Donald Trump’s top team: Who is in, who is out and who are the leading contenders?
As the dust settles on Donald Trump’s US election win, the president-elect has begun choosing who will be in his administration for his second stint in the White House.
During the campaign, Mr Trump avoided directly confirming any appointments but frequently dropped hints about who he would like in his top team.
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So who is in, who is out and who are the leading contenders for jobs?
Who is in?
Susie Wiles at Nashville International Airport in July. Pic: AP
Susie Wiles is a veteran Republican campaign manager – having helped Ronald Reagan and Ron DeSantis get elected as well as Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024. She is the first member of his team to be announced – and becomes the first female chief-of-staff in American history.
The 67-year-old, who lives in Florida, has a political career that spans decades but has largely kept out of the limelight and rarely given interviews.
She is the daughter of late American footballer Pat Summerall and one of her first jobs in politics was as an assistant to one of his former New York Giants teammates when he became a Republican representative.
Outside politics, she has worked in the private sector as a lobbyist, for both Ballard Partners, whose clients include Amazon, Google, and the MLB (Major League Baseball), and then Mercury, which works with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and the Embassy of Qatar.
This time around, Mr Trump credited her with his “best-run” presidential campaign, describing her as “incredible” at a Milwaukee rally earlier this year, and an “ice maiden” in his victory speech.
Elise Stefanik
Elise Stefanik. Pic: AP
According to US network CNN, Mr Trump has offered fierce ally Elise Stefanik the job as US ambassador to the UN.
Citing two anonymous sources, CNN confirms rumours the Republican – who represents New York in the House – was lined up for the role.
Ms Stefanik has built up a national profile as an unwavering ally of the president-elect, shedding her early reputation as a moderate – having worked on Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign – to become the highest-ranking woman in the House Republican leadership.
Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported in January this year she was being considered as Mr Trump’s pick for vice president.
Mr Trump reportedly described her as a “killer”.
Tom Homan
Mr Trump said late on Sunday that Tom Homan will return to government to be in charge of the US’ borders and the deportation of illegal immigrants.
Announcing the news on Truth Social, the president-elect said “there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders” than his new “border czar”.
Mr Homan served as former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during Mr Trump’s first term, and was an early backer of the president’s “zero tolerance” policy – which NBC News reported led to at least 5,500 families being separated at the southern border in 2018.
Earlier this year, he told a conservative conference he would “run the biggest deportation force this country has ever seen,” per NBC.
Mr Homan was also a contributor to Project 2025’s Mandate for Leadership book.
Who is out?
Nikki Haley
Former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley on day two of the Republican National Convention this summer.
Pic: Reuters
Ms Haley was once Mr Trump’s main rival during his run for the Republican presidential nomination.
Despite losing the contest, she proved her popularity with parts of the GOP and previously served in his first presidential cabinet as the US ambassador to the United Nations.
The 51-year-old also served as governor of South Carolina but news of her not being involved this time around was broken by the president-elect on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
In a short statement, Mr Trump said he would not be inviting either her nor former secretary of state Mike Pompeo back but thanked them for their service.
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
In response, Ms Haley, who eventually endorsed Mr Trump despite harshly criticising him in the party primaries, said: “I was proud to work with President Trump defending America at the United Nations.
“I wish him, and all who serve, great success in moving us forward to a stronger, safer America over the next four years.”
Mike Pompeo
Mr Pompeo also served as the director of the CIA under Mr Trump and had been mentioned in some reports as a possible defence secretary or in relation to another role linked to national security, intelligence or diplomacy.
Mr Trump confirmed Mr Pompeo would not be returning to his cabinet in the same post that he ruled out Ms Haley.
Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Pic: AP
Previously among Mr Trump’s closest allies, Mr Pompeo is one of the fiercest US defenders of Ukraine.
Mike Waltz, a congressman from Florida, and Tom Cotton, a Harvard College and Harvard Law School-educated Army officer-turned-senator from Arkansas, are also believed to be in the running for the defence role.
Who is yet to be decided?
Elon Musk
Elon Musk joined Donald Trump on the campaign trail. Pic: Reuters
Tech billionaire Elon Musk became one of Mr Trump’s staunchest supporters in the months leading up to the election and spent at least $119m (£92m) canvassing for him in the seven battleground states.
His loyalty looks set to be rewarded as Mr Trump has promised the X owner a role as the head of a new Department of Government Efficiency (or DOGE for short, a reference to the Dogecoin cryptocurrency Mr Musk often promotes).
The department would be “tasked with conducting a complete financial and performance audit of the entire federal government”, Mr Trump said at an event in September.
It could give the billionaire the power to slash through the US federal bureaucracy both he and Mr Trump say has long held America back.
Robert F Kennedy Jr
Robert F Kennedy Jr. Pic: AP
Robert F Kennedy Jr abandoned his independent presidential campaign to back Mr Trump in August.
It was a move that saw the prominent vaccine sceptic condemned by many members of his family, but as with Musk, his public support looks set to be rewarded by the president-elect.
Mr Trump has pledged to give him a role focusing on health policy and Mr Kennedy has hinted at one possible initiative, stating on X that “the Trump White House will advise all US water systems to remove fluoride from public water”, on inauguration day.
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Mr Kennedy – the son of politician Robert F Kennedy and the nephew of assassinated president John F Kennedy – made a name for himself as a vaccine sceptic during the COVID-19 pandemic and has frequently repeated debunked claims, including linking vaccines to autism in children.
Don Jr, Eric and Lara Trump
Don Jr, flanked by Eric and Lara, defending his father outside his hush money trial in May. Pic: AP
Mr Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were among his senior advisers during his first term. But will the businessman once again keep any family members close when he is in the Oval Office?
In June 2023, Mr Trump said he did not want his children to serve in a second administration, saying it was “too painful for the family”.
Nevertheless, while Ms Trump and Mr Kushner have stayed away from politics since, two of Mr Trump’s other sons – Don Jr and Eric – have played prominent roles on the campaign trail.
Eric’s wife, Lara Trump, already has a significant role in US politics, as she serves as co-chair of the Republican Party.
Richard Grenell
Richard Grenell. Pic: AP
Among Mr Trump’s closest aides on foreign policy, Richard Grenell is thought to be a potential pick for national security adviser.
His private dealings with foreign leaders and often caustic personality have made him into a controversial figure, but he could well be part of Mr Trump’s second administration.
Mr Grenell has in the past supported establishing an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine to end the war, an idea that Kyiv rejected as unacceptable.
Larry Kudlow
Larry Kudlow hosts shows on Fox News and Fox Business. Pic: AP
Fox News personality Larry Kudlow served as director of the National Economic Council for much of Mr Trump’s first term and is said to have an outside shot at becoming his treasury secretary this time around.
Other names being linked to the post include John Paulson – a billionaire hedge fund manager and donor, who hosted a fundraiser that raked in more than $50m (£38m) for the former president.
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio has previously tried to land himself on the Republican presidential ticket. Pic: Reuters
Marco Rubio, a Florida senator who unsuccessfully ran against Mr Trump to be the Republican’s presidential candidate in 2016, is a potential candidate for secretary of state.
His policies are very much in line with Mr Trump’s and he was a contender to be his 2024 running mate before JD Vance landed the role.
Bill Hagerty – another of the running mate contenders – is also being linked to the position, as is Robert O’Brien, who served as Mr Trump’s fourth and final national security adviser during his first term.
A woman who went missing while looking for her cat was likely swallowed by a sinkhole, authorities have said.
Elizabeth Pollard vanished after leaving with her granddaughter to search for her pet on Monday evening in Pennsylvania, but her family alerted authorities when she had not returned by the early hours of Tuesday.
The 64-year-old’s vehicle was found with her unharmed five-year-old granddaughter inside around two hours later near a freshly opened sinkhole above a long-closed, crumbling mine.
But police say the search operation has now turned into a recovery effort, after two treacherous days of digging through mud and rock produced no signs of life.
Elizabeth Pollard. Pic: Pennsylvania State Police
The top of the sinkhole that Ms Pollard is believed to have fallen into. Pic: AP
Pennsylvania State Police spokesperson Trooper Steve Limani said authorities no longer believed they would find Ms Pollard alive, but that work to find her remains continued.
“Unless it’s a miracle, most likely this is a recovery,” he said.
There has been no signs of any form of life or anything to make rescuers think they should continue the search effort, he said, noting that oxygen levels below ground were insufficient.
“We feel like we failed. It’s tough.”
He praised the crews who went into the abandoned mine to help remove material during the search for Ms Pollard in the village of Marguerite, around 40 miles east of Pittsburgh.
The search operation continued through the night. Pic: AP
Authorities had said earlier that the roof of the mine had collapsed in several places and was not stable.
“We did get, you know, where we wanted, where we thought that she was at. We’ve been to that spot,” Pleasant Unity Fire chief John Bacha, the incident’s operations officer, said.
“What happened at that point, I don’t know, maybe the slurry of mud pushed her in one direction. There were several different seams of that mine, shafts that all came together where this happened.”
Geological engineer Paul Santi, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines, said the chances of Ms Pollard surviving if she slipped into the sinkhole were “pretty small.”
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“I would be surprised if she came through this OK,” he said.
“It would require that she wasn’t killed by the fall, she wasn’t killed by the rock, that there was an air pocket and she’s able to survive in it.”
Sinkholes occur regularly in the area because of subsidence from coal mining activity.
Mr Limani said the searchers met with Ms Pollard’s family before announcing the shift from rescue to recovery.
“I think they get it,” he said.
Ms Pollard’s son, Axel Hayes, described her as a happy woman who at one point owned 10 cats. She and her husband adopted Mr Hayes and his twin brother when they were infants.
He called her “a great person overall, a great mother” who “never really did anybody wrong.”
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