See the current list of Trump's picks
President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration. He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump's rallies.
On Thursday night, Trump let it be known that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is his choice to head the Interior Department.
Burgum, 67, grew up in tiny Arthur, North Dakota, population 328. He earned a bachelor's degree from North Dakota State University and his master’s of business administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
He went on to become a wealthy software executive. He led Great Plains Software, which Microsoft acquired for $1.1 billion in 2001. Burgum stayed on as a vice president until 2007. He's also led other companies in real estate development and venture capital.
In 2016, Burgum ran for governor, his first campaign for elected office. He touted a message of "reinventing " government as the state dealt with a massive revenue shortfall.
Trump also announced on Thursday that he wants former Georgia congressman, Doug Collins, to run the Veteran Affairs Department.
Collins, 58, holds a master’s degree in divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and pastored a church for 11 years. He served as a U.S. Navy chaplain for two years in the late 1980s. After the Sept. 11 attacks, he joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a chaplain. Collins deployed to Balad Air Force Base in Iraq for five months in 2008. He remains a colonel in the Air Force Reserve. Collins became a lawyer well into adulthood.
Collins won a seat in Congress in 2012 representing northeast Georgia's 9th Congressional District, one of the most Republican districts in the country.
Collins acquired a national reputation while defending Trump as the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee during the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into whether Russia improperly influenced Trump's 2016 election victory.
