Trump Makes Raft of Administration Selections

President Donald Trump and White House trade adviser Peter Navarro check out the new Endurance all-electric pickup truck on the south lawn of the White House on Sept. 28, 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump has made a new round of selections for his administration while also changing up some staff he already named.

In a series of Dec. 4 Truth Social posts, the incoming president named many of the men and women on pace to serve on his team. Many names are familiar from the first administration, including Peter Navarro.

Here’s a rundown of Trump’s latest big moves.

Trump Names SEC Chair, Deputy Treasury Secretary, Antitrust Official

Trump chose Paul Atkins to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Atkins “recognizes that digital assets and other innovations are crucial to making America greater than ever before,” the president-elect wrote in a post outlining the decision.

Gary Gensler, current chair of the SEC, has clamped down on cryptocurrency during his stint at the head of the agency, drawing the ire of many developers and investors in the sector.

Atkins was an SEC commissioner under President George W. Bush. He also belonged to Trump’s Strategic and Policy Forum during his first term.

Trump also named Michael Faulkender as deputy treasury secretary. That follows the president-elect’s decision to nominate financier Scott Bessent as secretary of the Treasury.

“He will help [Bessent] usher in a new Golden Age for the United States by delivering a great economic boom for all Americans,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Faulkender is vice chair of the America First Policy Institute, which has been an important source of likely personnel for the incoming Trump administration. He is also a professor of finance at the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business.

Trump also picked Gail Slater to serve in a key antitrust role, as assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. Slater served in multiple roles during the first Trump administration and is an ally of Vice President-elect JD Vance.

The incoming administration has pledged to crack down on big tech.

“Gail will help ensure that our competition laws are enforced, both vigorously and fairly, with clear rules that facilitate, rather than stifle, the ingenuity of our greatest companies,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Peter Navarro to Return

Trump revealed that Peter Navarro, an architect of his first term’s revolutionary trade policies, would serve in his second term as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing.

Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md., on March 1, 2019. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Navarro led the National Trade Council and the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy during Trump’s first term.

Navarro, who has a doctorate in economics from Harvard University, served four months in prison earlier this year. He was convicted of contempt of Congress because he declined to appear before a congressional body investigating the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Podcaster and Trump ally Steve Bannon served a four-month sentence under similar circumstances.

Jamieson Greer, Trump’s choice for U.S. trade representative, is also poised to play a critical role in trade and related matters.

Trump Names Heads of IRS, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration

Trump also selected former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) to lead the Internal Revenue Service. Long, a tax advisor and auctioneer who represented Missouri and campaigned for Trump in this election cycle.

“Taxpayers and the wonderful employees of the IRS will love having Billy at the helm. He is the consummate ‘people person,’ well respected on both sides of the aisle,” Trump wrote in his announcement of the pick.

The president-elect went with another former Republican lawmaker, Kelly Loeffler, to lead the Small Business Administration.

The businesswoman served as a senator from Georgia after then-Sen. Johnny Isakson stepped down due to illness. Gov. Brian Kemp named her as Isakson’s replacement. In 2020, she lost her state’s Senate special election and a subsequent runoff to current Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

Loeffler, who grew up on a farm, was previously discussed as a possible pick to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Trump ultimately selected Texas attorney Brooke L. Rollins for that role.

“She will focus on ensuring that SBA [Small Business Administration] is accountable to taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach,” Trump wrote in his statement on Loeffler.

Trump announced later in the evening that he selected businessman Frank Bisignano to lead the Social Security Administration.

“Frank is a business leader, with a tremendous track record of transforming large corporations,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

“He will be responsible to deliver on the Agency’s commitment to the American People for generations to come!”

Bisignano is the president and CEO of Fiserv, a financial technology company headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The firm has the naming rights to the Fiserv Forum, the sports stadium that hosted this year’s Republican National Convention (RNC).

Bisignano has worked in high-profile roles across the financial sector, including for JPMorgan Chase, where he managed the mortgage unit at a time of crisis. He was reportedly involved in the ouster of the firm’s mortgage chief amid revelations that active-duty military service members seeking loans had been over-charged.

Trump Names Army Secretary, Hostage Affairs Envoy, NASA Leader, Chief of Protocol

The president-elect also announced on Dec. 4 his nomination for secretary of the Army, Daniel Driscoll.

“As a former soldier, investor, and political advisor, Dan brings a powerful combination of experiences to serve as a disruptor and change agent,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Driscoll, who attended Yale Law School and served in Iraq, is a venture capitalist and senior adviser to Vance.

Trump also selected Adam Boehler as a special envoy for hostage affairs. Boehler led the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. during the president-elect’s first term.

“Adam will work tirelessly to bring our Great American Citizens home,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, crediting Boehler with important contributions to the Abraham Accords.

Adam Boehler walks on the South Lawn at the White House toward Marine One prior to a departure with President Donald Trump on July 27, 2020. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Trump’s other Dec. 4 picks included Jared Isaacman, CEO of the defense aerospace firm Draken, to lead NASA.

Trump also chose Monica Crowley as U.S. ambassador and chief of protocol. The chief of protocol position, vital in handling visits from foreign leaders to the United States, is in the State Department. Crowley is another Trump administration veteran, having served as assistant Treasury secretary for public affairs.

Whatley to Keep Leading RNC

The incoming president voiced his support for Michael Whatley to continue as chair of the Republican National Committee. Whatley subsequently made it clear that he intends to stay.

“As long as I am Chairman, the RNC’s priorities will remain the same: get out the vote, protect the ballot, and raise the money we need to elect Republicans up and down the ticket,” Whatley wrote on X.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley speaks at the 2024 Road to Majority Conference in Washington on June 22, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Whatley took the position in a mostly ceremonial vote earlier this year after Ronna Romney McDaniel announced that she was stepping down. McDaniel faced criticism in the months ahead of that decision, including on the presidential debate stage from then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Whatley previously led the North Carolina GOP.

Trump Picks New White House Counsel

Trump also switched out his original choice for White House counsel, Republican attorney William McGinley.

He announced that McGinley would instead be counsel to the Department of Government Efficiency, the time-limited presidential advisory commission that will be led by Ramaswamy and Elon Musk.

President-elect Donald Trump greets Elon Musk (L) as he arrives to attend a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket in Brownsville, Texas, on Nov. 19, 2024. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

“He will partner with the White House and the Office of Management and Budget to provide advice and guidance to end the bloated federal bureaucracy,” Trump wrote, referring to an entity in the Executive Office of the President now slated to be led by Russ Vought.

Vought was Trump’s final Office of Management and Budget director during his first term.