Trump picks Scott Bessent for treasury as he announces flurry of cabinet picks

President-elect Donald Trump announced a flurry of nominations on Friday night, revealing his choices to lead the Treasury Department, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the FDA, the CDC, the Office of the Surgeon General, and the Department of Labor.

Treasury

Trump announced that hedge fund manager Scott Bessent is his nominee to be treasury secretary.

“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” Trump said in a statement on Friday night. “He will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World’s leading Economy.”

The financier has embraced populist economics as well as the MAGA agenda and received the nod after extensive jockeying for the role. The 62-year-old Bessent came out on top after extensive lobbying by allies, arguing that no one else was able to combine Trump’s aggressive trade stance with widespread finance experience, The Washington Post noted.

Office of Management and Budget

To lead the Office of Management and Budget, Trump picked Russell Vought, the man in charge of the office during Trump’s first term.

“He did an excellent job serving in this role in my First Term – We cut four Regulations for every new Regulation, and it was a Great Success!” Trump said on Friday.

Vought is the man behind the Project 2025 chapter on the executive office of the president. Trump mostly tried to distance himself from the conservative playbook during the campaign, but he has since appointed several people connected to the project.

Labor

For labor secretary, Trump chose Oregon Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. She narrowly lost her seat in the lower chamber in the 2024 election.

“Lori has worked tirelessly with both business and labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America,” Trump said.

The 56-year-old was one of few House Republicans to back pro-union legislation, and she received some union endorsements, The New York Times noted.

Housing and Urban Development

Trump named former NFL player and White House official Scott Turner to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Turner led the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump’s first term, which was created to encourage public and private investment in low-income areas.

Trump wrote on Friday that Turner helped “to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities.”

“Those efforts, working together with former HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, were maximized by Scott’s guidance in overseeing 16 Federal Agencies which implemented more than 200 policy actions furthering Economic Development,” he added.

Surgeon General

Trump chose Fox News medical contributor Dr. Janette Nesheiwat to serve as his next surgeon general.

Nesheiwat is also the medical director at CityMD, which is an urgent care network operating in New York and New Jersey.

“Dr. Nesheiwat is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health,” Trump said. “She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality healthcare, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives.”

Food and Drug Administration

Trump chose Johns Hopkins University pancreatic surgeon Dr. Marty Makary to lead the FDA. The chief of Islet Transplant Surgery has previously served at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and he’s also a member of the National Academy of Medicine, NBC News noted.

Like Nesheiwat, Makary often appears on Fox News.

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

“He will work under the leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to, among other things, properly evaluate harmful chemicals poisoning our Nation’s food supply and drugs and biologics being given to our Nation’s youth, so that we can finally address the Childhood Chronic Disease Epidemic,” he added.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

To lead the CDC, Trump chose former Florida Republican Congressman Dr. Dave Weldon. The Army veteran served in the House for seven terms until 2008 when he chose not to seek re-election.

He then returned to practicing medicine after serving on several committees such as Health and Human Services and Science.

“The current Health of America is critical, and CDC will play a big role in helping to ensure Americans have the tools and resources they need to understand the underlying causes of disease, and the solutions to cure these diseases,” Trump said.

White House appointments

Trump announced that he would appoint Alex Wong as assistant to the president and principal deputy national security adviser, and Sebastian Gorka as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism.

“Alex served during my First Term as the Deputy Special Representative for North Korea, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs at the Department of State,” Trump said.

“As Deputy Special Representative for North Korea, he helped negotiate my Summit with North Korean Leader, Kim Jong Un,” he added.

The president-elect said Gorka has been a “tireless advocate for the America First Agenda and the MAGA Movement” since 2015.

In the first Trump Administration, Gorka served as a strategist to the president.

Trump noted that Gorka “is a legal immigrant to the United States, with more than 30 years of National Security experience. In 2015, he was one of my Advisors for the GOP Primary Debates on National Security.”

Former Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton appeared on CNN on Friday night slamming Gorka’s appointment.

“Sebastian Gorka is a con man,” Bolton said.

“He needs a full-field FBI background investigation about his educational claims and things like that,” Bolton added. “I think he is a perfect example of somebody who owes his position purely to Donald Trump, he doesn’t display loyalty, he displays fealty, and that’s what Trump wants.”

“He doesn’t want Gorka’s opinions, he wants Gorka to say, ‘Yes, sir,’ and I am fully confident that’s exactly what will happen, no matter what it is Trump says,” Bolton argued.