Trump Names White House Transition Team, Includes 2 Eldest Sons

(L-R) Eric Trump, former President Donald Trump, and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) arrive at the RNC in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign on Friday named his presidential transition team, including his two oldest sons and one of his major fundraisers.

The team will be co-chaired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) co-founder Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, according to an emailed announcement.

The team also includes Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, as well as Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as honorary chairmen.

Friday’s statement announced “the formation of Trump Vance 2025 Transition, Inc.,” described as a 501(c) nonprofit that “will ready his second administration.”

“The 2024 GOP Platform to Make America Great Again is a forward-looking agenda that will deliver safety, prosperity and freedom for the American people,” the Trump campaign said in a statement on Friday.

“My administration will deliver on these bold promises. We will restore strength, competence and common sense to the Oval Office. I have absolute confidence the Trump-Vance Administration will be ready to govern effectively on Day One.”

The creation of a transition team before Election Day is standard practice for presidential campaigns, allowing candidates to prepare for a smooth transition to the White House if elected.

Neither McMahon or Lutnick have publicly commented on the statement as of Friday morning.

McMahon, the wife of former longtime WWE executive Vince McMahon, served as the administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration under the Trump administration. Since leaving office, she has been in charge of the America First Policy Institute think tank.

Lutnick, meanwhile, has been hosting fundraisers for the 45th president in recent weeks, he told Bloomberg News in July. “It’s a hot race now and Donald Trump needs the fundraising and I’m trying to help any way I can,” he said.

In a post on X, Lutnick wrote that he “had the pleasure of hosting” the former president at his home earlier in August, along with 130 supporters who also “share his vision” for the United States.

“I believe [Trump’s] policies will be critical in ensuring American businesses remain successful and our role on the world stage remains strong. I’m proud together we raised $15 million,” Lutnick wrote.

Donald Trump Jr. has said he wants to be involved in the hiring process for a possible second Trump administration with “veto power.”

“I don’t want to pick a single person for a position of power, all I want to do is block the guys that would be a disaster,” he told Axios at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in mid-July. “I want to block the liars, I want to block the guys that are pretending they’re with you.”

The former president’s eldest son said that he wants to “pick the guy that’s right, I want a veto power to cut out each and every one of those people,” adding that “now we know” who should be hired in a second Trump administration.

Eric Trump, meanwhile, delivered a speech at the RNC that focused on legal cases involving his father.

“My father has been persecuted,” he said, saying that he was also “pulled off the ballot of states” with “radical justices attempting to defy the will of millions of Americans who adore who he is and what he stands for.”

Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has not yet named a transition team. The Democratic National Convention is scheduled for Aug. 19–Aug. 22 in Chicago.

In 2016, Trump terminated a large portion of the transition team that he named before he won that year’s election. At the time, the team was headed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who ran against Trump before dropping out in both 2016’s and 2024’s contests.

Reuters contributed to this report.