Donald Trump nominates vaccine sceptic RFK Jr as health secretary
Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. See the President-elect’s other picks.
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US President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a longtime conspiracy theorist and vaccine sceptic, to be his health and human services secretary.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to public health,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform in announcing the pick.
It comes as Lara Trump said she would accept a vacant Senate seat after she was touted as a replacement for Marco Rubio, who has been tapped as the next Secretary of State.
Mr Trump’s daughter-in-law, who already holds massive sway within the party as co-chair of the Republican National Committee, would ensure the Trump family dynasty continues in Washington DC long after the president-elect leaves office.
“If I am able to serve, I would love to serve the people of Florida. This is my home state now and has been for three years. This is where Eric and I live, and truly to have that opportunity, I think would be incredible,” she said on Fox News after her name was floated by host Sean Hannity.
“No one knows better than I do the America First agenda or the goals of Donald Trump in the coming four years. So if I am asked, I would love to consider it, but I have yet to have a conversation with Governor [Ron] DeSantis, so we will have to see”.
The move to install another Trump into the halls of power comes amid a game of musical chairs between Congress and the White House, with the president-elect installing loyalists to key cabinet roles creating vacancies in the Senate and House to be backfilled with more loyalists like Mrs Trump.
As more roles are expected to be announced over the coming days, one major contender for White House press secretary, Alina Habba, has withdrawn from the race.
“While I am flattered by the support and speculation, the role of Press Secretary is not a role I am considering,” Ms Habba wrote on X. ‘Although I love screaming from a podium I will be better served in other capacities.’
CNN contributor Scott Jennings, and Trump campaign spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt, are considered to be among the top contenders for the position.
TRUMP REVEALS SHOCK CHOICE FOR ATTORNEY GENERAL
Mr Trump has chosen Matt Gaetz to serve as his attorney general in a surprise pick, as he ended days of speculation by announcing he would nominate Marco Rubio to be secretary of state.
The President-elect announced a new flurry of appointments after meeting US President Joe Biden in the White House.
Democrat-turned-Republican Tulsi Gabbard will be director of national intelligence, Mr Trump said.
Mr Trump described Florida Republican Mr Gaetz, one of his most vocal defenders, as “a champion for the constitution and the rule of law” who had “played a key role in defeating the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax”.
“It is my Great Honour to announce that Congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida, is hereby nominated to be The Attorney General of the United States,” Mr Trump wrote in a Truth Social announcement.
“Matt is a deeply gifted and tenacious attorney, trained at the William & Mary College of Law, who has distinguished himself in Congress through his focus on achieving desperately needed reform at the Department of Justice.”
Mr Gaetz had not been reported as in contention for the role, but has been a loyal supporter of Mr Trump, The New York Post said.
In a statement, the President-elect described Senator Rubio as a “Highly Respected Leader, and a very powerful Voice for Freedom”.
“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Mr Trump said.
“I look forward to working with Marco to Make America, and the World, Safe and Great Again!”
Ms Gabbard, a former vice chair of the Democratic National Committee who endorsed Mr Trump and joined the Republican Party late in the 2024 campaign, will oversee 17 intelligence agencies in her powerful new post.
“I know Tulsi will bring the fearless spirit that has defined her illustrious career to our Intelligence Community, championing our Constitutional Rights, and securing Peace through Strength,” Mr Trump of Ms Gabbard.
Senator Rubio’s tipped nomination was first reported by the New York Times earlier this week.
However, a delay in an official announcement prompted speculation that Mr Trump was having second thoughts.
TRUMP APPOINTS ELON MUSK TO ‘DISMANTLE BUREAUCRACY’
The world’s richest man Elon Musk has been given 18 months by Donald Trump to slash government spending in what he said would be “the perfect gift to America” for its 250th anniversary.
As the President-elect continued to build his administration, he earlier tapped Mr Musk to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency along with Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who ran for the Republican presidential nomination.
Mr Trump said it could become “the Manhattan Project of our time”, referencing America’s World War II effort to produce the first nuclear weapons.
“Together, these two wonderful Americans will pave the way for my administration to dismantle government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies – essential to the ‘Save America’ movement,” he said.
Mr Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, said: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in government waste, which is a lot of people.”
He had previously promised to slash $US2 trillion from the US government’s annual $US6.5 trillion spending bill. Mr Trump said he would be required to complete his work by July 4, 2026, America’s 250th anniversary which will be four months before the midterm elections.
DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF
Dan Scavino, a former senior adviser to the President-elect, has been named by Mr Trump as his deputy chief of staff.
Mr Scavino is described in a statement as “one of President Trump’s longest serving and most trusted aides”.
His appointment to the powerful role comes after he issued a sharp message for Dr Rudd as calls intensified for Canberra’s top diplomat to step down.
Mr Scavino reposted Dr Rudd’s recent social media post of congratulations to Mr Trump with an image of sand running out in an hourglass.
SECRETARY OF DEFENCE
The President-elect also shocked Washington DC by appointing Fox News host and Afghanistan and Iraq veteran Pete Hegseth to serve as his defence chief.
“Nobody fights harder for the troops, and Pete will be a courageous and patriotic champion of our ‘peace through strength’ policy,” he said in a statement.
The Republican’s bold moves came as he bunkered down at his Mar-a-Lago estate with Mr Musk, who provided advice on his hiring decisions ahead of his inauguration on January 20.
TRUMP JR NOT JOINING ADMINISTRATION
But Mr Trump’s son Donald Jr revealed he would not be joining his father’s administration, as he instead announced plans to join a venture capital firm. He was nonetheless playing a key role in helping his father choose loyal allies to serve in senior posts.
AMERICA’S AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL
Mr Trump also chose his former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to head the CIA, his close friend Steve Witkoff to be a special envoy to the Middle East, and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee to be America’s ambassador to Israel.
Huckabee, 69, ran twice for the Republican Party presidential nomination, including in 2016 against eventual winner Trump, who Huckabee was quick to back after falling out of the race.
He has often spoken passionately about his Christian faith and his opposition to gay rights.
Huckabee, whose nomination requires confirmation by the US Senate, has travelled to Israel regularly since 1973, and has led numerous tours there.
In 2017, he was present in Maale Adumim for the expansion of one of Israel’s largest settlements in the West Bank, strongly suggesting he was in support of Mr Trump’s positions on Israel.
“There is no such thing as the West Bank – it’s Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told CNN there at the time, using the Biblical terms for the area.
“There’s no such thing as a settlement; they’re communities, they’re neighbourhoods, they’re cities. There’s no such thing as an occupation,” he added.
In December 2023 he visited Kibbutz Kfar Aza, where dozens of Israelis were massacred in the October 7 attack by Hamas militants, and said: “I wanted to be here to say I stand with Israel. I stand with the Jewish people.”
Huckabee was born in Hope, Arkansas, the same town that gave rise to Democrat Bill Clinton, who served as the state’s governor before he became president.
His daughter Sarah Huckabee Sanders is the current governor of Arkansas. She also served as Mr Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019.
HOMELAND SECURITY
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem will help US president-elect Donald Trump execute his hard line border plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants and strengthen security.
Ms Noem, 52, was named head of Homeland Security on Tuesday according to CNN.
Her appointment comes after she narrowly missed out to JD Vance on becoming Trump’s running mate after an excerpt from her memoir about shooting her puppy resurfaced.
The 14-month-old female pup Cricket was shot by the governor after the dog bit her and killed some chickens.
“I hated that dog,” Ms Noem wrote.
“At that moment I realised I had to put her down.”
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER
A China hawk who is supportive of the AUKUS defence pact has been named by Donald Trump as his new national security adviser.
Mike Waltz, a Florida congressman and former special forces soldier, will take on the influential role when the President-elect returns to the White House on January 20.
In an essay shortly before Mr Trump’s election victory, Mr Waltz called on the next president to urgently end the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and “finally focus strategic attention where it should be: countering the greater threat from the Chinese Communist Party”.
While he was highly critical of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy decisions, he praised the AUKUS deal – which involves Australia buying at least three nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the 2030s – as one of his “positive steps on China”.
Mr Walz’s support for AUKUS looms as a crucial boost for the Australian government after Mr Trump’s son Donald Jr and conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson convinced the President-elect to snub his former top diplomat Mike Pompeo, another AUKUS backer who had been angling to be his defence chief.
‘BORDER TSAR’
Mr Trump has announced that his former ICE director Tom Homan will oversee the largest deportation of immigrants in US history.
Mr Trump posted news of the appointment to his Truth Social account: “I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation’s Borders ("The Border Czar” (sic)), including, but not limited to, the Southern Border, the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security.
“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.
“Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.”
Mr Homan has said that Mr Trump will use the US Army to round up and deport illegal migrants in an unparalleled crackdown.
Mr Homan, who led immigration enforcement during part of Mr Trump’s first administration, appeared at the Republican National Convention in July, telling supporters: “I got a message to the millions of illegal immigrants that Joe Biden’s released in our country: You better start packing now.”
Mr Homan said he would revive Mr Trump’s “remain in Mexico” program, in which Mexicans would have their asylum applications processed on their side of the border.
Mr Trump has vowed to tackle migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to enemy countries – as part of a mass deportation drive he named Operation Aurora.
Mr Homan declared on Fox News and he didn’t care what people thought of the president-elect’s hard line policy on immigration.
“When you create a crisis this big, all these other bad things happen. That’s why we have to secure the border.
“I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat or independent for border security is national security. We should all be on the same side on that.
“I’ve been clear. President Trump’s been clear. Public safety threats and national security threats will be the priority because they have to be, they pose the most danger in this country,” he said.
DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF
Mr Trump also named top immigration adviser Stephen Miller as his deputy chief of staff for policy in an administration zeroing in on an unprecedented border crackdown, according to reports.
Mr Miller was the architect of Mr Trump’s immigration plan during his first term in office.
Mr Trump nominated House GOP Conference chair Elise Stefanik as Ambassador to the United Nations.
Ms Stefanik has little foreign policy experience but she does have a reputation as a leading champion of Israel, having repeatedly criticised the UN for its reproach of the country’s military response to last year’s attacks by Hamas, The Hill notes.
In September, she accused the UN of being infected by “anti-Semitic rot.”
EPA ADMINISTRATOR
Former New York Representative Lee Zeldin has been appointed to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, an organisation that
“I am deeply honoured to have been asked by President Trump to serve in his Cabinet,” Mr Zeldin said in a statement to The New York Post.
When he was last president, Mr Trump made changes to more than 100 environmental rules and vowed to only leave a “little bit of the EPA” left “because you can’t destroy business”, The Guardian notes.
“As EPA Administrator, we will restore American energy dominance, revitalise our auto industry to bring back American jobs, make the United States the global leader of Artificial Intelligence advancement, and slash the red tape holding back American workers from upward economic mobility, Mr Zeldin said of his new appointment.
‘ICE MAIDEN’ APPOINTED WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF
Donald Trump’s first appointee was his campaign manager, who became the first woman to serve as the White House chief of staff.
The president-elect confirmed he had chosen Susie Wiles, dubbed the ‘Ice Maiden’ by some, to take charge after she helped him “achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history”.
“Susie is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected,” he said of the 67-year-old grandmother from New Jersey in a statement.
“Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again. It is a well deserved honour to have Susie as the first-ever female Chief of Staff in United States history. I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”
JD Vance said Ms Wiles’ appointment was “great news”.
In a post on Twitter, he added: “Susie was a huge asset to President Trump on the campaign and will be a huge asset in the White House. She’s also just a really good person. Onward!”.
TREASURY SECRETARY
Billionaire founder of Key Square Capital Management and leading Trump fundraiser Scott Bessent appears to be positioning himself a candidate for Treasury Secretary.
However, The Financial Times quoted a well place source as saying Mr Bessent is “measuring the drapes prematurely”.
When asked he would consider joining the cabinet by CNBC on Wednesday, Mr Bessent responded: “I’m going to do whatever President Trump asks.”
Originally published as Donald Trump nominates vaccine sceptic RFK Jr as health secretary
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