Trump ramps up transition moves with key appointments

 

When US President-elect Donald Trump greeted US Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) during a campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire, on January 19, 2024. [AFP]

US President-elect Donald Trump has moved quickly to staff up his incoming administration, naming loyalists to several key posts within days of his election victory and signaling his desire to have some seated without a Senate confirmation process.

The staffing picks are the subject of intense speculation and scrutiny, with Trump vowing that his second administration will oversee a radical shake-up of the federal government.

The 78-year-old Republican tycoon said Sunday he would tap hardline immigration official Tom Homan as the country's "border czar," while US media reported the nod for UN ambassador as going to New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a vocal Trump ally.

Stephen Miller, another fierce critic of illegal immigration who served in Trump's first administration, has been tapped for deputy chief of staff.

The picks signal movement on a number of Trump's key campaign messages, with Homan's hardline immigration stance making him a loyal hand in carrying out the incoming president's deportation promises, while Stefanik, who has voiced strong support for Israel, will represent the administration as the UN grapples with the ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Stefanik's nomination would need approval by the Senate, but Trump is hoping to bypass Congress by making appointments while the chamber is in recess.

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He has turned the issue into a loyalty test, insisting that any Republican seeking to be the leader of the Senate "must agree" to recess appointments.

The three senators jockeying for the post immediately issued statements saying they supported the move, or were at least open to the idea.

Three so far

Trump will not be inaugurated until January and had previously made one cabinet-level appointment, naming his campaign manager Susie Wiles as his White House chief of staff, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.

His weekend nominations for both border czar and ambassador to the UN will help him fulfil some of his key promises to the American electorate.

Homan, a former acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Miller, who served as Trump's senior advisor and speechwriter during his first term, hold strident views on immigration.

Curbing illegal immigration served as one of Trump's central campaign promises as he pledged to launch the largest deportation operation of undocumented migrants in US history beginning on day one.

"I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders," Trump said of Homan on Truth Social, adding that he will be in charge of "all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin."

Stefanik, a key Trump ally now in her fifth term in office, has been a staunch defender of Israel and will head to the UN as the wars in Gaza and Lebanon dominate diplomacy.

Israel welcomed the appointment on Monday.

"At a time when hate and lies fill the halls of the UN, your unwavering moral clarity is needed more than ever," its UN ambassador Danny Danon wrote on X, wishing her "success in standing firm for truth and justice."