As Donald Trump’s transition team continues to debate who will fill key cabinet positions, the competition between potential appointees is growing more fierce with one insider describing it as a “knife fight.” So far, Trump has named RNC head Reince Priebus as Chief Of Staff and the controversial Breitbart executive, Steve Bannon, as Chief Strategist. While the transition team has been guarded so far about who will fill the remaining roles, communications adviser Jason Miller confirmed that Trump’s cabinet will be anything but “traditional”:
“You’re going to see a number of different names that are ultimately becoming a part of the President-elect’s administration. There will be non-traditional names, a number of people who have had wide-ranging success in a number of different fields; wide-ranging success in business … People will be excited when they see the type of leaders the President-elect brings into this administration.”
Of the key open positions, John Bolton and Rudy Giuliani are the rumored favorites for Secretary of State and Senator Jeff Sessions is thought to be the front-runner for Attorney General. With that said, per Reuters, here is a short list of people thought to be in the running for the various cabinet positions that need to be filled over the coming months:
SECRETARY OF STATE
- Bob Corker, Tennessee senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
- John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush
- Newt Gingrich, Republican former U.S. House Speaker
- Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to Iraq
- Rudy Giuliani, Republican former mayor of New York City
ATTORNEY GENERAL
- Rudy Giuliani
- Jeff Sessions, senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who takes a hard line on immigration
- Chris Christie, Republican New Jersey governor
- Pam Bondi, Republican Florida Attorney General
- Trey Gowdy, Republican congressman from South Carolina who headed the House committee that investigated the 2012 attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya
TREASURY SECRETARY
- Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs executive and Trump’s campaign finance chairman
- Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican congressman and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee
- Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase & Co chief executive officer
- Tom Barrack, founder and chairman of Colony Capital Inc
DEFENSE SECRETARY
- Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
- Stephen Hadley, former national security adviser under President George W. Bush
- Jon Kyl, former Republican senator from Arizona
- Jeff Sessions, Republican senator from Alabama and early Trump supporter, member of the Senate Armed Services Committee
- Kelly Ayotte, outgoing Republican senator from New Hampshire and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee
- Duncan Hunter, Republican congressman from California and early Trump supporter, member of House Armed Services Committee
- Jim Talent, former Republican senator from Missouri who was on the Senate Armed Services Committee
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY
- Ben Carson, former neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican presidential candidate
- Newt Gingrich
- Rich Bagger, former pharmaceutical executive and former top aide to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
- Bobby Jindal, former Louisiana governor
HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY
- Michael McCaul, U.S. Republican congressman from Texas and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee
- David Clarke, Milwaukee county sheriff and vocal Trump supporter
- Joe Arpaio, outgoing Maricopa County, Arizona, sheriff who campaigned for Trump
HEAD OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
- Myron Ebell, a climate change skeptic at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute who is overseeing environmental policy on Trump’s transition team
- Robert Grady, venture capitalist, partner in private equity firm Gryphon Investors
- Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas attorney general
- Carol Comer, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management
ENERGY SECRETARY
- Harold Hamm, Oklahoma oil and gas mogul, CEO of Continental Resources Inc
- Larry Nichols, co-founder of Devon Energy Corp
- James Connaughton, CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies and a former environmental adviser to President George W. Bush
- U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer, of North Dakota
- Robert Grady
INTERIOR SECRETARY
- Sarah Palin, Republican former Alaska governor who ran for vice president in 2008
- Jan Brewer, former Arizona governor
- Forrest Lucas, founder of oil products company Lucas Oil
- Harold Hamm
- Robert Grady
COMMERCE SECRETARY
- Linda McMahon, former world Wrestling Entertainment executive and two-time Senate candidate
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DIRECTOR
- Lieutenant General Michael Flynn
- Mike Rogers, Republican former representative from Michigan who chaired the House Intelligence Committee
- Pete Hoekstra, Republican former representative from Michigan
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
- Lieutenant General Michael Flynn
- Stephen Hadley
UNITED NATIONS AMBASSADOR
- Kelly Ayotte
- Richard Grenell, former spokesman for the United States at the United Nations
- Peter King, Republican representative from New York
U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE
- Dan DiMicco, former chief executive of steel producer Nucor Corp
VETERANS AFFAIRS SECRETARY
- Jeff Miller, retiring congressman from Florida and chairman of the Veterans Affairs committee
via http://ift.tt/2geQqK5 Tyler Durden