Political appointments of the first Trump administration

This is a list of political appointments of current officeholders made by the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Links to lists of announced positions from which candidates have withdrawn or [List of First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration dismissals and resignations|appointees who have resigned or have been terminated], as well as lists of appointments to [|other independent agencies] and of holdovers from previous administrations are below.
Following President Trump's election, there were around 4,000 political appointment positions which the incoming Trump administration needed to review, and fill or confirm, of which 1,212 required Senate confirmation. The Washington Post has identified 757 key positions requiring U.S. Senate confirmation., 531 of Trump's nominees for key positions had been confirmed, 97 were awaiting confirmation, and 13 had been announced but not yet formally nominated, a total of 639 positions. Trump has said he intends not to fill many of the positions. The rules of the Senate require that when the term of the Senate expires, nominations then pending lapse and are returned to the president, who can resubmit them to the new Congress.
All members of the Cabinet require confirmation by the United States Senate following nomination by the president prior to taking office. The vice presidency is exceptional in that the position requires election to office pursuant to the United States Constitution. Although some positions are of Cabinet-level rank, non-cabinet members within the Executive Office of the President, such as White House chief of staff, national security advisor, and White House press secretary, do not hold constitutionally created positions and most do not require Senate confirmation for appointment. Persons appointed on an acting basis do not require Senate confirmation before they begin to act in their position, even if a permanent appointment to that position would require confirmation. Appointments to judgeships on federal courts and of ambassadors require nomination by the president and confirmation by the Senate. Acting appointments to these positions are not permissible.

Analysis

Certain news organizations, such as Politico and Newsweek, called Trump's incomplete cabinet a "conservative dream team" or "the most conservative cabinet ". On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal stated that "it's nearly impossible to identify a clear ideological bent in the incoming president's" cabinet nominations. The Wall Street Journal also stated that Trump's nominations signaled a pro-deregulation administration policy.
Among Donald Trump's appointments there have been several former Goldman Sachs employees, such as Steven Mnuchin, Steven Bannon, and Gary Cohn, as well as several generals, such as Michael T. Flynn, James Mattis, and John F. Kelly. These appointments have generated some criticism, including allegations of violations of the principle of civilian control of the military and allegations of regulatory capture. The Democratic senator from Missouri, Claire McCaskill, has criticized Donald Trump's cabinet stating; "I call it the three 'G' Cabinet: Goldman, generals and gazillionaires."
On January 18, 2017, two days before Trump's inauguration, it was reported that Trump had by then nominated only 28 people to fill 690 positions requiring Senate confirmation. In particular, there had been no nominations below the Cabinet level for the departments of State or Defense, and the staff for the National Security Council was incomplete, while none of the NSC leadership had any NSC experience.
On February 28, 2017, Trump announced he did not intend on filling many of the numerous governmental positions that were still vacant, as he considered them unnecessary. According to CNN on February 25, there were nearly 2,000 vacant government positions.

Department of Agriculture

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Agriculture	Sonny Perdue	April 25, 2017	January 20, 2021
Deputy Secretary of Agriculture	Stephen Censky	October 11, 2017	November 8, 2020

Department of Commerce

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Commerce	Wilbur Ross	February 28, 2017	January 20, 2021
Deputy Secretary of Commerce	Karen Dunn Kelley	November 29, 2017	November 29, 2018
Deputy Secretary of Commerce	Karen Dunn Kelley	November 29, 2018	January 20, 2021

Department of Defense

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Defense	Chris Miller	November 9, 2020	January 20, 2021
Deputy Secretary of Defense	David Norquist	January 2, 2019	July 23, 2019
Deputy Secretary of Defense	David Norquist	July 31, 2019	February 8, 2021

Department of Education

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Education	Betsy DeVos	February 7, 2017 Vice President Pence provided the tie-breaking vote.	January 8, 2021
Deputy Secretary of Education	Mick Zais	May 17, 2018

Department of Energy

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Energy	Dan Brouillette	December 4, 2019
Deputy Secretary of Energy	Mark Menezes	December 4, 2019	August 4, 2020
Deputy Secretary of Energy	Mark Menezes	August 4, 2020
Under Secretary of Energy	Mark Menezes	November 6, 2017	August 4, 2020

Department of Health and Human Services

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Health and Human Services	Alex Azar	January 29, 2018
Secretary of Health and Human Services	Eric Hargan	October 10, 2017	January 29, 2018
Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services	Eric Hargan	October 6, 2017

Department of Homeland Security

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Homeland Security	Chad Wolf	November 13, 2019	January 11, 2021
Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security	Ken Cuccinelli	November 13, 2019

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Ben Carson	March 2, 2017
Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Brian D. Montgomery	May 12, 2020
Deputy Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Brian D. Montgomery	January 17, 2019

Department of the Interior

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of the Interior	David Bernhardt	January 2, 2019	April 11, 2019
Secretary of the Interior	David Bernhardt	April 11, 2019
Deputy Secretary of the Interior	Katharine MacGregor	September 30, 2019	February 25, 2020
Deputy Secretary of the Interior	Katharine MacGregor	February 25, 2020

Department of Justice

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	left office
Attorney General	William Barr	February 14, 2019	December 23, 2020
Deputy Attorney General	Jeffrey A. Rosen	May 22, 2019

Department of Labor

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Labor	Eugene Scalia	September 30, 2019
Secretary of Labor	Patrick Pizzella	July 20, 2019	September 30, 2019
Deputy Secretary of Labor	Patrick Pizzella	April 17, 2018

Department of State

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of State	Mike Pompeo	April 26, 2018
Deputy Secretary of State	Stephen Biegun	December 21, 2019
Deputy Secretary of State (Management and Resources)	Stephen Biegun	December 21, 2019

Department of Transportation

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of Transportation	Elaine Chao	January 31, 2017	January 11, 2021
Deputy Secretary of Transportation	Steven G. Bradbury	September 10, 2019
General Counsel of Transportation	Steven G. Bradbury	November 28, 2017

Department of the Treasury

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Secretary of the Treasury	Steven Mnuchin	February 13, 2017
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury	Justin Muzinich	December 12, 2018

Independent intelligence agencies

Central Intelligence Agency

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency	Gina Haspel	April 26, 2018	May 21, 2018
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency	Gina Haspel	May 21, 2018
Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency	Vaughn Bishop	August 1, 2018
General Counsel of the Central Intelligence Agency	Courtney Simmons Elwood	June 6, 2017

Other independent agencies

Environmental Protection Agency

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Andrew R. Wheeler	July 9, 2018	February 28, 2019
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Andrew R. Wheeler	February 28, 2019
Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Vacant
Chief Financial Officer of the Environmental Protection Agency	Holly Greaves	March 15, 2018
General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency	Matthew Leopold	January 9, 2018	October 5, 2020
Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency	Sean O'Donnell	January 27, 2020
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Alexandra Dunn	January 3, 2019
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (Enforcement and Compliance Assurance)	Susan Bodine	January 5, 2018
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Chad McIntosh	TBD
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	Peter C. Wright	TBD
Assistant Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency	David Ross	January 22, 2018

Small Business Administration

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Administrator of the Small Business Administration	Jovita Carranza	January 14, 2020
Chief Counsel of Advocacy for the Small Business Administration	Vacant
Inspector General of the Small Business Administration	Hannibal Ware	May 24, 2018

Federal Reserve System

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Chairman of the Federal Reserve	Jerome Powell	February 5, 2018
Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve	Richard Clarida	September 17, 2018
Vice Chairman for Supervision of the Federal Reserve	Randal Quarles	October 13, 2017
Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System	Christopher Waller	December 18, 2020
Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System	Michelle Bowman	November 26, 2018
Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System	Michelle Bowman	TBD
Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System	Randal Quarles	July 18, 2018
Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System	Richard Clarida	September 17, 2018
Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System	Vacant

NASA

Office	Nominee	Assumed office	Left office
Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration	James Bridenstine	April 23, 2018
Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration	James Morhard	October 17, 2018
Executive Secretary of the National Space Council	Scott Pace	July 13, 2017
Chief Financial Officer of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration	Jeff DeWit	April 3, 2018	February 14, 2020

Appointees who have resigned or have been dismissed

Three of Trump's 15 original cabinet members left within his first year. Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price was forced to resign in September 2017 due to excessive use of private charter jets and military aircraft. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt resigned in 2018 and Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke in January 2019 amid multiple investigations into their conduct.

Pace of appointments and approvals

While President Trump tweeted on February 7, 2017, dissatisfaction – "It is a disgrace my Cabinet is not yet in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country"—the assertion was considered false by the BBC based on a detailed review of the last five administrations. The analysis found more room for a general complaint of slowness in congressional action and that the administration "has by far the fewest confirmed cabinet selections at this point" but it also noted that, beyond the non-action on Judge Merrick Garland's 10-month nomination to the Supreme Court by Trump's predecessor, President Obama's "choice for Labor secretary, Thomas Perez, took 121 days to be confirmed. John Bryson, his commerce pick, waited 126 days. Attorney General Loretta Lynch holds the modern record, as 161 days passed before getting Senate approval."
In an update on the March 2017 nomination of J. Christopher Giancarlo to the CFTC, the White House submitted his paperwork to the Senate committee in early May. "The paperwork is a prerequisite for the panel to advance the nomination with a hearing and an eventual committee vote, which now may not come until the summer or fall. The committee is said to be waiting for the administration to nominate individuals to fill two more vacancies at the commission before it holds the hearing, according to Senate aides and people familiar with the process," reported the Wall Street Journal.
In July 2017, the New York Times assessed the pace and reported that Trump had announced 36 percent of "leadership positions below the secretary level" compared with 78 percent by Obama over the same period. Average approval time has been nine days slower for Trump appointees versus Obama's. Ten of 15 Cabinet agencies had no number two, several deputy secretaries were not nominated until after the Administration's 100-day mark, and some had not yet been nominated.
By October 2017, Trump had made 412 nominations. By the same point in their respective presidencies, George W. Bush had made 640 nominations and Barack Obama had made 536 nominations.
In May 2018, assessing the administration's overall personnel approach, Evan Osnos reported in The New Yorker that "more than half of the six hundred and fifty-six most critical positions are still unfilled." He quoted Max Stier of the Partnership for Public Service as saying "We've never seen vacancies at this scale Not anything close."

Appointment controversies

Anti-Muslim rhetoric

Since 2017 several people with ties to the Center for Security Policy CSP have joined the Trump administration, including Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway in 2017, chief of staff for the National Security Council Fred Fleitz in 2018, and Deputy National Security Advisor Charles Kupperman in 2019. Kupperman served on the board of directors for CSP between 2001 and 2010. The Trump administration used reports released by the CSP when it proposed to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.
Anthony Tata the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy before his term. In Twitter posts and radio-show appearances in 2017 and 2018, Tata repeatedly made the false claim that President Barack Obama was a "Muslim" and a "terrorist leader"; accused Obama of being "an anti-Semite" who wanted to "destroy Israel" and "did not want" to defeat ISIL; and claimed that the negotiation of the multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran was born by Obama's "Islamic roots".
Pete Hoekstra the United States Ambassador to the Netherlands before his term, made claims in November 2015 at a panel titled "Muslim Migration into Europe: Eurabia come True?" hosted by the David Horowitz Freedom Center that the Netherlands had "no-go zones" and that politicians and cars were being set on fire in the country due to radical Islam.
In 2020, President Donald Trump proposed Douglas Macgregor as ambassador to Germany, but the Senate blocked the nomination. In the past he made comments that disparaged immigrants and refugees, called for martial law at US-Mexico border.