SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
President-elect Donald Trump has now officially swept all seven swing states according to final race calls of Nevada and Arizona by The Associated Press this weekend. That decisive victory now means Trump and his allies have a lot of work to do. They have 71 days to plan an administration and its policy priorities. NPR's Luke Garrett has been keeping tabs on Trump's transition and joins us now. Hey there.
LUKE GARRETT, BYLINE: Hey, Scott.
DETROW: Who is Trump surrounding himself with for his second time in the White House?
GARRETT: Let's start with what we know. Susie Wiles will be Trump's White House chief of staff, making her the first woman to hold this position in American history. Wiles is a longtime Republican operative, and she led Trump's successful 2024 campaign but largely from behind the scenes. During Trump's victory speech, the president-elect asked Wiles to take the mic and celebrate, but she stayed back and notably held her ground.
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DONALD TRUMP: Thank you. And thank you, Susan. Look at this. I've never seen her be shy before. Susie - they're great. Everybody up here is great. Everybody up here is very special.
GARRETT: The White House chief of staff is the president's top confidant and policy adviser. During his first administration, Trump went through four chiefs of staff. In a statement announcing Wiles' appointment, Trump called her, quote, "tough, smart, innovative."
DETROW: OK, so that's chief of staff, a critical part of administration, but there are also big, looming cabinet positions - attorney general, secretary of state, things like that. Any sense which directions Trump is looking?
GARRETT: This is where things get foggy, Scott. We just don't know yet. There's a lot of speculation about the rest of Trump's cabinet, but we can take a few names off the list. On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump made it clear former Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will not be a part of his White House team. While he thanked them for their service, it's worth noting that both of these, you know, folks were less than loyal to him during the Republican nomination process. As you well remember, Haley put on a very competitive race against Trump.
DETROW: Yeah.
GARRETT: And Pompeo himself flirted with a presidential run and initially held off on endorsing Trump. Following his loss in the 2020 election, Trump repeatedly said his biggest mistake was hiring the wrong people. This time around, Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, billionaire Howard Lutnick and WWE cofounder Linda McMahon are managing the creation of Trump's new administration.
DETROW: Let's talk about two of the people that Trump campaigned with and promised to bring into his administration in one way or another. That's Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
GARRETT: Right. They're certainly in direct contact with Trump and in the conversation. The morning after the election, NPR's Steve Inskeep asked RFK Jr. directly if he expects Trump to name him to a Senate-confirmed position like secretary of health and human services. Here's what Kennedy had to say.
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ROBERT F KENNEDY JR: We have not yet decided exactly what that strategy is going to be, but that is a possibility.
GARRETT: And just last week, it was widely reported that tech billionaire Elon Musk joined a phone call with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. So those two, Musk and RFK Jr., are certainly in the conversation, but that doesn't mean they're shoo-ins here. You know, most of these high-powered cabinet positions require Senate confirmation. And while Republicans won the Senate, it's a slim majority. So if two or three GOP senators defect, they could block a Trump cabinet member by joining the Democrats.
DETROW: What are you keeping your eyes on in the coming days as this administration starts to take shape?
GARRETT: A lot, Scott. A lot. But let's start with the House. We still don't know who will control the House of Representatives, though it's looking like Republican Speaker Mike Johnson will keep his job. But the margin of victory here will matter, big time. And over in the Senate, the GOP won control, but there is a battle brewing over who will become the Senate majority leader. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is stepping down as leader and his two lieutenants, South Dakota Senator John Thune and Texas Senator John Cornyn, are running. But Trump allies like Musk, RFK Jr. and Tucker Carlson really want Florida Senator Rick Scott.
The majority leader of the Senate will have a lot of power over Trump's agenda and, notably, his cabinet selections. Congress comes back on Tuesday, and the Senate will hold leadership elections this week. Now, down the block on Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House, on Wednesday President Joe Biden will host Trump in the Oval Office. And it's a customary gesture that Trump did not expend to Biden four years ago notably.
DETROW: Right. Right.
GARRETT: But according to a senior aide, Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is coordinating with the Biden White House now.
DETROW: Just the body language of when Trump met with Obama in 2016 was so memorable. I can't imagine what it will be like when Biden and Trump sit down in the same room together.
GARRETT: That Wednesday meeting will be the one to watch.
DETROW: NPR's Luke Garrett, thanks so much.
GARRETT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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