President-elect Donald Trump has spent the weeks since his 2024 election victory rolling out names of his picks for top White House staff positions, ambassadors and department heads to fill his incoming administration. In addition to his Cabinet members, many of these appointees will play key roles in shaping the policies of Trump’s second term and pursuing his goals on issues ranging from health care to immigration to tariffs and more.
Presidential envoy for special missions: Richard Grenell
Trump on Dec. 14 announced that he has selected Richard Grenell as his presidential envoy for special missions, a new position.
The 58-year-old Grenell, a longtime Trump loyalist, served as both acting U.S. director of national intelligence and U.S. ambassador to Germany during Trump’s first term.
Grenell, however, resigned his ambassadorship in June 2020 after he strained relations with Germany over his public stances on a number of issues, including expressing support for Europe’s right-wing political movements, and threatening to withdraw U.S. troops from Germany amid the first Trump administration’s ongoing criticisms of NATO.
In early 2020, previous political consulting work he had allegedly done for foreign entities brought scrutiny from Senate Democrats over allegations that it may have presented a conflict of interest with his positions as ambassador and acting DNI director.
Grenell also served as a State Department spokesman to the United Nations during George W. Bush’s administration.
It’s unclear exactly what the newly created position entails, but Trump in a Truth Social post wrote that Grenell “will work in some of the hottest spots around the World, including Venezuela and North Korea.”
U.S. ambassador to Ireland: Edward Walsh
Trump announced Dec. 14 that he has tapped Edward Walsh to serve as U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
Walsh is president and founder of the New Jersey-based Walsh Company, a contracting and real estate firm.
If confirmed by the Senate, Walsh would replace Claire Cronin, the current U.S. ambassador to Ireland.
Chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board: Devin Nunes
Trump announced on Dec. 14 on Truth Social that he picked former Rep. Devin Nunes of California to serve as chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.
Nunes, a staunch Trump ally, was a member of the House for about two decades before suddenly resigning from Congress in January 2022 to take up his current position as CEO of Trump’s Truth Social platform.
Since it was created in 1956, the role of PIAB is to provide the president “with an independent source of advice on the effectiveness with which the intelligence community is meeting the nation’s intelligence needs and the vigor and insight with which the community plans for the future,” according to its government description.
In his announcement, Trump indicated that Nunes will continue in his position as CEO of Truth Social.
Nunes was chair of the House Intelligence Committee, but in 2017 recused himself from the committee’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election because of an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics into allegations that he may have leaked classified information.
Trump wrote that Nunes “will draw on his experience as former Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, and his key role in exposing the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, to provide me with independent assessments of the effectiveness and propriety of the U.S. Intelligence Community’s activities.”
He added that the advisory board will consist of “distinguished citizens from outside of the Federal Government.”
