When Can We Expect to Know Trump's Cabinet Members? Insights from Previous Occasions.

Following Donald Trump's victory, we reflected on how swiftly the president-elect made crucial decisions regarding key administration roles during his first term. While each presidency is unique, and the landscape of 2024 differs from that of 2016, we examined the timeline from eight years ago to provide insight into what the upcoming months may entail.

**Chief of Staff**
- Trump announcement: Nov. 13
- Days between victory and announcement: Four days

Donald Trump selected Reince Priebus, formerly the chair of the Republican National Committee, as his chief of staff. He was the first of four chiefs of staff who would serve in Trump’s administration.

**Attorney General**
- Trump announcement: Nov. 18
- Days between victory and announcement: Nine days

Trump picked Sen. Jeff Sessions to be attorney general. Sessions was the first senator to endorse Trump.

**Ambassador to the United Nations**
- Trump announcement: Nov. 23
- Days between victory and announcement: 14 days

Trump tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be his ambassador to the United Nations, the first woman and person of color in Trump’s Cabinet.

**Education Secretary**
- Trump announcement: Nov. 23
- Days between victory and announcement: 14 days

Trump announced that he planned to nominate Betsy DeVos as his Education secretary. Trump described her as “a brilliant and passionate education advocate.”

**Commerce Secretary**
- News broke: Nov. 24
- Trump announcement: Nov. 30
- Days between victory and announcement: 21 days

Trump nominated Wilbur Ross to be Commerce secretary. Ross was an economic adviser to Trump through his 2016 presidential campaign.

**Health and Human Services Secretary**
- Trump announcement: Nov. 29
- Days between victory and announcement: 20 days

Trump tapped Rep. Tom Price, House Budget Committee chair and an orthopedic surgeon, to lead HHS.

**Transportation Secretary**
- Trump announcement: Nov. 29
- Days between victory and announcement: 20 days

Trump picked former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao to serve as secretary of Transportation. The wife of then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Chao was the first Asian American woman to lead a federal department.

**Treasury Secretary**
- News broke: Nov. 29
- Trump announcement: Nov. 30
- Days between victory and announcement: 21 days

Trump nominated Goldman Sachs veteran Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, calling him a “world-class financier, banker, and businessman.”

**Secretary of Defense**
- Trump announcement: Dec. 1
- Days between victory and announcement: 22 days

Trump picked retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis as his Defense secretary, announcing the choice at a rally in Cincinnati.

**Housing and Urban Development Secretary**
- Trump announcement: Dec. 5
- Days between victory and announcement: 26 days

Trump selected his former GOP primary rival and retired neurosurgeon, Ben Carson, to serve as HUD secretary. He was the first and only Black member of Trump’s Cabinet.

**Homeland Security Secretary**
- News broke: Dec. 7
- Trump announcement: Dec. 12
- Days between victory and announcement: 33 days

Trump’s transition team officially announced that retired Marine Gen. John Kelly would lead the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly later served as Trump’s chief of staff.

**Environmental Protection Agency Administrator**
- Trump announcement: Dec. 7
- Days between victory and announcement: 28 days

Trump selected climate change skeptic and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to run the EPA.

**Labor Secretary**
- Trump announcement: Dec. 8
- Days between victory and announcement: 29 days

Trump chose Andy Puzder, the CEO of CKE Restaurants, as Labor secretary. Two months later, he withdrew his nomination when it became clear he could not get confirmed by the Senate.

**Secretary of State**
- News broke: Dec. 10
- Trump announcement: Dec. 13
- Days between victory and announcement: 34 days

Trump announced Rex Tillerson, the ExxonMobil CEO with close ties to Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, as his secretary of State.

**Energy Secretary**
- News broke: Dec. 13
- Trump announcement: Dec. 14
- Days between victory and announcement: 35 days

Trump picked former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to be Energy secretary.

**Interior Secretary**
- News broke: Dec. 13
- Trump announcement: Dec. 15
- Days between victory and announcement: 36 days

Trump officially announced first-term Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke as his pick for Interior secretary.

**United States Trade Representative**
- News broke: Jan. 2
- Trump announcement: Jan. 3
- Days between victory and announcement: 55 days

Trump tapped Robert Lighthizer, a former deputy USTR under Ronald Reagan, to be his administration’s U.S. trade representative.

**Veterans Affairs Secretary**
- Trump announcement: Jan. 11
- Days between victory and announcement: 63 days

Trump chose David Shulkin, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ top health official, to be VA secretary. Shulkin was the first VA secretary who did not serve in the military.

**Agriculture Secretary**
- News broke: Jan. 18
- Trump announcement: Jan. 19
- Days between victory and announcement: 71 days

Trump tapped former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to serve as Agriculture secretary. The position was the final vacant Cabinet spot for Trump to fill.

Navid Kalantari for TROIB News