Who will be in Trump’s new cabinet? And who will he kick out? Eyes are on Elon Musk, Jerome Powell and RFK Jr.
The Republican politician’s return is also likely to signal some departures from prominent figures elected and maintained under the Biden administration.
This morning, former president Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 election, having secured more than the 270 seats needed to take the Oval Office.
Of course, the entrepreneur is known to change his mind—only time will tell whether he sticks to his promises of roles for some of the most notable figures who endorsed his campaign, but here’s a look at who could be in, and who could be out.
Potentially in: Elon Musk
In a speech on election night, Trump said that “a star” had been born in Elon Musk, describing the Tesla CEO as an “amazing guy.”
The SpaceX founder has spent at least $132 million in a bid to help Trump get into office, openly admitting he would be “f*cked” if the former president didn’t pull ahead on voting day.
In an interview last month with Fox News, Trump was asked about the “incredible fat” he has said he would like to trim from government agencies.
He said the question should be directed to Musk, explaining: “He’s dying to do this. You know he’s a great business guy actually … and he’s a great cost-cutter. You’ve seen that. And he said: ‘I could cut cost without affecting anybody.’”
Those on the sharp end of Musk’s cost-cutting initiatives might disagree with this summary: Just ask the Twitter employees—now X—who were let go in droves when Musk purchased the platform in October 2022.
That being said, Musk will not be in the Cabinet.
Trump said: “He doesn’t want to be in the Cabinet, he just wants to be in charge of cost-cutting. We’ll have a new position, secretary of cost-cutting, Elon wants to do that.”
Representatives for Musk did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Potentially in: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump reportedly struck a deal with RFK Jr—who also made a presidential bid this election cycle—offering him a job in return for his endorsement.
Asked by CNN in August if he would appoint the independent politician to his cabinet, Trump said “he probably would.”
“He’s a brilliant guy. He’s a very smart guy. I’ve known him for a very long time,” Trump added at the time.
On a Zoom call with reporters at the end of October, RFK Jr announced Trump had “promised” him control of health agencies if he won the White House.
“President Trump has promised me … control of the public health agencies,” the former nominee said.
The departments RFK Jr. would oversee reportedly include the Department of Health and Human Services and its sub-agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as well as a “few others.”
RFK Jr also said the Department of Agriculture would report to him.
This appointment is “key to making America healthy,” the politician added. “We’ve gotta get off of seed oils, we’ve gotta get off of pesticide-intensive agriculture—we need to make that transition to regenerate agriculture,” RFK Jr continued.
Representatives for RFK Jr did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
Potentially out: Jerome Powell
Trump said in February that if he were elected this November, Fed chairman Jerome Powell would lose his job.
When asked if he would reappoint Chairman Powell, Trump bluntly responded, “No, I would not,” adding that Powell had “missed” on inflation.
Trump has also claimed Powell and the Federal Open Market Committee FOMC is “political”—an allegation that the FOMC has repeatedly rejected.
In February, he said Powell was likely to “do something” like cut rates to “help the Democrats.”
By July the FOMC still had not cut the base rate, and Trump changed his tune.
He told Bloomberg that he would let Powell serve until the end of his term in May 2026, “especially if I thought he was doing the right thing.”
Of course, in September the FOMC delighted markets not only with a cut but also by axing the base rate at double the 25 basis points expected.
For his part, Powell—who was nominated for the role by Trump himself in 2017—has stoically ignored the barbs from Trump and his running mate JD Vance. Powell and his FOMC peers have reiterated that they are not a political entity and are federally mandated to operate independently.
“All the Fed can do, and all the Fed does, is take the Federal Reserve Act—which says, you go look at maximizing employment and stabilizing prices and go base your decisions on that—that’s what we do,” Chicago Fed president Austan Goolsbee told Fortune in August. “You can read the minutes for yourself. The transcript will come out. You can read word for word what everyone says. It’s not about elections, it’s about economic conditions.”
The Fed declined to comment when approached by Fortune.
Potentially out: Jack Smith
Special counsel Jack Smith has worked within the U.S. Department of Justice, bringing historic indictments against former President Trump.
Smith’s cases relate to the former president’s handling of classified documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The Justice Department is unable to prosecute a sitting president, and Trump has made it clear he would want Smith out as soon as it is within his power to do so.
Trump said last month he would fire Smith “within two seconds” if he was handed the keys to the White House, and has referred to the prosecutor as “deranged Jack Smith.”
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