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Trump Announces Flurry of Administration Picks

The president-elect named his secretaries of Labor, Housing and Urban Development, and Treasury, among other positions.

President-elect Donald Trump continued filling out his cabinet and naming other members of his administration Friday night.

Trump first announced what had been reported earlier this week: that he would be putting Russ Vought back in charge of the Office of Management and Budget.

In addition to naming billionaire hedge fund chief Scott Bessent to lead the Treasury Department, Trump picked Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for secretary of labor.

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Chavez-DeRemer, who lost her re-election bid earlier this month, is seen as an unusually union-friendly voice for a Republican administration. She was one of only three Republicans in the House, for instance, to co-sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would have made joining unions easier, boosted penalties for employers that break labor laws, and weakened “right-to-work“ laws.

The Teamsters lobbied Trump to choose Chavez-DeRemer, Politico reported. A Teamsters spokesperson called her an ”excellent choice” for the role.

For the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Trump tapped former Texas state representative Scott Turner.

The chair of the Center for Education Opportunity at the Trump-friendly America First Policy Institute, Turner has experience in Trump’s first administration, where he was executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council for just under two years. A motivational speaker, Turner played in the National Football League for nine seasons.

Trump then announced his selection of former Florida congressman Dave Weldon as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A physician who retired from Congress in 2009, Weldon would report to vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a change from previous years, the position of CDC director requires Senate confirmation.

Further picks by Trump included longtime ally Sebastian Gorka, who will return to his former post in the Trump White House as senior director for counterterrorism.

Dr. Janette Nesheiwat, a Fox News contributor and medical director at CityMD, was named surgeon general.

Surgical oncologist Marty Makary, also a Fox News commentator, was announced as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Makary, who voiced contrarian views on COVID-19, would also be working under Kennedy.

Finally, Trump picked Alex Wong for Deputy National Security Adviser. Wong, a foreign policy adviser for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential bid, later worked for Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. He too has experience in a Trump administration, having been Deputy Assistant Secretary of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

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