Here’s the latest on who Trump has picked or is considering for his new Cabinet, including reaction, commentary, and analysis.
President-elect Donald Trump isn’t wasting any time reminding everyone what it’s going to be like when Donald Trump is president. He continues to announce his various picks for his next Cabinet, rewarding his most loyal allies, setting the tenor for what his second administration will try to accomplish, and showing little apparent concern over what anybody else will think. His most contentious picks include (now former) congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Fox News host Pete Hegseth as Defense secretary, and vaccine conspiracy proponent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary. Below are live updates on Trump’s latest Cabinet picks and transition team plans, along with some of the reaction, concerns, and commentary that follows.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump aides have reached out to the Apollo Global Management chief executive:
Trump aides have been in touch with Rowan to gauge his interest and he has affirmed it, a person familiar with the talks said. Rowan has yet to speak to Trump about the job and is not actively lobbying to become Treasury secretary, according to people familiar with the matter.
The New York Times reports that Trump is now also considering former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh — and has soured on earlier top candidates and their drama:
Mr. Trump had been expected to pick either Howard Lutnick, the chief executive of the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, or Scott Bessent, the founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management and a former money manager for George Soros. And he had been seen as likely to make the selection late last week. But he has been having second thoughts about the top two candidates, and has slowed down his selection process. He is expected to invite the contenders to interview with him this week at Mar-a-Lago.
Mr. Lutnick, who has been running Mr. Trump’s transition operation, has gotten on Mr. Trump’s nerves lately. Mr. Trump has privately expressed frustration that Mr. Lutnick has been hanging around him too much and that he has been manipulating the transition process for his own ends. A person familiar with the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the battle between Mr. Lutnick and Mr. Bessent as a knife fight, with Mr. Lutnick as the primary aggressor. …
Mr. Trump has told people that he wants somebody “big” for the role — and tends to value wealth and status on Wall Street. He has made clear to people close to him that he is very impressed with Mr. Rowan[.] He has also remarked that Mr. Warsh is smart and handsome. Mr. Warsh has also been regularly raised as a possible option for Federal Reserve chairman. Jerome H. Powell currently holds that job, but his term expires in 2026.
Bloomberg reports:
Members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have told advisers they plan to make a federal framework for fully self-driving vehicles one of the Transportation Department’s priorities, according to people familiar with the matter. …
Current federal rules pose significant roadblocks for companies looking to deploy vehicles without steering wheels or foot pedals in large quantities, which Tesla plans to do. The Trump team is looking for policy leaders for the department to develop a framework to regulate self-driving vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter
Trump previously opposed autonomous vehicles, which Musk’s Tesla is now deeply invested in. Bloomberg notes that Congress would need to pass legislation to enable mass adoption of the technology, but there are at least some ways that the DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, via new rules, could pave part of the way.
Trump’s DOGE co-head promised broad rapid cost-cutting during a Sunday morning appearance on Fox News. Per the New York Post:
“We expect certain agencies to be deleted outright,” Ramaswamy, 39, told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We expect mass reductions in force in areas of the federal government that are bloated.”
“We expect massive cuts among federal contractors and others who are overbilling the federal government,” he continued. “I think people will be surprised by, I think, how quickly we’re able to move.” …
“They haven’t voted for incremental change here this time,” he argued. “We have voted for sweeping change, and the voters actually deserve to get it. And we’re focused on how to do that as early and as quickly as possible.”
That’s how presidential transition historian David Marchick described what Trump is now doing with his cabinet picks to the New York Times:
“This is like the ‘Star Wars’ bar scene of nominees,” he said. Mr. Trump’s camp has made clear, he added, that “it’s a serious strategy to blow out the government as an institution because of their belief that it’s become too big, too powerful and represents the deep state.” …
According to figures from Mr. Marchick, the average tenure for a cabinet secretary in Mr. Trump’s first term other than Treasury, Commerce and Housing and Urban Development was 1.8 years. For the key security agencies — Defense, Justice and Homeland Security — the average term was 10.5 months.
“None of these candidates, I’m sure, were vetted,” Mr. Marchick said of the latest nominees. “It’s all just spontaneous decisions by Trump and then announcement by tweet. No process, no interviews, no vetting, just chaos. He had a mandate to deal with the price of eggs. The question is: Did the mandate extend to this craziness?”
In addition to Trump’s entourage of Elon Musk, RFK Jr., Speaker Mike Johnson, and others who accompanied him to the UFC event at Madison Square Garden on Saturday night, Trump was also seen chatting with Eric Adams:
Mayor Adams — who has very noticeably refrained from criticizing Trump in recent months — met with the incoming president ringside at the UFC fight at Madison Square Garden last night. This appearance wasn’t on the mayor’s public schedule. https://t.co/TJsCsnrisu— Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) November 17, 2024
Adams spokesperson suggested it was happenstance:
Adams spokeswoman @KaylaMamelak says he bought a ticket to the fight last night. She declines to say what he spoke with Trump about.
„As you know, we never discuss private conversations“, she says (despite this oft-repeated claim, Adams delves into private convos regularly). Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) November 17, 2024
Politico Playbook spoke with some of Todd Blanch and Emil Bove’s former colleagues:
“Todd and Emil are both accomplished former federal prosecutors well-trained in the finest nonpartisan traditions of the Department of Justice,” Rep. DAN GOLDMAN (D-N.Y.), a former SDNY prosecutor who overlapped there with Blanche and Bove told us. (Goldman, of course, was lead counsel on the first Trump impeachment and is a staunch Trump critic.) “Donald Trump has been clear that he intends to weaponize the DOJ for his partisan interests,” Goldman added, “but I expect Todd and Emil to adhere to those principles and the rule of law in the face of any pressure to do otherwise.”
“This isn’t about who I would want in that position,” MIMI ROCAH, the sitting Westchester County DA, a Democrat and herself an SDNY veteran, told us. Blanche worked as Rocah’s deputy for about two years when she supervised the White Plains division of the office. “It’s about who’s qualified and has the seriousness, skills, abilities, ethics, to have a role like that,” she added. “And I think Todd certainly does.”
Others were warier. Another former colleague described Blanche as “your typical throwback rough-and-tumble violent crimes prosecutor” and said that “I don’t think any of his colleagues from SDNY would have imagined him running the day-to-day operations of the Justice Department.” The former colleague went on to add that “the bar is so low with these Trump appointments [that] everyone is at least happy to see a ‘real guy’ in there.”
As for Bove — who will not need to go through Senate confirmation for his position — the former colleague questioned his temperament and reminded us of a widely publicized controversy in which Bove supervised a trial team that was eventually taken to task by the presiding judge in the SDNY for trying to bury evidence favorable to the defendant — a mortal sin in prosecutorial circles. “Emil Bove has ridden a hell of a roller coaster to be here,” the former colleague continued, adding that he “was an odd duck at SDNY” who was known for “threatening, pound-the-table antics” that were “wild as a supervisor and as a line assistant.”
The Speaker was asked about his opposition to releasing the report on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday. As Politico captions, he denied discussing the matter with Trump:
“The president and I have literally not discussed one word about the ethics report, not once,” Johnson said in an interview with Jake Tapper[.] “And I’ve been with him quite a bit this week between Washington and Mar-a-Lago. And last night in Madison Square Garden.” … Johnson claimed his two statements on staying independent and requesting the report to not be released were not contradictory: “What I said is entirely consistent,” he said to CNN.
“The Speaker of the House is not involved in Ethics Committee work. Can’t be, shouldn’t be, because the speaker can’t put a thumb on the scale or have anything to do with that,” Johnson said. “What I have said with regard to the report is that it should not come out. And why? Because Matt Gaetz resigned from Congress. He is no longer a member.”
Per NBC News:
The Trump transition team is compiling a list of senior current and former U.S. military officers who were directly involved in the withdrawal from Afghanistan and exploring whether they could be court-martialed for their involvement, according to a U.S. official and a person familiar with the plan.
Officials working on the transition are considering creating a commission to investigate the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, including gathering information about who was directly involved in the decision-making for the military, how it was carried out, and whether the military leaders could be eligible for charges as serious as treason, the U.S. official and person with knowledge of the plan said.
Trump went to UFC at MSG on Saturday night, accompanied by his new inner circle, and everyone was posting pics to prove it all happened.
Like anti-processed food activist RFK Jr. at least holding a Quarter Pounder with Cheese on Trump Force One:
POV: walking by the cool kids table ???????? pic.twitter.com/RWkw6CufKB— Margo Martin (@margomartin) November 17, 2024
And this MAGA-packed elevator:
EPIC elevator photo @DonaldJTrumpJr just posted pic.twitter.com/3I604QXXM7— Merissa Hansen⚡️ (@merissahansen17) November 17, 2024
And mild-mannered Mike Johnson having an “epic!” time:
UFC at MSG was epic! pic.twitter.com/BxpiZK00qu— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) November 17, 2024
And ringside LOLZ:
I’m watching myself watch this ???? https://t.co/37GMB1EQN9— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 17, 2024
Per CNN:
Yet the president-elect has made clear that he views Gaetz as the most important member of the Cabinet he is quickly assembling, sources with knowledge of Trump’s thinking told CNN, and he considers the nomination of the former Florida congressman an urgent priority for the incoming GOP majority in the Senate. Trump wants Gaetz confirmed “100%,” a source told CNN. “He is not going to back off. He’s all in.”
NBC News reported Saturday that Gaetz’s nomination faces a steep climb with Senate Republicans (though that opposition is hardly public, at this point):
More than half of Senate Republicans, including some in senior leadership positions, privately say they don’t see a path for former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., to be confirmed as attorney general and would not support him to lead the Department of Justice, according to multiple people who spoke to NBC News on condition of anonymity.
