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8 year oldPresident-elect Donald Trump has made a series of nominations for members of his Cabinet and team of advisers in recent weeks. Here's our running list:
Andy Puzder, Labor secretary
The CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns the fast food restaurants Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, was an adviser to Trump during the campaign. Puzder has been critical of government regulations including efforts to raise the minimum wage.
Linda McMahon, Small Business Administration administrator
McMahon is a co-founder and was the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE). During the general election, McMahon was a Trump fundraiser, but she started the cycle supporting one of Trump’s competitors, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. McMahon ran for the Senate in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012.
Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency administrator
The Oklahoma attorney general will head an agency that he has been highly critical of. In fact, Priutt has sued the EPA previously. Many environmental groups are already lining up against his nomination.
John Kelly, Homeland Security secretary
The former head of U.S. Southern Command will be in charge of the Department of Homeland Security —a sprawling post-9/11 department that includes counter-terrorism and immigration. Kelly spent 40 years in the Marine Corps and retired earlier this year.
Ben Carson, Housing and Urban Development secretary
Carson was one of Trump's competitor's during the Republican primary but got behind Trump in the spring even if he said the man he was supporting "has some major defects." Carson has been one of Trump's most vocal surrogates since he announced his endorsement, frequently appearing as a surrogate for Trump. Carson has no previous government experience but has had a distinguished career as a neurosurgeon.
James Mattis, Defense secretary
Mattis, nicknamed Mad Dog, is a retired four-star general known for his aggressive style. His selection signals Trump’s intention to have a wartime leader in the post. Mattis, who left the Marine Corps in 2013, will need a congressional waiver in order to serve due to a federal law that requires a minimum seven-year gap between military service and running the Pentagon.
Steve Mnuchin, Treasury secretary
Mnuchin has some experience working for Trump; he was chairman of Trump's campaign's finance operation. Mnuchin previously worked as an executive at Goldman Sachs. When he confirmed his appointment on CNBC, Mnuchin said he would focus on cutting taxes — particularly corporate taxes.
Wilbur Ross, Commerce secretary
Ross is a billionaire investor and one of the authors on an infrastructure plan that Trump is considering. He told CNBC that he would focus on working with individual countries for bilateral trade agreements, rather than pacts like the now-stalled Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Elaine Chao, Transportation secretary
Chao was Labor secretary under former president George W. Bush and assistant secretary of Transportation under president George H.W. Bush. Chao was the first Asian-American woman to be appointed to the Cabinet when she was named Labor secretary in 2001. She is also married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
Tom Price, Health and Human Services secretary
The Georgia congressman has been a vocal critic of President Obama's health care law and his selection signals Trump's priority in repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act. Price has been in the House for six terms and is an orthopedic surgeon.
Nikki Haley, U.N. ambassador
The South Carolina governor was critical of Trump during the primary and supported his competitor, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, but she eventually backed the party's nominee. Haley is the first female and minority to be governor of South Carolina. Haley dealt with several crises while leading her state but has little foreign policy experience.
Betsy DeVos, Education secretary
DeVos is a Michigan Republican who is a strong advocate of school choice and school vouchers.
Jeff Sessions, attorney general
A senator from Alabama, Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump and helped advise him as a candidate and president-elect. A key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was Alabama's attorney general before his election to the Senate in 1996. Sessions' appointment to the federal bench was denied in 1986 by the Senate Judiciary Committee, because of remarks he had made that some people deemed racially insensitive. Sessions has long disputed that characterization.
Reince Priebus, chief of staff
Priebus is the chairman of the Republican National Committee and supported Trump during the general election campaign. While Priebus has been critical of Trump at times, once Trump won the party’s nomination he got behind him fully and encouraged the party to coalesce.
Todd Ricketts, deputy Commerce secretary
Ricketts, the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, and comes from the conservative Ricketts family. During the primary Trump threatened the Ricketts family for spending money against him but Ricketts got on board with Trump during the general election.
Kathleen Troia “K.T.” McFarland, deputy national security adviser
McFarland is a veteran national security analyst and Fox News commentator. She served under former presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan and has been a frequent critic of President Obama.
Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
Verma is the CEO of the health policy consulting firm SVC Inc. and was the architect of Indiana's alternative approach to Medicaid, which included charging recipients for services. Indiana's expansion of Medicaid, which was a key part of the Affordable Care Act, was done with the approval of the federal government.
Stephen Bannon, chief strategist and senior counselor
Bannon was the head of Breitbart News, a conservative website that championed Trump’s candidacy and has been criticized for racist and sexist posts. He took a leave of absence to be the chairman of Trump’s campaign.
Jared Kushner, son in-law of President-elect Donald Trump, left, walks with Stephen Bannon at Indianapolis International Airport on Dec. 1, 2016. (Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)
Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, national security adviser
The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Flynn is a Democrat who was strongly critical of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Flynn was Trump’s top military adviser during the campaign. Flynn was dismissed from the Pentagon’s top intelligence job because of his combative style. He also has been highly critical of Islam. In August, he called Islam “a cancer” and “a political ideology" that "hides behind this notion of it being a religion.”
Mike Pompeo, CIA director
A Republican House member from Kansas, Pompeo serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and is close to Vice President-elect Mike Pence. During the primaries, Pompeo backed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio but supported Trump in the general election campaign.
Don McGahn, White House counsel
McGahn is a veteran Washington campaign finance attorney and a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission. One of McGahn's charges will be to help Trump deal with potential conflicts of interest between his businesses and his presidency.
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