Trump cabinet: Who are the top picks for President-elect's new team?

President-elect Donald Trump has picked his cabinet and a flurry of other high-ranking administration positions following his November 5 election victory.

Here are the announced choices for some of the key posts overseeing defence, intelligence, health, diplomacy, trade, justice, immigration and economic policymaking.

Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary

As Trump's Treasury secretary, Bessent would hold vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

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A longtime hedge fund investor who taught at Yale University for several years, Bessent, 62, has a warm relationship with the president-elect.

While Bessent has long favored free-market policies popular in the pre-Trump Republican Party, he has also spoken highly of Trump's use of tariffs as a negotiating tool. He has praised the president-elect's economic philosophy, which rests on a skepticism of both regulation and international trade.

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State

If confirmed, Rubio, a US senator, would be the first Latino to serve as the nation's top diplomat.

Rubio, 53, was arguably the most hawkish option on Trump's short list for the post. The Florida-born senator has advocated in the past for a muscular foreign policy with respect to US geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba.

Over the last several years, he has softened some of his stances to align more closely with Trump's views. The president-elect accuses past presidents of leading the US into costly and futile wars and has pushed for a less interventionist foreign policy.

Pete Hegseth, Defence Secretary

Hegseth, 44, is a military veteran who has expressed disdain for the so-called "woke" policies of Pentagon leaders, including its top military officer.

As secretary of defence, Hegseth could make good on Trump's campaign promise to rid the US military of generals whom he accuses of pursuing progressive policies on diversity in the ranks that conservatives have railed against.

It could also set up a collision course between Hegseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, whom Hegseth accused of "pursuing the radical positions of left-wing politicians."

Hegseth, a former Fox News commentator, has denied allegations made in a police report that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017 at a conference in California. No charges were filed, and he entered into a private settlement with the alleged victim.

Pam Bondi, Attorney General

Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Bondi on the day his previous choice, Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration in the face of opposition from Senate Republicans over allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug abuse.

Bondi, 59, was the top law enforcement officer of the country's third most populous state from 2011 to 2019. She served on Trump's Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission during his first administration.

Trump's inner circle has described the attorney general as the most important member of the administration after Trump himself, key to his plans to carry out mass deportations, pardon Jan. 6, 2021 rioters, and seek retribution against those who prosecuted him over the past four years.

Bondi has been a defender of Trump's false claims that he lost the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud.

Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence

Gabbard, a former Democratic member of Congress and an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve, was appointed by Trump to serve as director of national intelligence, where she would oversee 18 agencies tasked with intelligence gathering.

Gabbard, 43, has been an outspoken critic of the Biden administration's foreign policy, particularly with regard to its support of Ukraine in the war with Russia.

Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary

As homeland security secretary, Noem would oversee a sprawling federal agency of 260,000 employees that handles everything from border protection to cybersecurity to transportation safety and disaster response.

The current governor of South Dakota, Noem, 52, rose to national prominence after refusing to impose a statewide mask mandate during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Howard Lutnick, Commerce secretary

The co-chair of Trump's transition effort and the longtime chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Lutnick has been picked to head the Commerce Department, the agency that has become the U.S. weapon of choice against China's tech sector.

A bombastic New Yorker like Trump, Lutnick, 63, has uniformly praised the president-elect's economic policies, including his use of tariffs.

Trump said Lutnick also would be given "additional direct responsibility" for the Office of U.S. Trade Representative. It remained unclear whether Trump would still name someone to that position.

Mike Waltz, National Security Adviser

Waltz, a Republican U.S. representative and a retired Army Green Beret, has been a leading critic of China.

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