by Ashley Murray, West Virginia Watch
November 15, 2024
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump continued his blitz on Cabinet and senior leadership picks, capping the week Friday with the announcement of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a former presidential rival turned Trump deputy , his candidate for the leadership of the federal ministry responsible for enormous parts of the federal state and the US’s relations with Indian tribes.
Burgum will also go up a brand up-to-date “National Energy Council,” Trump said.
In just 10 days since his decisive victory, from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump quickly announced his recommendations for the conduct of key U.S. policy areas, including relations around the globe and the health and well-being of Americans home.
The president-elect, who defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on Nov. 5, has named about half of his planned nominees for the 15 executive departments that traditionally make up a president’s Cabinet. When Trump goes through with his nominations, he needs the approval of the US Senate for each nomination.
That feat could be an uphill battle for Trump’s more controversial candidates — namely a Fox News host who oversees the entire U.S. military, a Vaccine skeptics to administer health and science funds, and a up-to-date congressman from Florida who is being investigated by the Justice Department for his utilize of general authority.
Trump has also drawn from his 2024 campaign staff, personal lawyers and a pool of loyalists from the first administration to fill several senior White House staffers who do not require Senate approval.
Here are some of the president-elect’s latest decisions:
Burgum as Minister of the Interior. Trump announced Friday that he would nominate Burgum, a former 2024 Republican presidential candidate, to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior. The $18 billion, 70,000-employee department oversees 11 offices that have a major impact on relations with Native American tribes; control of hundreds of wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries; and the management of 245 million acres of public lands, a third of the country’s minerals, and leasing for energy production from U.S. marine waters. Trump said in a statement Friday that he would create a National Energy Council with Burgum at the helm “to oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE,” he wrote. Burgum, a wealthy software executive turned governor, has filed a handful of lawsuits against the agency, including demanding that it open more oil and gas leasing in his state North Dakota Monitor. In January, he dropped his 2024 presidential bid and endorsed Trump.
Former U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Trump announced Thursday that he had named the former Georgia congressman to head the agency, which provides medical care to 9 million veterans annually at more than 1,200 facilities. The department, which has asked Congress for a $369.3 billion budget for next year, also oversees disability benefits for veterans and manages national veterans cemeteries and memorials. Collins, an attorney, pastor and member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve since 2002, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2021, according to his congressional biography.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The President-Elect tapped Kennedy Jr. made his decision Thursday to lead the massive, 80,000-employee Department of Health and Human Services, which envisions mandatory spending — think Medicare and Medicaid — reaching $1.7 trillion in 2025 and discretionary spending will reach $130.7 billion. Also under the huge HHS umbrella are the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health. Kennedy Jr., a former 2024 presidential candidate who dropped out and endorsed Trump, is known for spreading misinformation about vaccines. The former environmental lawyer and son of the tardy Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy also made headlines in the race for his 2024 certification dumped a dead bear cub including almost a decade ago in New York’s Central Park unusual Revelations.
Trump lawyer D. John Sauer as Attorney General of the United States. In his latest personnel announcement on Thursday, Trump said he planned to appoint his defense attorney in his federal election interference case as a U.S. Department of Justice trial attorney before the U.S. Supreme Court. Sauer successfully argued Trump’s presidential immunity case before the Supreme Court in April. Sauer made headlines during Trump’s federal appeal in January hearing because he apparently argued that the president’s order to SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival fell within presidential immunity. Sauer, the former Missouri attorney general, was among those who filed the friend-of-the-court motion Briefs in support of Texas’ lawsuit to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general. Trump dropped a bombshell with his revelation on Wednesday afternoon he will nominate now-former Rep. Gaetz of Florida as attorney general. Gaetz resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives hours after Trump’s announcement, preempting an expected ethics report into his alleged sexual misconduct and illegal drug utilize that could have been released Friday several News Points of sale. Politico reported On Friday, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not say the report would be made public, despite pressure from some members of his own party. Gaetz, who would be the nation’s top law enforcement official if confirmed by the Senate, has been under investigation by the Justice Department for possible sex trafficking for two years, starting under Trump’s first administration. The investigation was also closed last year been far reported. Trump campaigned on Justice Department retaliation against his political opponents following the launch of two federal investigations into his alleged storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate and his alleged subversion of the 2020 presidential election. Gaetz is a staunch Trump ally and was among nearly 140 House Republicans who objected to the 2020 election results. Trump also appointed his personal defense attorney, Todd Blanche, as deputy attorney general.
In the last seven days, Trump also announced his plans to nominate former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton as U.S. attorney, former Democratic congressman and Republican Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence and Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of State, host of Fox News Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Governor of South Dakota. Kristi Noem as Homeland Security chief, GOP Rep. Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor, former Chief of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe as CIA Director, former Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as “border czar,” former Trump White House adviser and architect of immigration policy, Stephen Miller, as deputy chief of staff for policy, chairman of the House Republican Conference Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, former congressman Lee Zeldin as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and his 2024 campaign manager Susie Wiles as his chief of staff.
The president-elect also caused a stir when he announced last week that billionaire campaign donor Elon Musk and former presidential candidate and now staunch Trump supporter Vivek Ramaswamy will co-chair an ambiguous entity called the Department of Government Efficiency. In brief, DOGE, it is still unclear how the organization would function and interact with the federal government.
This article has been updated to reflect the correct title for Jay Clayton.
Last updated on November 16, 2024, 11:18 am
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