Trump fills top jobs for his administration

US President-elect Donald Trump said on Thursday he would name retired Marine Corps General James Mattis as defense secretary.

bdnews24.com
Published : 2 Dec 2016, 03:47 AM
Updated : 2 Dec 2016, 04:59 AM

The following is a list of Republican Trump's selections for top jobs in his administration. All the posts but that of national security advisor require Senate confirmation:

Defense Secretary: James Mattis  

Mattis is a retired Marine Corps general known for his tough talk, distrust of Iran and battlefield experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. A former leader of Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, Mattis, 66, is known by many US forces by his nickname "Mad Dog." He was once rebuked for saying in 2005: "It's fun to shoot some people."

Treasury Secretary: Steven Mnuchin  

Mnuchin, 53, is a relatively little-known but successful private equity investor, hedge fund manager and Hollywood financier who spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs before leaving in 2002. He assembled an investor group to buy a failed California mortgage lender in 2009, rebranded it as OneWest Bank and built it into Southern California's largest bank. The bank came under fire for its foreclosure practises as housing advocacy groups accused it of being too quick to foreclose on struggling homeowners.

Commerce Secretary: Wilbur Ross  

Ross, 78, heads the private equity firm WL Ross & Co. His net worth was pegged by Forbes at about $2.9 billion. A staunch supporter of Trump and an economic adviser, Ross has helped shape the Trump campaign's views on trade policy. He blames the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, which entered into force in 1994, and the 2001 entry of China into the World Trade Organization for causing massive US factory job losses.

Transportation Secretary: Elaine Chao  

Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W Bush for eight years and the first Asian-American woman to hold a Cabinet position. Chao is a director at Ingersoll Rand, News Corp and Vulcan Materials Company. She is married to US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky.

Health and Human Services Secretary: US Representative Tom Price  

Price, 62, is an orthopedic surgeon who heads the House of Representatives' Budget Committee. A representative from Georgia since 2005, Price has criticised Obamacare and has championed a plan of tax credits, expanded health savings accounts and lawsuit reforms to replace it. He is opposed to abortion.

US Ambassador to the United Nations: Governor Nikki Haley 

Haley, a 44-year-old Republican, has been governor of South Carolina since 2011 and has little experience in foreign policy or the federal government. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley led a successful push last year to remove the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol after the killing of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a white gunman.

Education Secretary: Betsy Devos  

DeVos, 58, is a billionaire Republican donor, a former chair of the Michigan Republican Party and an advocate for the privatisation of education. As chair of the American Federation for Children, she has pushed at the state level for vouchers that families can use to send their children to private schools and for the expansion of charter schools. 


US Attorney General: US Senator Jess Sessions 

Sessions, 69, was the first US senator to endorse Trump's presidential bid and has been a close ally since. The son of a country-store owner, the senator from Alabama and former federal prosecutor has long taken a tough stance on illegal immigration, opposing any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

National Security Adviser: Retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn  

Flynn, 57, was an early supporter of Trump and serves as vice chairman on his transition team. He began his US Army career in 1981 and served deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Flynn became head of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2012 under President Barack Obama, but retired a year earlier than expected, according to media reports, and became a fierce critic of Obama's foreign policy.


CIA Director: US Representative Mike Pompeo 

Pompeo, 52, is a third-term congressman from Kansas who serves on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, which oversees the CIA, National Security Agency and cyber security. A retired Army officer and Harvard Law School graduate, Pompeo supports the US government's sweeping collection of Americans' communications data and wants to scrap the nuclear deal with Iran.