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.
US
Trump criticises Biden’s death row decisions – saying he backs capital punishment for ‘rapists, murderers, and monsters’
Donald Trump says that when he takes power next month he will direct the US Justice Department to “vigorously pursue” the death penalty.
The US president-elect, 78, said he would do so to protect Americans from what he called “violent rapists, murderers and monsters”.
Mr Trump was responding to President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentences of almost all federal inmates on death row – whom Mr Trump called “37 of the worst killers in our country”.
“When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense,” Mr Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”
He continued: “As soon as I am inaugurated, I will direct the Justice Department to vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.
“We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!”
President Biden, 82, announced on Monday that he would reduce the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal death row prisoners to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying he was “guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender”.
The three others the president did not spare are Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018; Dylann Roof, who gunned down nine black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who carried out a 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured almost 300 others.
(L-R) Robert Bowers, Dylann Roof and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
‘I condemn these murderers’
Despite sparing the lives of 37, Mr Biden added: “Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss.”
During Mr Trump’s first term in office between 2017 and 2021, the US Justice Department put 13 federal inmates to death.
He has since said he would like to expand capital punishment to include child rapists, migrants who kill US citizens and law enforcement officers, and those convicted of drug and human trafficking.
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Denmark to boost Greenland’s defence
Pic: Reuters
Mr Biden, who ran for president opposing the death penalty, put federal executions on hold when he took office in January 2021.
His latest decisions come after a coalition of criminal justice advocacy groups, former prosecutors and business leaders wrote letters to the White House asking for Mr Biden to commute the sentences ahead of Mr Trump’s inauguration on 20 January.
Pope Francis also appealed to Mr Biden, who is Catholic, to reduce the sentences to imprisonment.
Unlike executive orders, clemency decisions cannot be reversed by a president’s successor, although the death penalty can be sought more aggressively in future cases.
Denmark has announced plans to boost its defence spending for Greenland with a “stronger presence in the Arctic” – a few hours after Donald Trump repeated his call for the US to buy the vast island.
Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen said the package would amount to a “double-digit billion amount” in krone, or at least $1.5bn (£1.2bn).
He told the Jyllands-Posten newspaper the money would be used to buy two inspection ships, two long-range drones and two sled dog teams as well as more personnel for Denmark’s Arctic Command in the capital Nuuk.
Denmark will also upgrade the Kangerlussuaq Airport so that it can handle F-35 fighter jets.
Donald Trump has restated his desire for the US to control Greenland. Pic: Reuters
Greenland, which sits between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, is 80% covered by an ice sheet and is home to a large US military base.
The world’s biggest island, whose capital is closer to New York than the Danish capital Copenhagen, has mineral, oil and natural gas wealth.
But development has been slow, leaving its economy reliant on fishing and annual subsidies from Denmark.
“For many years, we have not invested sufficiently in the Arctic, now we are planning a stronger presence,” Mr Poulsen said.
He called the timing of the announcement an “irony of fate”, coming just hours after Mr Trump’s latest comments on purchasing the territory.
With the Pituffik air base, Greenland is strategically important for the US military and its ballistic missile early-warning system.
Greenland defiant
The president-elect sparked anger on the territory when he wrote that American ownership and control of the island was an “absolute necessity” for “purposes of national security and freedom throughout the world”.
Its prime minister Mute Egede hit back, saying: “Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom.”
And Danish defence minister Mr Poulsen said: “My response to Trump is the same as the prime minister’s. Greenland does not want to exchange the Commonwealth for other relations. But that is up to Greenland itself.”
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Greenland’s Prime Minister Mute Egede. File pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also proposed buying Greenland during his first term in office – an idea the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called “absurd”.
Greenland has been part of Denmark for more than 600 years and gained autonomy from the country in 1979.
Under Greenland’s self-government act, enacted by Denmark and Greenland in 2009, Greenlanders are recognised as a people or nation entitled to the right of self-determination, with the option of independence.
On Monday, in an announcement naming Ken Howery as his ambassador to Denmark, Mr Trump wrote: “For purposes of national security and freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.”
He has also threatened to take back control of the Panama Canal, accusing Panama of charging excessive rates to use the waterway, which allows ships to cross between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
American Airlines was forced to ground all flights in the US on Christmas Eve due to an unspecified technical issue.
The airline did not immediately say why it was stopping all flights, but social media was quickly abuzz with travellers worrying about getting to their loved ones for the holiday.
A groundstop notice was lifted not long after it was issued, but the possibility of disruption remains with so many flights needing to make up time.
Earlier on Tuesday, the airline said on social media: “An estimated timeframe has not been provided, but they’re trying to fix it in the shortest possible time.”
The Federal Aviation Agency said American Airlines was reporting “a technical issue and has requested a nationwide ground stop”.
In an update on Tuesday afternoon it said: “American Airlines reported a technical issue this morning and requested a nationwide ground stop. The ground stop has now been lifted.”
The groundstop notice that was later rescinded
Passengers on social media reported having their flights stuck on the runway at various airports and being sent back to the gate.
American Airlines operates thousands of flights per day to more than 350 destinations in more than 60 countries.
It comes months after a faulty CrowdStrike software update led to worldwide flight cancellations.
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