Donald Trump announced Friday his transition team that will assist with staffing decisions and policy setup should he return to the White House—and two of his sons are on it.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump, Jr. will be honorary chairs along with the vice presidential nominee, Senator J.D. Vance. The team’s other members are Linda McMahon, a former professional wrestling executive and the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s presidency; and Howard Lutnik, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm.
Both McMahon and Lutnick are major donors to the Trump campaign, with Lutnik recently hosting a New York fundraiser that raised $15 million for the convicted felon.
“The 2024 GOP Platform to Make America Great Again is a forward-looking agenda that will deliver safety, prosperity and freedom for the American people,” Trump said in a statement. “My administration will deliver on these bold promises.”
Trump Jr. has said he wants to be able to “veto” appointment candidates in Trump’s second administration should he be elected, wishing to ensure that his father has true believers.
“I don’t want to pick a single person for a position of power. All I want to do is block the guys that would be a disaster,” he told Axios in July. “I want to block the liars. I want to block the guys that are, you know, pretending they’re with you.”
Trump Jr.’s presence on the team is a sign of his growing influence with his father. While Trump primarily relied on his daughter Ivanka during his White House term, she has not been involved this time around. Trump Jr. was reportedly one of the driving forces behind Trump picking Vance as his running mate.
While naming a transition team before an election is normal for presidential campaigns, it’s taking place months later than in 2016, when Trump’s transition team was named by June. This could be due to reported bad blood between some Trump campaign staffers and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 team over coveted White House staff positions if Trump wins in November. Trump has tried to distance himself from the conservative manifesto, only for more links to emerge each day.
Another reason it has taken so long could be that Trump’s campaign staff was just shaken up with the hiring of 2016 Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski . His hiring may have prompted the transition team to finally be selected.
Some Trump staffers are reportedly wondering if Trump wants Lewandowski to push out senior campaign officials such as co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles. Maybe the former president envisions his staff fighting each other to prove themselves to him and get prized White House jobs.
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