Trump and allies prepare to take power after decisive win over Harris
President-elect Donald Trump and his allies prepared Wednesday to take power after a decisive election victory that could hand Republicans unified control of government and give Trump a broad mandate to pursue an agenda of radical change.
Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump to concede and then addressed supporters in the afternoon, saying she told Trump she would help with his transition and “engage in a peaceful transfer of power.” Republicans have clinched the Senate majority; the race for House control is still unsettled, but the GOP is on track to retaining control.
Trump’s team has already zeroed in on some candidates for top appointments. Billionaire hedge fund investor John Paulson and economic adviser Scott Bessent are contenders for treasury secretary, according to multiple people familiar with the matter who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), who was a finalist to become Trump’s running-mate, and former acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell are under consideration for Secretary of State, people familiar with the deliberations said.
Another vice-presidential finalist, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), is expected to join the Cabinet, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, a primary rival-turned-ally to Trump, said people familiar with the deliberations. And people in Trump’s orbit have floated Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) for defense secretary, according to a Trump adviser.
The first big decision Trump must make is who will be his chief of staff. Susie Wiles, his top campaign adviser, is a leading contender, multiple Trump advisers said. Others who have been discussed include Brooke Rollins, who is part of a Trump-aligned outside group.
Multiple advisers said Trump’s team had silently reviewed thousands of names for jobs – they did not want the spotlight before the election because Trump was superstitious and skeptical of a transition. The names are almost all recommendations from other Trump advisers, and a goal is to avoid disloyal picks who would want to subvert Trump’s agenda, the person said.
Trump himself has signaled particular interest in the Justice and Defense Departments, advisers said, believing those agencies regularly stymied him in a first term. Advisers were also beginning discussions Wednesday about how they would run the inauguration.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump “will begin making decisions” on personnel soon and said, “Those decisions will be announced when they are made.”
In a separate statement Wednesday evening, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said President Joe Biden invited Trump to the White House “to ensure a smooth transition” and that Trump “looks forward to the meeting, which will take place shortly.”
Harris, in her concession speech, nodded to people worried about the outcome of the election. “I know many people feel like we are entering a dark time, but for the benefit of us all, I hope that is not the case,” Harris said. She added: “If it is, let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars.”
Trump has been vague about how he would achieve many of his sweeping promises, which range from carrying out the largest-ever deportation of undocumented immigrants to ending the war in Ukraine. He has signaled he would reshuffle certain functions of government to increase presidential authority, weaken legal accountability, and expand his ability to bypass Congress. Appointing loyalists willing to push the limits of government power to enact his plans could be key to his success in resuming the aggressive approach he wielded during his first term to undo his predecessor’s legacy, broadly expand presidential power and reshape America’s global role.
One of the most consequential appointments, those close to Trump say, could be attorney general. Many names of potential candidates are circulating among Trump allies, according to a person in Trump’s legal orbit – among them Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Missouri) and John Ratcliffe, Trump’s former director of national intelligence. Those working on transition efforts know it’s possible that Trump could change his mind at the last minute and nominates someone to the top law enforcement position who the transition team may not be seriously considering at the moment, this person said.
Trump has said he will fire special counsel Jack Smith, which would effectively end the Justice Department’s two criminal cases against him. His relationship with the Justice Department in the first term – where he often pressured officials – is expected to be among the most closely watched in a second term, as Trump has said in the past he wants the department to investigate critics.
Some of the other names under consideration for senior jobs in Trump’s second term have further underscored his unorthodox approach to governing. The Washington Post reported last week that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has expressed skepticism of vaccines, is expected to have a role in overseeing health and food safety and has been drafting plans to “clean up corruption and conflicts at the agencies” and “end the chronic disease epidemic” during Trump’s first 100 days back in office. He told MSNBC on Wednesday morning that he intended to eliminate entire departments from the Food and Drug Administration. Kennedy’s involvement has caused consternation among public health experts and leaders who fear he will undercut the country’s public health infrastructure.
If Republicans control both chambers of Congress, some of Trump’s far-reaching proposals could become more feasible. But others would remain unlikely to pass. Trump’s push to eliminate the Department of Education, for instance, would likely require a supermajority of 60 votes in the Senate – a difficult if not impossible hurdle to surmount.
Republican control of the Senate also puts some of Trump’s appointments on a glide path and makes controversial picks more feasible, as many will require confirmation by the upper chamber.
Asked Wednesday whether he would confirm Kennedy in a cabinet-level role, Rubio replied that the GOP-controlled Senate would have “great deference to a president that just won a stunning – what I think is an electoral college landslide when all is said and done.”
Multiple conservative groups were jockeying for influence in a second Trump administration well before his Wednesday victory. Trump forcefully distanced himself from a Heritage Foundation-led policy and personnel initiative called Project 2025 during the campaign as Democrats made it an attack line – and he tapped transition chairs affiliated with a different pro-Trump group, the America First Policy Institute.
Those transition chairs, Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick, have largely relied on insiders affiliated with the America First Policy Institute to handle the vetting of Trump administration candidates.
McMahon’s name is circulating as a possible commerce secretary, the Trump adviser said. McMahon led the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term.
Still, some of the names under consideration for plum appointments are directly affiliated with Project 2025, such as Brendan Carr, a senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission who is thought of as a front-runner for Trump’s FCC chairman. He wrote a chapter of Project 2025 that proposed wielding the agency to remedy grievances conservatives have against alleged censorship by Big Tech, and appeared to be receptive to Trump’s calls to crackdown on broadcasters over alleged bias.
Despite his disavowals of Project 2025 during the campaign, Trump shares many of its goals – especially its focus on appointing loyalists and continuing his overhaul of federal hiring rules called Schedule F, which would allow appointees to purge agencies of federal workers and replace them with Trump allies. Trump began implementation of Schedule F via executive order at the end of his first administration but ran out of time. He is likely to eliminate a rule issued by the Biden administration designed to make it hard for Trump to reinstate the overhaul, the Post reported last week.
Trump allies have also touted plans to implement new federal operations, such as the “Department of Government Efficiency” – a plan billionaire Elon Musk hatched to dramatically slash the federal budget by at least $2 trillion after a formal review of federal agencies. Trump called Musk a “new star” in his victory speech, and Musk, who was by his side as election results trickled in, wrote excitedly on X about the future Trump administration.
Musk reposted a picture of him sitting with Trump and another ally at a dining table on the night of Trump’s victory with the caption: “CEO, CMO, CTO of the USA.”
- – -
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Isaac Arnsdorf contributed to this report.