Susie Wiles
President-elect Donald Trump has quickly started filling key posts in his second administration, putting an emphasis so far on aides and allies who were his strongest backers during the 2024 campaign.
His first announcement was selection of Susie Wiles, a former aide to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as chief of staff. He also named New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as U.N. ambassador, Stephen Miller from his first administration as deputy chief of staff for policy, and appointments for other positions including national security adviser, an immigration “border czar,” head of the Environmental Protection Agency and more.
Wiles, 67, was a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and its de facto manager. She has a background in Florida politics. She helped Ron DeSantis win his first race for Florida governor. Six years later, she was key to Trump’s defeat of him in the 2024 Republican primary.
Wiles is said to have earned Trump’s trust in part by guiding what was the most disciplined of Trump’s three presidential campaigns.
Elected to the House in 2014, Stefanik was selected by her GOP House colleagues as House Republican Conference chair in 2021, when former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the post after publicly criticizing Trump for falsely claiming he won the 2020 election. Stefanik, 40, has served in that role ever since as the third-ranking member of House leadership.
If confirmed, she would represent American interests at the U.N. as Trump vows to end the war waged by Russia against Ukraine begun in 2022. He has also called for peace as Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon to target Hezbollah.
Miller, an immigration hard-liner, was a vocal spokesperson during the presidential campaign for Trump’s priority of mass deportations. The 39-year-old was a senior adviser during Trump’s first administration. He has been a central figure in some of Trump’s policy decisions, notably his move to separate thousands of immigrant families.
Since Trump left office in 2021, Miller has served as the president of America First Legal, an organization made up of former Trump advisers aimed at challenging the Biden administration, media companies, universities and others over issues such as free speech and national security.
Trump asked Mike Waltz, a retired Army National Guard officer and war veteran, to be his national security adviser, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before Trump made a formal announcement.
Waltz is a three-term GOP congressman from east-central Florida. He served multiple tours in Afghanistan and also worked in the Pentagon as a policy adviser when Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates were defense chiefs. He is considered hawkish on China, and called for a U.S. boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing due to its involvement in the origin of COVID-19 and its ongoing mistreatment of the minority Muslim Uyghur population.
Tom Homan, 62, has been tasked with Trump’s top priority of carrying out the largest deportation operation in the nation’s history. Homan, who served under Trump in his first administration leading U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, was widely expected to be offered a position related to the border.
Trump chose former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
Zeldin does not appear to have any experience in environmental issues, but is a longtime supporter of the former president. The 44-year-old former U.S. House member from New York wrote on X, “We will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the U.S. the global leader of AI.” “We will do so while protecting access to clean air and water,” he added.
In a statement, Trump said Zeldin “will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet.”
Elise Stefanik
Tom Homan
Stephen Miller
Lee Zeldin
Michael Waltz