The Cabinet of the United States is the principal official advisory body to the president of the United States. The Cabinet generally meets with the president in a room adjacent to the Oval Office in the West Wing of the White House. The president chairs the meetings but is not formally a member of the Cabinet. The vice president of the United States serves in the Cabinet by statute. The heads of departments,appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate,are members of the Cabinet,and acting department heads also participate in Cabinet meetings whether or not they have been officially nominated for Senate confirmation. Members of the Cabinet are political appointees and administratively function their departments. As appointed officers heading federal agencies,these Cabinet Secretaries are bureaucrats with full administrative control over their respective departments. The president may designate heads of other agencies and non-Senate-confirmed members of the Executive Office of the President as members of the Cabinet.
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is an independent federal agency that serves as an adjudicatory board. The board was created in 1996 following the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and absorbed regulatory powers relevant to the railroad industry previously under the ICC's purview.
Steven Gill Bradbury is an American lawyer and government official who served as the General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation during the first Trump Administration. He previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General from 2005 to 2007 and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General from 2004 to 2009,heading the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Department of Justice during President George W. Bush's second term. He is the presumptive nominee for Deputy Secretary of Transportation in President-elect Trump's second term.
Richard Rahul Verma is an American diplomat,who served as the deputy secretary of state for management and resources,a position he held from April 5,2023 to January 20,2025. He served as the assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs from 2009 to 2011,and as the U.S. ambassador to India from 2014 to 2017. He served as the chief legal officer and head of global public policy at Mastercard,from 2020 to 2023,and as the vice chair of the Asia Group from 2017 to 2020,where he oversaw the firm's South Asia practice. He also practiced law for many years at Steptoe &Johnson LLP in Washington DC,and served as a Senior Counselor and Lead of the India and South Asia practice at Albright Stonebridge Group.
Martin Jay Oberman is an American government official and attorney who served as a member of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) from 2019 to 2024 and as STB chair from 2021 to 2024. He previously served as the chair of the board of directors at Metra,the Chicago commuter rail system.
David Peter Pekoske is an American government official and retired U.S. Coast Guard vice admiral who served as the seventh administrator of the Transportation Security Administration in the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from 2017 to 2025. He served as the acting deputy secretary of homeland security from April to November 2019 and again from January to June 2021. From January 20,2021 to February 2,2021 he served as acting secretary of homeland security,during the Senate confirmation of Alejandro Mayorkas. Pekoske retired with 33 years of active military service in 2010 as the 26th vice commandant of the Coast Guard.
Luis Felipe Restrepo,known commonly as L. Felipe Restrepo,is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the United States Sentencing Commission.
Douglas James Burgum is an American businessman and politician who served as the 33rd governor of North Dakota from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of the Republican Party.
The second presidential transition of Donald Trump began when he won the United States presidential election on November 5,2024,and became the president-elect. Trump was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 17,2024. The results were certified by a joint session of Congress on January 6,2025,and the transition concluded when Trump was inaugurated on January 20,2025.
Donald Trump assumed office as the 45th president of the United States on January 20,2017,and his first term ended on January 20,2021. The president has the authority to nominate members of his Cabinet to the United States Senate for confirmation under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution.
This is a list of political appointments of current officeholders made by the 45th president of the United States,Donald Trump.
Jeffrey Adam Rosen is an American lawyer who served as acting United States attorney general from December 2020 to January 2021 and as United States deputy attorney general from 2019 to 2020. Before joining the Department of Justice,he was a senior partner at the law firm Kirkland &Ellis and was the United States deputy secretary of transportation.
David Lutz Norquist is an American financial management professional and former government official who served as the 34th United States deputy secretary of defense from 2019 to 2021. In May of 2022,Norquist was selected as the president and chief executive officer of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).
Russell Thurlow Vought is an American government official who was the director of the Office of Management and Budget from July 2020 to January 2021. He was previously deputy director of the OMB for part of 2018,and acting director from 2019 to 2020.
Derek Tai-Ching Kan is an American businessman and government official who has served as a governor of the United States Postal Service since 2022. He served as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget in 2020. Kan served as the under secretary of transportation for policy from 2017 to 2019. He was confirmed by the Senate four times.
Patrick Pizzella is a former American government official who served as the 36th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor from April 17,2018 to January 20,2021. He was formerly a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority appointed by President Barack Obama. He held positions in several agencies during four prior Administrations. In 2019,after the resignation of Alexander Acosta,Pizzella served as the acting United States Secretary of Labor for more than 2 months. He currently serves as the elected Mayor of the village of Pinehurst,North Carolina.
Gerald Fauth is an American businessperson who served on the National Mediation Board (NMB). Fauth was first appointed to the NMB by President Donald Trump in 2017 and served as its Chairman from November 2017 to June 2018 and again from July 2021 to June 2022. Prior to joining the NMB,he was the president of G.W. Fauth &Associates Inc.,a transportation economic consulting firm.
Wayne Oliver Burkes was an American politician,Baptist minister,and military officer.
Michelle A. Schultz is an American attorney and government official. A member of the Republican Party,she has served as a member of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) since January 11,2021.
Donald Trump assumed office as the 47th president of the United States on January 20,2025.
