President-elect Donald Trump — fresh off his emphatic victory over Vice President Kamala Harris — is spending Wednesday with his team in Palm Beach strategizing about how to fill out his second administration.
The Trump transition team has been at work for months and are preparing for an internal “unveiling,” campaign adviser Brian Hughes told The Post — though the discussion among aides this week is expected to focus on process rather than particular nominee names.
Sources close to the Trump campaign said they expect a series of Republican Senate victories to ease Trump’s return to power — allowing him greater flexibility to go with his gut and pick Cabinet secretaries who align with his populist policies.
Most of the transition work is expected to take place at Trump’s compound at Mar-a-Lago, Hughes said — where allies and advisers have long gathered to bend the ear of the president-elect.
In addition to Cabinet secretaries, there are about 4,000 presidential nominees in the executive branch who do not require Senate confirmation — with those picks fleshing out the federal bureaucracy and shaping its bent.
What we know about the second Trump transition
Those overseeing the process include co-chairs Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, and Linda McMahon, who led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.
The transition team also includes once and future first sons Eric and Donald Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr., former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), and Vice President-elect JD Vance.
Trump is expected to make the highest-profile picks himself — and has spoken ruefully about going along with the recommendations of others during his first term, resulting in aides who resisted or defied his orders.
Two of the most important decisions will be Trump’s picks to be attorney general and White House chief of staff.
In recent weeks, three front-runners have emerged for the latter position, which does not require Senate confirmation despite its massive role steering federal policy, implementing a president’s orders and controlling access to him.
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Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is in the running alongside Trump campaign manager Susie Wiles and former White House domestic policy adviser Brooke Rollins.
Wiles is considered the most likely choice and Trump said in the final stretch of the campaign that he believes McCarthy erred in choosing not to nominate GOP lawmakers loyal to the 45th president for the House select committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Still, McCarthy would bring significant Washington experience that could be useful in making the most of Trump’s election mandate.
Republicans regret focusing on fruitless efforts to repeal Obamacare after Trump’s shock 2016 win, resulting in delays for other signature items in the 45th president’s agenda, such as tax cuts — which came later in Trump’s first year in office — and US-Mexico border wall construction, which Congress then balked at funding.
Trump has vowed to pass sweeping tax reforms that will require legislative skill — including an end to federal levies on tips, overtime pay and Social Security benefits, along with tax writeoffs for car loan interest on domestic vehicles and a mandate that makes in vitro fertilization free for would-be parents.
Wiles, despite her relative lack of DC experience, has been praised for running an effective 2024 campaign that delivered a resounding win while avoiding the in-fighting that plagued prior Trump teams.
The attorney general, meanwhile, is probably the most consequential Cabinet post— as it will pave the way for the dismissal of two federal criminal cases against him and potentially defend him against criminal cases in New York and Georgia.
In November 2022, Trump launched his latest campaign ahead of feared criminal indictments — with the then-ex-president’s circle of outside allies reduced to a handful of people due to backlash over his challenges to the 2020 election results.
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, one of the few top Trump administration officials to attend his boss’s campaign kickoff, is one of the potential candidates for the post.
Whitaker would be a relatively conservative pick and would bring experience from his stint in the first Trump administration.
Other rumored potential attorneys general include senators and even governors with law degrees — such as Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry or Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt, both of whom led legal challenges to Biden-Harris administration censorship pressure on social media companies.
Trump has publicly indicated some of the people he wants to be at his side, having praised North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who is likely in the running for energy secretary.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy also is believed to be in contention for either energy secretary or interior secretary.
National security roles such as defense secretary, FBI director and top intelligence community posts could go to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and ex-national security adviser Robert O’Brien.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) also is considered a possible top-tier appointee for a defense-related position.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is being heavily considered as a potential recruit for secretary of state, The Post previously reported. But the job could be given to a number of others, including Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), a former US ambassador to Japan.
Former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf also could return to the White House — possibly in the same role as he previously occupied.
Other Republicans have told The Post they would be open to serving in the Trump administration, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin.
Many influential figures won’t technically be working for the government.
Trump has pledged to appoint billionaire SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk to lead a powerful commission focused on reducing government waste — and Musk is also likely to be a highly influential adviser on space and business policy.
The 45th and soon-to-be 47th president also vowed to give RFK Jr. an influential position dealing with improving the health of Americans after Kennedy ended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed him in August.
Kennedy’s controversial skepticism of vaccine safety likely rules him out of a Senate-confirmed position — though it does not necessarily diminish his influence, as informal advisers often held outsized sway in Trump’s first term.
Republicans currently are on course to have at least 53 seats in the Senate, giving Trump a cushion for at least three defections on nominees, with Vance waiting in the wings to break 50-50 ties as president of the chamber.
