A look at Trump's Cabinet picks

ABC News(WASHINGTON) — Before taking office, Donald Trump and his transition team managed to name his choices for all Cabinet positions, checking off one of the top priorities in the transition process of staffing the incoming administration.

At a press conference the day before the inauguration, Mike Pence, then the vice president–elect said, “I’m proud to be at a place where we’ve named our entire Cabinet before we reach that historic day tomorrow.”

More than 170 people were interviewed for positions in the Trump administration before the election, and more than 200 have received a “full vetting and full review” since then, according to Pence.

On Feb. 13, the Trump administration had its first resignation. Retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn stepped down from his post as national security adviser for misleading the White House about the nature of his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. President Trump is considering candidates to fill the vacancy left by Flynn. Then, two days after Flynn’s resignation, Andrew Puzder withdrew his name for consideration as labor secretary.

A number of appointees have been confirmed and are serving in their designated roles. Almost all Cabinet-level appointments need to be confirmed by the Senate before they assume their positions.

Trump’s Cabinet selections include one African-American man, one Hispanic man and three women — one of whom is Taiwanese-American and another, Indian-American.

Here is the full list of Trump’s Cabinet picks:

Secretary of state
Rex Tillerson – Confirmed on Feb. 1

Tillerson, a former CEO of ExxonMobil, is the first secretary of state without government or military experience. He has a decadeslong business relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which has raised eyebrows among Democratic and some Republican lawmakers. The vote to confirm Tillerson was the tightest vote for a secretary of state in at least 60 years.

Attorney general
Jeff Sessions – Confirmed on Feb. 8

Sessions was first elected to represent Alabama in the Senate in 1996 and was re-elected three times. He is a longtime Trump supporter who campaigned with him throughout the election. After a contentious confirmation process, the Senate voted 52-47 to confirm Sessions, with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin as the lone Democrat to vote in favor.

Education secretary
Betsy DeVos – Confirmed on Feb. 7

DeVos, an education activist in Michigan and a major GOP donor, was confirmed to serve as education secretary after Pence cast a tiebreaking vote in the Senate. It was the first time a vice president broke a tie to confirm a Cabinet nominee.

Secretary of health and human services
Rep. Tom Price – Confirmed on Feb. 10

Price is the first health and human services secretary with a medical background since Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, who served under George H.W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. A Republican congressman from Georgia until his appointment, he is a strong critic of the Affordable Care Act and will likely help the Trump administration with its efforts to repeal and replace the health care bill.

Secretary of transportation
Elaine Chao – Confirmed on Jan. 31

Chao previously served as labor secretary for President George W. Bush and was the only Cabinet official to serve through all eight years of his presidency. She made history as the first Asian-American woman to serve in a U.S. president’s Cabinet.

Secretary of the treasury
Steven Mnuchin – Confirmed on Feb. 13

Mnuchin worked for 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where he served as the chief information officer. He founded the investment firm Dune Capital Management and the entertainment financing company RatPac-Dune Entertainment.

Secretary of commerce
Wilbur Ross – Announced Nov. 30

Ross is a billionaire investor and the founder of the investment firm W.L. Ross and Co. He has been described as the king of bankruptcy for his work restructuring failed companies and was a key economic adviser to Trump during his campaign.

Secretary of defense
Retired Gen. James Mattis – Confirmed Jan. 20

Mattis retired from the Marine Corps in 2013 after a storied 41-year career that included leading U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Iraq and in Kuwait. He most recently served as the head of U.S. Central Command.

Congress passed a special law to exempt Mattis from the requirement that commissioned officers be out of active duty at least seven years before serving as defense secretary. Within hours of Trump’s being sworn in as president, the Senate confirmed Mattis in a 98-1 vote as secretary of defense.

Secretary of housing and urban development
Dr. Ben Carson – Offer announced Dec. 5

Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was a Trump rival during the 2016 Republican primaries. He has never held elected office or worked in government.

Secretary of homeland security
Retired Gen. John Kelly – Confirmed Jan. 20

Kelly was a four-star general and the head of the U.S. Southern Command. In addition to leading troops overseas, he is known for his strong knowledge of border issues and the drug trade in South and Central America.

Secretary of the interior
Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont. – Announced Dec. 15

Zinke is the House representative from Montana and a retired Navy SEAL. He endorsed Trump for president back in May.

Donald Trump Jr., an avid hunter and outdoorsman, was involved in selecting the interior secretary, including telephone calls and meetings with candidates, according to a source familiar with the process.

Secretary of energy
Rick Perry – Announced Dec. 14

Donald Trump tapped Perry, a former Texas governor, to lead the federal agency he said he wanted to eliminate but couldn’t name in his famous “Oops” moment during a 2011 GOP primary debate.

Secretary of veterans affairs
David Shulkin – Confirmed Feb. 13

Shulkin served as undersecretary of health for the VA under the Obama administration. Shulkin is the first VA secretary in the agency’s history not to have served in the military.

Secretary of agriculture
Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Purdue – Announced Jan. 19

Perdue, 70, a Republican, served as the governor of Georgia from 2003 to 2011. He worked on Trump’s agricultural advisory committee during his presidential campaign.

Secretary of labor
Alexander Acosta – Announced Feb. 16

Acosta is the chairman of the board of U.S. Century Bank and dean of Florida International University law school. Acosta formerly served on the National Labor Relations Board and was assistant attorney general for the Department of Justice’s civil rights division under President George W. Bush. If confirmed, Acosta would be the first Hispanic to serve in Trump’s Cabinet.

There have been several other picks for Cabinet-level positions:

Chief of staff
Reince Priebus – Appointed Nov. 13. This is the only Cabinet-level position that does not need Senate confirmation.

The selection of Priebus as Trump’s chief of staff was the first Cabinet-level announcement. Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee until his appointment.

Ambassador to the UN
Gov. Nikki Haley – Confirmed on Jan. 24

Haley, the child of Indian immigrants, brings diversity to the nascent administration but had little international experience as governor of South Carolina.

Small business administrator
Linda McMahon – Confirmed on Feb. 14

Linda McMahon is a co-founder and former CEO of WWE. Before Trump’s Dec. 7 announcement that she would be his pick to lead the Small Business Administration, she was an adviser to global businesses as part of APCO Worldwide’s International Advisory Council.

She was a top donor to Trump throughout his campaign. She ran for the U.S. Senate seat in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012, losing both times.

Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Scott Pruitt – Confirmed Feb. 17

Pruitt formerly served as the Oklahoma attorney general and has been a critic of the agency Trump tapped him to lead. Pruitt’s views on environmental issues appear to largely mirror Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail, including framing the Environmental Protection Agency as a too-powerful government bureaucracy pursuing an ideological agenda based on what Pruitt considers dubious science.

Then there are other senior positions:

CIA director (non-Cabinet agency position)
Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan. – Confirmed on Jan. 23

Pompeo, who supported Sen. Marco Rubio during the GOP primaries, represented Kansas’ 4th Congressional District.

National security adviser (non-Cabinet senior position)

The position of national security adviser became vacant after Michael Flynn resigned on Feb. 13. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg was named acting national security adviser. Here are some possible replacements for Flynn: (This position does not require Senate confirmation.)

  • Former CIA Director and retired Gen. David Petraeus
  • Former Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt
  • Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg

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