The new team entrusted with delivering Donald Trump's agenda is taking shape, with several contentious hires in his proposed administration.

Ahead of his return to the White House on 20 January 2025, Trump named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his pick for defence secretary. And he wants Robert F Kennedy Jr to be health secretary.

Marco Rubio will be the next secretary of state. And billionaire supporter Elon Musk will play a role in cost-cutting.

Here is a closer look at the posts he has named replacements for, and the names in the mix for the top jobs yet to be filled.

We will start with the cabinet roles, which require approval from the US Senate. If four Republican senators and all the Democrats disagree to any individual, then that nomination will fail. Vice-President JD Vance will be able to step in to confirm a nominee if there is a tie.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio was confirmed as US secretary of state just hours after Trump was sworn into office.

His confirmation by the US Senate by a vote of 99-0 makes him the top US diplomat when representing the country overseas, and also the president's main adviser on foreign affairs.

Rubio, 53, takes a hawkish view of China. He opposed Trump in the 2016 Republican primary but has since mended fences.

He has long been courting the job of the nation's top diplomat and is now the first Latino secretary of state in US history.

Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and Fox News host who has never held political office, has been nominated to be the next defence secretary.

His appointment is one of the most highly anticipated in Trump's cabinet as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza rage on. "Nobody fights harder for the troops," Trump said.

After Hegseth's appointment, it emerged that he was investigated in 2017 for an alleged sexual assault. He was never arrested or charged and denies the allegation.

His lawyer also confirmed that he had paid a woman in the same year to stay quiet about an assault claim that he feared would cost him his job at Fox. Again, he denied any wrongdoing.

Trump's first pick for attorney general, former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, withdrew from consideration for the role earlier in November after a week of controversy over a congressional investigation into sexual misconduct and drug allegations against him.

Gaetz denied all of the claims, but said he wanted to avoid a "needlessly protracted Washington scuffle."

About six hours after Gaetz withdrew, Trump named Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, as his successor.

"Pam was a prosecutor for nearly 20 years, where she was very tough on Violent Criminals, and made the streets safe for Florida Families," Trump wrote.

Bondi served during Trump's first administration as a member of the Opioid and Drug Abuse Commission. And she was on his defence team during his first impeachment trial.

Trump announced during a speech at Mar-a-Lago that he would ask Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, to lead the Department of the Interior.

A software entrepreneur who sold his small company to Microsoft in 2001, Burgum briefly ran in the 2024 Republican primary before dropping out, endorsing Trump and quickly impressing him with his low-drama persona and sizeable wealth.

If confirmed, Burgum will oversee an agency that is responsible for the management and conservation of federal lands and natural resources.

RFK Jr, as he is known, an environmental lawyer, vaccine sceptic and the nephew of former President John F Kennedy, is Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Despite having no medical qualifications, Kennedy, 70, would have broad remit over US federal health agencies - including those that oversee approval of vaccines and pharmaceuticals.

There has been speculation about his inability to pass a background check for security clearance due to past controversies, including dumping a bear carcass in New York's Central Park.

Some of Kennedy’s own stated aims for government are bound up with misinformation - and many medical experts have expressed serious concerns about his nomination, citing his views on vaccines and other health matters.

On other matters he has more support, for example in scrutinising the processing of food and the use of additives.

Trump has nominated Dr. Marty Makary to lead the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is responsible for the safety of prescription drugs and vaccines as well as oversight of food and cosmetics.

"The Agency needs Dr. Marty Makary, a Highly Respected Johns Hopkins Surgical Oncologist and Health Policy Expert, to course-correct and refocus the Agency," Trump said in a statement Friday.

Dr Makary is a Johns Hopkins University professor, author and surgeon, and he is a trained cancer specialist. He spoke to conservative media outlets during the Covid-19 pandemic, questioning the need for masks and expressing concerns over the Covid vaccine among young children. The American Academy of Pediatrics' stance was that even though the Covid death rate was low among young children, vaccinations helped reduce severe disease in children.

Trump announced in his nomination that Dr Makary would be ideal to "course-correct and refocus the Agency".

"FDA has lost the trust of Americans, and has lost sight of its primary goal as a regulator," he said.

Dr Makary would require Senate approval and would serve under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services, if both are confirmed.

Former Georgia congressman Doug Collins has been chosen to lead the US Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Collins was a Trump loyalist when he served in Congress from 2013-21. He was an outspoken advocate for the president-elect during both impeachment hearings.

An Iraq war veteran who now serves as a chaplain in the US Air Force Reserve, Collins left Congress for an unsuccessful bid for the Senate in his home state of Georgia.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has been nominated for the key role of overseeing US security, including its borders, cyber-threats, terrorism and emergency response.

The agency has a $62bn (£48bn) budget and employs thousands of people. It incorporates a wide variety of agencies under its umbrella, ranging from Customs and Border Protection to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Former congressman and Fox Business host Sean Duffy has been selected to lead the Department of Transportation.

If confirmed by senators, he will take charge of aviation, automotive, rail, transit and other transportation policies at the transport department, with a roughly $110bn annual budget.

In the role, the incoming secretary can expect to face a number of safety-related aviation issues, including the continued problems at Boeing, as the troubled manufacturer addresses a series of safety and quality issues.

Oil and gas industry executive Chris Wright will lead the Department of Energy, where he is expected to fulfill Trump's campaign promise to "drill, baby, drill" and maximise US energy production.

Wright, the founder-CEO of Liberty Energy, has called climate activists alarmist and likened Democrats' push for renewables to Soviet-style communism.

In a video posted to his LinkedIn........

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