U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has signaled who he wants to lead various government departments and advise him when he takes up residence in the White House. CTVNews.ca has rounded up a who’s who of the future president’s desired inner circle.
Cabinet
MIKE PENCE
Position: Vice President
Requires Senate confirmation? No
- Age: 57
- Governor of Indiana since 2013
- Political Experience: Before becoming the Governor of Indiana, Pence served six terms in Congress.
- As the governor of Indiana, Pence signed the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act in March 2015, which allowed businesses in the state to deny service to gay people on religious grounds. The bill was later changed in response to a public backlash.
- Pence opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions.
- He has a long history of opposing women’s reproductive rights. He signed into law one of the strictest abortion laws in the U.S. last March.
REX TILLERSON
Position: Secretary of State
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 64
- President and CEO of Exxon Mobil
- Political Experience: Like Trump, Tillerson doesn’t have any political experience, but his business acumen is what attracted the president-elect to him. Trump called him “one of the truly great business leaders of the world” when he announced the nomination on Twitter.
- Tillerson has deep ties to Russia. He brokered a partnership with Russian government-owned oil company Rosneft in 2011, and he was awarded the Order of Friendship by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013.
- Critics are concerned about an oil businessman leading future climate talks as well as trade and security discussions on the world stage.
JEFF SESSIONS
Position: Attorney General
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 69
- U.S. Senator from Alabama
- Political Experience: Sessions has represented the state of Alabama in the U.S. senate since 1997.
- He was the first sitting senator to endorse Trump’s presidential campaign.
- Sessions was nominated to be a federal judge in 1986, but he was rejected by the Senate over allegations he made racist comments, which he denied. It was alleged that Sessions joked that the Ku Klux Klan was “OK” until he learned they smoked marijuana. Another claim stated that Sessions called a black assistant U.S. attorney “boy.”
- On Capitol Hill, Sessions has been a strong opponent of immigration reform and supports stricter immigration enforcement.
STEVEN MNUCHIN
Position: Secretary of the Treasury
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 53
- Co-chairman & CEO of Dune Capital Management
- Political Experience: None. He is an investor and hedge fund manager who worked at Goldman Sachs for 17 years. Mnuchin is also a Hollywood producer, who has put out films such as “Suicide Squad” and “The Lego Movie.”
- Mnuchin joined Trump’s presidential campaign in May as finance chairman.
- Critics accuse Mnuchin of profiting from low-income homeowners during the 2008 housing crisis in the U.S.
- He has donated to both Republican and Democratic campaigns.
JAMES MATTIS
Position: Secretary of Defence
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 66
- Retired Marine General
- Political Experience: None. General James “Mad Dog” Mattis oversaw U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the commander of the U.S. Central Command, which was responsible for military operations in the Middle East, Northeast Africa and Central Asia. Mattis was also the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO from 2007 to 2009.
- He served 44 years in the Marine Corps.
- In 2005, Mattis was criticized for a speech he gave on fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan in which he said, “It’s fun to shoot some people.”
- Mattis would require a special waiver from Congress to serve as Defence Secretary because he hasn’t been out of the military for seven years.
RYAN ZINKE
Position: Secretary of the Interior
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 55
- Former U.S. Navy SEAL commander
- Political Experience: Zinke has represented Montana in Congress for one term. He was reelected for a second term in November.
- He was an early supporter of Trump’s presidential campaign.
- Zinke is an advocate for public access to federal lands even though he has frequently voted against environmentalists on coal extraction, oil and gas drilling.
- He supports the Keystone XL pipeline.
RICK PERRY
Position: Secretary of Energy
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 66
- Former Governor of Texas
- Political Experience: Perry has run for president twice, and was the longest-serving governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015.
- As governor, Perry championed fossil fuels over renewable energy, which may be an indication of where the Energy Department will be headed in the future.
- During Perry’s 2012 presidential run he made headlines when he forgot the name of the Energy Department, one of three federal agencies he promised to eliminate.
- He initially criticized Trump at the start of the Republican presidential primaries, but was quick to endorse him after he dropped out early in the race.
WILBUR ROSS
Position: Secretary of Commerce
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 79
- Billionaire investor and chairman of private equity firm WL Ross & Co.
- Political Experience: None. He made his fortune by buying, restructuring and selling failing companies, including many in the steel industry.
- Ross has been a vocal critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement and has said the U.S. should free itself from the “bondage” of “bad trade agreements.”
- He has also promoted steep tariffs on goods coming into the U.S. from China.
DAVID SHULKIN
Position: Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Requires Senate confirmation: Yes
- Age: 57
- Shulkin is a well-respected physician and Veterans Affairs’ current undersecretary for health under the Obama administration.
- Political Experience: Since 2015, Shulkin has managed a government-run system responsible for nine million military veterans in more than 1,700 hospitals and clinics as the undersecretary for health. If confirmed, he would be the first Veterans Affairs Secretary to have never served in the military.
- Before taking the undersecretary job, Shulkin had more than two decades of experience in hospital management.
- Shulkin would lead the government’s second-largest agency and be charged with reforming the department and improving access to care for veterans. Veterans Affairs has faced numerous challenges, including a backlog of disability claims and a shortage of healthcare professionals.
BEN CARSON
Position: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 65
- Retired neurosurgeon
- Political Experience: None. He has never held elected office, although he did run against Trump in the Republican primaries.
- Critics are concerned about Carson’s lack of experience in government and running a department. He will be in charge of a US$50 billion budget, 8,000 employees and numerous programs as the housing secretary.
- He was the first African American selected for a cabinet position by Trump.
ANDREW PUZDER
Position: Secretary of Labour
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 66
- CEO of CKE Restaurants, the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.
- Political Experience: None.
- Puzder has criticized raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, warning that it would force restaurants to close, which would mean fewer jobs. He has also spoken out against broadening overtime pay and the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.
TOM PRICE
Position: Secretary of Health & Human Services
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 62
- Orthopedic surgeon and congressman
- Political Experience: The Republican congressman from Georgia has served in the House of Representatives since 2005.
- While in Congress, Price earned the reputation as a leading voice against the Affordable Care Act and has drafted numerous bills intended to replace it.
- Price is also anti-abortion and opposes funding for groups such as Planned Parenthood.
ELAINE CHAO
Position: Secretary of Transportation
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 63
- Formerly the director of the Peace Corps and the CEO of the United Way
- Political Experience: Chao served as Secretary of Labour during both of George W. Bush’s terms as president. She also worked as the deputy secretary of transportation and chair of the Federal Maritime Commission under George H.W. Bush, and held posts during Ronald Reagan’s presidency too.
- She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
BETSY DEVOS
Position: Secretary of Education
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 58
- Education activist and billionaire philanthropist
- Political Experience: DeVos is a high-profile Republican donor who has been active in the Michigan Republic Party since 1982, including serving as the elected chair.
- As the chair of the American Federation for Children, DeVos has pushed to expand charter schools and school voucher programs that provide families with public money for private school tuition.
JOHN KELLY
Position: Secretary of Homeland Security
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 66
- Retired U.S. Marine general and former head of the U.S. Southern Command.
- Political Experience: None.
- Kelly spent 40 years in the Marine Corps., served three tours in Iraq and is a Gold Star father and the highest-ranking military official to lose a child in combat. His son died in Afghanistan in 2010.
- Kelly would be charged with executing Trump’s plan of building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigration.
ROBERT LIGHTHIZER
Position: U.S. Trade Representative
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 69
- Partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom where he practices international trade law.
- Political Experience: He served as the deputy U.S. trade representative during former president Ronald Reagan’s administration in the 1980s.
- Lighthizer has been a long-time critic of China’s trade policies and recommended the U.S. take a “more aggressive approach in dealing with China” during testimony before Congress in 2010.
- In a 2008 New York Times opinion piece, he expressed opposition to free trade agreements. Trump has repeatedly criticized trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
- The trade representative recommends trade policy to the president, negotiates trade deals and disputes, and represents the U.S. at the World Trade Organization.
Cabinet-Rank Positions
REINCE PRIEBUS
Position: Chief of Staff
Requires Senate confirmation? No
- Age: 44
- Chairman of the Republican National Committee
- Political Experience: Priebus has never held an elected office but he has been a long-time Republican official on the national level and in Wisconsin.
- Priebus was an early Trump supporter during the primaries and stood by him when other Republicans criticized him or withdrew their support.
STEPHEN BANNON
Position: Chief White House strategist and senior counsellor
Requires Senate confirmation? No
- Age: 63
- Trump’s campaign manager, right-wing media executive and former Goldman Sachs banker
- Political Experience: None.
- Trump’s choice of Bannon has invited controversy because of his ties to the “Alt-right” movement, an offshoot of conservatism mixing racism, white nationalism and populism. He was the former head of the ultra-right-wing website Breitbart News, which he called a “platform for the Alt-right.”
- Bannon’s ex-wife accused him of saying that he didn’t want his children to attend a particular school because of the numbers of Jewish students there, a claim he has denied.
NIKKI HALEY
Position: UN Ambassador
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 44
- Governor of South Carolina
- Political Experience: Although she lacks foreign policy experience, Haley has been the governor of South Carolina since 2011, and served in the South Carolina House of Representatives for six years before that.
- Haley is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party and gained national attention in 2015, when she called for the Confederate battle flag to be removed from South Carolina’s capitol following a mass shooting at a black church in Charleston, S.C.
- She was highly critical of Trump throughout his campaign and even feuded with him on social media.
SCOTT PRUITT
Position: Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 48
- Oklahoma Attorney-General
- Political Experience: Pruitt served as an Oklahoma state senator from 1998 to 2006.
- Pruitt is a close ally of the fossil fuel industry and has been a vocal denier of climate change. He disagrees with the science that says man-made carbon emissions are to blame for the Earth warming.
- He is an outspoken critic of the EPA and has repeatedly sued the agency in a bid to roll back environmental regulations and public health protections.
MICK MULVANEY
Position: Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 49
- U.S. congressman representing South Carolina
- Political Experience: Mulvaney was first elected to Congress in 2010. Before entering politics, he worked as a lawyer and started a small homebuilding company.
- He is a fiscal conservative who has advocated for government spending cuts.
- Mulvaney is a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus, a hard-right group of conservatives who pushed for House speaker John Boehner’s resignation.
LINDA MCMAHON
Position: Small Business Administrator
Requires Senate confirmation? Yes
- Age: 68
- Co-founder and former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment Inc.
- Political Experience: None. McMahon unsuccessfully ran twice for a U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012. She even spent $100 million of her own fortune during those campaigns.
- McMahon has personally known Trump for 30 years. Trump appeared at WWE events on numerous occasions and he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
- McMahon originally supported New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the primaries, but she threw her support and money behind Trump once he won the nomination.
GARY COHN
Position: National Economic Council Director
Requires Senate confirmation? No
- Age: 56
- President and COO of Goldman Sachs
- Political Experience: None.
- Cohn first joined Goldman Sachs firm in 1990. He has held various leadership roles since that time including, co-head of broader securities and co-president in 2006.
- Despite Trump’s criticisms of Wall Street and Goldman Sachs in particular during the campaign, Cohn was the third Goldman Sachs alum the future president has tapped for prominent positions on his team.
