Trump turns to allies on capitol hill to fill top cabinet posts

President-elect Donald Trump is raiding the House of Representatives as he stocks his cabinet, threatening to cut into what’s likely to be a razor-thin majority for Speaker Mike Johnson in the early days of his new administration.

On the House side, Trump has selected Mike Waltz, a Florida congressman who served multiple tours in Afghanistan, to serve as his national security advisor, according to people familiar with the choice. Waltz joins Elise Stefanik, the New York congresswoman and chair of the Republican caucus, as lawmakers primed to leave Capitol Hill for a job working for the incoming president.

Trump will also reach into the the Senate, with the expected appointment of Marco Rubio of Florida as secretary of State, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The loss of two Republicans will tighten margins considerably for Johnson, who only took the speaker’s gavel after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted following a prolonged leadership battle among Republicans that paralyzed the chamber. And while Republicans may be favored to win back the empty seats, the slots will remain vacant until filled in a special election.

With 218 seats needed to control the 435-member House, Republicans on Monday were leading in races that have been decided, 214-205, according to the Associated Press. Democrats are leading in many of the 17 uncalled races, but the GOP was strongly favored to ultimately take the majority.

In the Senate, Republicans have already secured a majority, and Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, would choose Rubio’s successor if he’s formally nominated and confirmed by the Senate. 

Separately, Trump announced he had selected a recently departed House Republican - former congressman Lee Zeldin - to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. 

The president also plans to name longtime aide Stephen Miller as White House deputy chief of staff for policy, according to vice president-elect JD Vance, who congratulated Miller and credited Trump with a “fantastic pick” in a social media post. The appointment was first reported by CNN. 

Miller will serve under Susie Wiles, who ran Trump’s campaign, and alongside Tom Homan, who the president-elect announced would serve as “border czar” in a weekend social media post.

Miller, who served as a senior adviser during Trump’s first term, was the chief architect of his controversial travel ban. In recent years, his America First Legal nonprofit has mounted challenges to corporate diversity, equality, and inclusion efforts.

Here’s everything happening with Trump’s transition:

Musk Questions Stefanik

Billionaire Trump supporter Elon Musk questioned the president-elect’s decision to appoint New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik as his ambassador to the United Nations, pointing out that Republicans are unlikely to hold more than a slim majority in the House.

“Elise is awesome, but it might be too dicey to lose her from the House, at least for now,” Musk tweeted early Monday morning.

Earlier: Trump Says He’ll Tap New York Ally Stefanik as UN Ambassador

Republicans struggled over the past congressional term to manage their House caucus with a razor-thin majority as defectors paralyzed the chamber and prompted multiple leadership battles. House Speaker Mike Johnson will have to navigate those conflicts again, and do so without the assistance of Stefanik, a Trump loyalist who serves as the fourth-ranking GOP official in the chamber.

Homan Defiant

Hours after being named border czar by Trump, Homan appeared on Fox News and discounted criticism over policies he implemented during the president-elect’s first term that separated undocumented migrant children from their family members.

“I don’t care what people think about me. Especially on the left,” Homan said, noting that aggressive measures were necessary “when you have a crisis this big.”

Earlier: Trump Picks Former Immigration Chief Homan as ‘Border Czar’

Homan said he was hopeful that local law enforcement would assist federal authorities in Trump’s promised deportation efforts.

“We’re going to do this job, with or without you,” Homan said.

Leadership Battle

Senator Rick Scott, the Florida lawmaker vying to replace Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican Leader, looked to boost his candidacy with an appearance on Fox News on Monday morning. Scott said that he was hopeful Trump would weigh in on the leadership battle, where Scott is squaring off against John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas.

“The country voted they want a change. They want the Trump agenda. They want his nominees. They want his policies. We’ve got to do everything we can to get that done,” he said.

Scott has the key endorsement of some Trump allies — including Musk — who believe he would help fast-track the president-elect’s agenda in the upper chamber. But Trump has not yet weighed in, saying just that he wanted the next majority leader to agree to allow temporary presidential appointments when the Senate was not in session.

Scott, a former for-profit health-care executive and the wealthiest sitting senator, said that experience would benefit him in the leadership post.

“I’m a business guy that had success doing exactly what we need to do in the Senate,” Scott said.

DOJ Warning

Trump transition official Mark Paoletta on Monday warned career lawyers at the Justice Department that they “would be subject to disciplinary measures, including termination” if they decline to implement the president-elect’s agenda.

Justice Department officials may be tasked with preparing pardons for those convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection, helping to abolish DEI initiatives, and helping to ease energy regulations, Paoletta, an attorney who previously served as general counsel in the Office and Management and Budget during Trump’s first term, posted on X.

“Hopefully, they will be as committed to helping President Trump implement his agenda as they did for President Biden. Of course, political leadership welcomes feedback to help improve a project. But once the decision is made to move forward, career employees are required to implement the President’s plan,” he continued.

Zeldin for EPA

Trump’s pick of Zeldin, who helped lead his impeachment defense in the House, rewards a lawmaker with a portfolio that is expected to include ending the Biden administration’s pause on constructing new natural gas export terminals, redrawing national monument boundaries to permit mining and development, and withdrawing the US from the Paris climate agreement.

“He will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions that will be enacted in a way to unleash the power of American businesses, while at the same time maintaining the highest environmental standards, including the cleanest air and water on the planet,” Trump said in a statement.

He may also be charged with relocating EPA headquarters to outside Washington — a move members of the president-elect’s transition team have been discussing, the New York Times reported last week. 

TV Auditions

Two candidates for economic posts in the second Trump administration — Scott Bessent and Kevin Hassett — joined former Trump aide Larry Kudlow on Fox Business Monday afternoon, arguing that Trump’s victory has led to a stock market rally and positive signs of economic growth.

“Long-term interest rates are coming down even with this growth shock,” Bessent said. “The tax cuts, the deregulation, energy dominance, interest rates are actually going down, and the dollar is still going up.”

Bessent said that he explained the phenomenon to Trump in a conversation on Friday, telling the president-elect that “the dollar loves you and we keep increasing the after tax return on US assets, and it’s going to keep going.”

Bessent also commented on Jay Powell’s statements that Trump would not be able to force him out of his position as Fed chair before his term ends.

“He is going to exit the stage in May of ‘26, and President Trump will have a list of five fine candidates who the market will be happier with than Jay Powell,” he said.

RFK Vows Cuts

Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would fire hundreds of employees at the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s foremost medical research center, as part of his planned shakeup of the US health care system.

“We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20, so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave,” Kennedy said at the Genius Network Annual Event this weekend, according to ABC News.

The president-elect has said Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who previously suggested in a Wall Street Journal op-ed devoting half of NIH’s research budget to “preventative, alternative and holistic” medicine, would have a substantial role in shaping health policy.

Wray Braces

FBI Director Christopher Wray is planning for the possibility that Trump will replace him upon taking power, NBC News reported. 

Such a move would truncate the 10-year term Wray was confirmed for when appointed by Trump in 2017, after the president dismissed James Comey over frustration with the probe into whether his first presidential campaign had colluded with Russia. A special counsel later determined there was not evidence of Trump’s personal involvement in the matter.

Wray has earned ire from some Trump loyalists over the FBI’s participation in a raid on the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate to recover classified material he allegedly kept after leaving office.

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