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POLITICO

These are the Trump officials who may inherit their agencies

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem: reassigned Attorney General Pam Bondi: ousted Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer: toast It’s time for President Donald Trump’s B-Team — the agency understudies who may step into leadership voids — to have a moment. The string of departures from the Cabinet over the past two months is bringing attention to agency deputies who are often heads-down running their massive operations while their boss testifies on Capitol Hill, travels the country, meets with the president and does TV hits. With Republican lawmakers sensing that their grip on Congress may slip or flip in the midterms, more turnover seems likely. Noem was quickly replaced by then-Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) thanks to a tradition of the Senate fast-tracking confirmation of its own — but it’s not a trick Republicans can pull off too many times. And even as Republicans on Capitol Hill prod the White House to clear out any dead wood from Trump’s Cabinet, a crunch over personnel ultimately takes time away from legislative work in an election year when Congress already takes a lengthy recess to campaign. Some departures from the Cabinet have been particularly sudden and unceremonious, and more may be possible with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick appearing to be expendable. “President Trump has the most talented Cabinet in American history, all of whom are working around the clock to implement the President’s agenda on behalf of the American people,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in an email. “The Trump Administration’s mission to put America First and Make America Great Again will never change.” But other openings could be less awkward: The president may move a secretary he likes from one agency to another, such as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin potentially backfilling Bondi. These are the deputies with a shot at tasting power or already running the show: Justice Department Deputy Attorney General Already doing the job Todd Blanche, a former personal criminal defense attorney for Trump, became acting attorney general in April after the president ousted Pam Bondi. By most accounts, the post is Blanche’s to lose, given his credentials, his tenure as deputy attorney general and his closeness to the president. But Blanche’s resume has some weak spots as far as Trump’s base is concerned. Some MAGA voices have attempted to paint him as too liberal and not aggressive enough in prosecuting Trump’s enemies. In the weeks since he has taken the “acting” title, Blanche appears to have addressed those worries, bringing indictments against the Southern Poverty Law Center and former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump foe. Last month, he also filed a Trump-esque motion in federal court in support of the president’s ballroom project, drawing criticism for his use of style and language that appeared to be drawn straight from Trump’s Truth Social posts. — Erica Orden Labor Department Keith Sonderling Deputy Labor Secretary Already doing the job Republican control of the Labor Department tends to boil down to two principles: make sure the machine of deregulation is humming and keep employer groups happy. Keith Sonderling has been at the switchboard for the past year. Trump’s outside-the-box pick of Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a one-term worker-friendly GOP member of Congress who had just lost reelection in 2024, for Labor secretary was a nod to the politically influential Teamsters union that ultimately backfired spectacularly. But so long as Sonderling was deputy, the risk to the business community’s agenda was seen as superficial. (One of the only things they’re grumbling about is the agency’s policing of an H-1B guestworker visa program.) Despite his deep connections in both labor policy circles and within Trump’s orbit, Sonderling’s style is more buttoned-up than MAGA brash and it’s unclear if he fits the president’s “central casting” test for the top job. Still, he’s proven he can win Senate confirmation twice over, assuming Trump decides to force the issue. — Nick Niedzwiadek Office of the Director of National Intelligence Aaron Lukas Deputy Director of National Intelligence A Grenell graduate If Trump pulls the plug on Tulsi Gabbard — or Gabbard resigns like one of her top deputies did — control over the Office of the Director of National Intelligence would temporarily fall to her second-in-command Aaron Lukas. A low-profile career CIA operations office, Lukas is best known in Beltway circles for having worked closely with Richard Grenell, Trump’s firebrand former acting-Director of National Intelligence and more recently, the White House’s the special envoy to Venezuela. Lukas served as an intelligence aide to Grenell during Trump’s first term and later had a year-long stint on Trump’s National Security Council, where he specialized in Russia and Europe. He told the Senate prior to his confirmation as principal deputy director for national intelligence in July that he had most recently served as a CIA chief of station in “a former Soviet Country.” Despite working under a divisive figure like Gabbard for nearly two years, Lukas has not drawn much public scrutiny while at ODNI. He offered more muted criticisms of the U.S. intelligence community in his confirmation hearing than Gabbard did in hers, and was ultimately confirmed on a 51-46 vote. — John Sakellariadis Energy Department James Danly Deputy Energy Secretary Experienced regulator Trump has said that Energy Secretary Chris Wright is doing “a fantastic job” as the conflict with Iran hikes fuel prices. But Wright’s efforts to quell concern over those costs with a dose of realism have at times put him at odds with the president, who also made a point to remind people that the former fracking executive was not his first choice for the role. Wright’s deputy, James Danly, however, has built enough credibility within the energy world — and among people in Trump’s orbit — to see steady advancement. Danly was a commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in the first Trump administration after being brought in as the agency’s general counsel. He later became chair at the regulator, which oversees the transmission of natural gas and electricity. Danly is also known for being meticulous — and eschewing email in favor of using paper documents. During his time at the Energy Department, he has been involved in efforts to realign the department’s structure and shift resources to fossil fuels. He’s also taken a particular interest in how federal agencies accommodate the ballooning number of power-hungry data centers set off by the artificial intelligence boom. — Kelsey Tamborrino Commerce Department Paul Dabbar Deputy Commerce Secretary Stable hands Anytime there’s a shortlist of likely departures from Trump’s Cabinet, Howard Lutnick is almost always on it. Fortunately for the president, the Commerce secretary has a steady No. 2. Paul Dabbar, who served at the Energy Department during Trump’s first administration, handles the day-to-day operations at Commerce as Lutnick’s deputy. But Dabbar seemed to have Cabinet-level potential himself after his time at Energy, where he managed the majority of the national labs and worked on commercializing technology. In the private sector, Dabbar most recently served as the president and CEO of Bohr Quantum Technologies, which is focused on developing quantum computing. That expertise likely helped make him a trusted voice in the second Trump administration’s efforts to direct federal semiconductor research money. He also worked as a managing director at JP Morgan, where he focused on the energy sector and served as a nuclear submarine officer in the Navy. — Daniel Desrochers Environmental Protection Agency David Fotouhi Deputy Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Seasoned operator Lee Zeldin is in such a good position with Trump — who has called the former congressman and GOP nominee for New York governor his “secret weapon” — that he may get a chance to run another Cabinet post. That would leave David Fotouhi in charge of the country’s premier environmental agency. Fotouhi, an Oklahoma native and Harvard Law grad, was sworn in as EPA deputy administrator in June. Like other appointees at the agency, he is a bridge to the previous Trump administration, having served in several senior legal roles at the agency during the president’s first term, including acting general counsel. Fotouhi was involved in high-profile policy discussions at EPA at that time, when Trump officials were debating what to do about the agency’s determination that greenhouse gases need to be treated as pollutants, a contentious rule about regulating inland bodies of water and other industry aims. Before returning to EPA last year, he practiced environmental law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and had more than 30 clients — the Alliance for Automative Innovation, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce were among them, according to his recusal statement. Because of his work in private practice, Fotouhi agreed to not take part in five cases pending at EPA while serving at the agency, including its ban on asbestos. — Kevin Bogardus Interior Department Kate MacGregor Deputy Interior Secretary Tested Doug Burgum is a busy guy: In addition to his day job as Interior secretary, he’s chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, spends a good chunk of his time both on the move — Venezuela, not to mention stops in Europe and Asia — and cheerleading the administration on television. The question is whether Burgum, who was on Trump’s vice-presidential short list and reportedly coveted the Secretary of State post, still wants more. A vacancy could elevate Kate MacGregor, a former utility executive in her second tour as deputy Interior secretary, having served in the role during the first Trump administration. She’s known for her institutional knowledge of not only how to get things done at Interior but also on Capitol Hill, where she served as an aide to House Republicans for a decade. Interior is also an agency where Trump has previously tapped a deputy to take the top job full-time. During his first administration, Trump promoted David Bernhardt from the No. 2 position to lead the agency when Ryan Zinke resigned at the start of 2019. — Jennifer Yachnin Agriculture Department Stephen Vaden Deputy Agriculture Secretary Policy Whiz Brooke Rollins leveraged everything from egg prices and SNAP cuts to fertilizer costs to build the biggest public profile of any Agriculture secretary in recent memory — an approach that’s made her one of Trump’s key messengers. She’s also had ambitions that could end up putting her No. 2 in charge. Rollins, who co-founded the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute think tank, served on the White House Domestic Policy Council during Trump’s first term. After Trump’s 2024 reelection, she was interested in being White House chief of staff and she may be eager to jump at other opportunities. Her absence potentially opens the door to elevating Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden, whose breadth of legal and regulatory expertise has been key to the Trump administration’s efforts to reorganize the Agriculture Department. It’s a plan that will shift most USDA positions in the Washington area to new hubs across the country. As USDA general counsel during Trump’s first term, Vaden provided legal backing for the moving of the Economic Research Service to Kansas City, Missouri. While his past work at USDA has made him unpopular with some department employees, Rollins has leaned on his deep knowledge while leading USDA. — Grace Yarrow Education Department Nicholas Kent Deputy Education Secretary Recently, quietly promoted The second Trump administration has invested deeply in scrutinizing the nation’s colleges and universities — a mission Education Secretary Linda McMahon readily champions. Nicholas Kent is the blunt enforcer of those policies. McMahon, who co-led Trump’s transition, stays reliably on-message and low-drama. She’s also a billionaire with other ways to spend her time and had once eyed the Commerce secretary job. If she were to leave the agency, Kent is set up to be next in line. Although he was confirmed to be the agency’s undersecretary, Kent was recently delegated the duties of the agency’s No. 2 spot on top of his work overseeing federal student aid, higher education policy and workforce-aligned education programs. Kent has called for a “hard reset” of higher education and is supervising major policy changes, including new caps on student loans and overhauling the college oversight system. Kent has told college leaders that the federal government’s relationship with their schools is “frayed” and argued their institutions have long accepted billions in federal cash without sufficient accountability. He even has something of a catchphrase: “Those days are over,” Kent frequently reminds them. He previously served as Virginia’s deputy education secretary under GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin, where Kent focused on reducing the cost of higher education and expanding access to career and technical education. Before that, he served as a top policy officer at Career Education Colleges and Universities, an association representing for-profit colleges. — Bianca Quilantan Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has exercised more direct influence over the nation’s health policy in the past year than he has in the decades he spent as anti-corporate activist and vaccine critic. But he also has his own political brand and an ambition to be president himself — a recipe for being a flight risk or a liability to Trump. And like many other things involving the Health secretary, succession is complicated. Kennedy’s deputy was ousted in February and not replaced, so if the secretary were to leave his post now, the agency’s general counsel would be next up — technically. But that person, Mike Stuart, is also slated to leave the Department of Health and Human Services. That makes it more likely that Trump, even on a temporary basis, might designate either Chris Klomp, who sits in a new chief counselor position, or Mehmet Oz, celebrity physician running the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Mehmet Oz Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Central casting Oz, a one-time Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, is well-positioned to have Trump’s support if Kennedy leaves, having become one of the White House’s favorite communicators. He led Trump’s efforts to sell Republican lawmakers on making cuts to Medicaid to pay for tax cuts in their One Big Beautiful Bill Act. And he has recently become the face of the Trump administration’s push to fight fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, traveling across the country and recording videos about the alleged fraud he says his agency has uncovered. Oz caught Trump’s eye during the pandemic when both pushed unproven theories about Covid-19 cures, including hydroxychloroquine, that Trump hoped would provide a way out of the crisis. Chris Klomp Chief Counselor at the Department of Health and Human Services The workhorse Still, Klomp got promoted in February to chief counselor in charge of operations of the entire department after leading Trump’s successful pressure campaign to get 17 drugmakers to lower their prices. The position is just a rung below Kennedy’s. And Klomp, who is also the director of the Center for Medicare, doesn’t come with his boss’s controversies — namely, he hasn’t been involved in efforts to downsize the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule. A health care entrepreneur, Klomp first helped Trump in 2020 with the Covid response. Before working for Trump, Klomp was the CEO of Collective Medical, a real-time care notification platform sold to PointClickCare in December 2020. Since then, he was also a board director in several other health care companies, including Nomi Health, the developer of a health care payment platform and Maven Clinic, a telehealth company specialized in fertility issues. — Carmen Paun