards at the CDC.”

Weldon, however, has faced criticism for spreading unfounded theories about public health.

Like fellow nominee Robert F Kennedy Jr, Weldon has played up false ties between autism and vaccination, despite multiple studies showing no proven link.

He has also questioned the independence and accuracy of the CDC, the agency he has been tasked with leading. In 2007, for instance, he put forward a bill that would create a new “agency of vaccine safety” separate from the CDC.

“There is a pattern of behavior at the CDC in which I see the agency draw broad and perhaps misleading conclusions based on incomplete research,” Weldon wrote in a press release at the time, accusing the agency of “conflicts of interest”.

Trump’s selection of Weldon likely signals a dramatic shift in how the federal government researches and attends to public health, with critics fearing a partisan and non-scientific approach.

Weldon will be the first CDC nominee to face Senate confirmation, due to a provision passed in a recent budget bill, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.