President-elect Donald Trump has enlisted a team of prominent women to be a driving force behind his second-term agenda.
He selected nine women as Cabinet secretaries and other top posts, including press secretary, counselor to the president, surgeon general and the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff.
Mr. Trump, regardless of gender, clearly picked people who he feels “confident in the role that they’ll play to represent him and the administration,” said Anita McBride, who served under three presidents over two decades in the White House.
“I don’t think Donald Trump is influenced by what others’ expectations are of him,” said Ms. McBride, now executive-in-residence at American University’s Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies. “I think he’s going to do what he wants to do and what he feels is right for him.”
Here are five women to watch in the Trump White House:
Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff
White House chief of staff was the first job Mr. Trump filled after winning the election. And his pick made Susie Wiles the first woman to hold that position in U.S. history.
Ms. Wiles, 67, is a longtime political consultant who served as co-chair of Mr. Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. She has been credited for being at the helm of his sweeping victory.
She was no stranger to Trump campaigns after running his Florida campaigns in 2016 and 2020. She also advised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ during his successful 2018 bid for governor and was campaign manager for Sen. Rick Scott when he successfully ran for Florida governor in 2010.
Mr. Trump called her a “tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected.”
Ms. McBride, whose White House career included serving as chief of staff to first lady Laura Bush, said that the “most exciting thing to watch for anybody that’s worked in the White House” will be Ms. Wiles making history in the “most important job in the White House” besides the president.
“It’s such a great step forward in the history of the White House and a great leap for women in leadership, and I don’t think that’s gotten enough attention,” she said.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary
At 27 years old, Karoline Leavitt will be the youngest White House press secretary in U.S. history.
She will be the public face and voice of the White House and at the forefront of Mr. Trump’s often combative relationship with the Washington press corps.
“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator. I have the utmost confidence she will excel at the podium, and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again,” Mr. Trump said.
Serving as Mr. Trump’s press secretary has proved to be a tough gig. He went through four press secretaries in his previous four years in the Oval Office.
“One of the challenges that Trump’s press secretaries always have is the conviction that Donald Trump has that he’s the best messenger anyway, and so he tends to manage the public relations aspect of his presidency to a much greater degree than other presidents have,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a politics professor at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia.
Ms. Leavitt, however, has already learned the ropes for a Trump spokeswoman. She was national press secretary for the Trump campaign and the spokeswoman for Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. In Mr. Trump’s first administration, she worked in the White House Press Office.
She went on to be communications director for Rep. Elise Stefanik, the New York Republican tapped by Mr. Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
“She has certainly shown great energy in the role already,” Ms. McBride said.
Pam Bondi, attorney general
Mr. Trump chose Pam Bondi as his second pick to lead the Justice Department. She was Florida’s attorney general from 2011 to 2019 and was the first woman to hold that position.
Ms. Bondi, 59, is a fierce Trump loyalist and was one of his defense lawyers during his first impeachment trial. She has previously worked as a lobbyist for American companies and as a foreign agent for Qatar.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans — Not anymore. Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again. I have known Pam for many years — She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!” Mr. Trump said in a statement.
Ms. Bondi will be under intense scrutiny from Mr. Trump’s critics in Washington who fear his goal of depoliticizing the DOJ will do just the opposite or that the Justice Department will become Mr. Trump’s instrument of political score-settling.
Kristi Noem, Homeland Security secretary
Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, was selected by Mr. Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security — an agency that will play a big role in how his border control ideas get put into play, along with his mass deportation plans for illegal immigrants.
She has talked tough about immigration policy in the past and has backed Mr. Trump’s deportation plans.
Ms. Noem, 52, has served as governor since 2019 and is the first woman to hold the position. She is a longtime Trump ally. She served previously as a South Dakota representative.
Mr. Trump picked her for his Cabinet despite recent criticism in the news media for her book in which she detailed how she shot her dog, Cricket, because the hunting dog was untrainable and wild.
“Kristi has been very strong on Border Security. She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times,” Mr. Trump said, adding that she will work closely with Tom Homan, who the president-elect has tapped as his “Border Czar.”
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Labor secretary
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a U.S. representative for Oregon, was tapped to head the Labor Department, putting her at the forefront of Mr. Trump’s complicated relationship with labor unions.
Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, 56, a former mayor of Happy Valley, Oregon, is a one-term congresswoman who lost her reelection bid last month, though she scored union endorsements in the race.
She has the distinction of being a pro-union Republican. She backed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which would make it easier to unionize workplaces, earning her the support of liberal icon Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat.
“If Chavez-DeRemer commits as labor secretary to strengthen labor unions and promote worker power, she’s a strong candidate for the job,” Ms. Warren said.
Mr. Trump said that Ms. Chavez-DeRemer “has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce and support the hardworking men and women of America.”
“I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs,” he said. “Together, we will achieve historic cooperation between Business and Labor that will restore the American Dream for Working Families.”
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.