By Aila Slisco
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Multiple nominees to serve in President-elect Donald Trump's second administration have an extensive history of working or frequently appearing on television.
Trump's first administration also included a number of TV veterans. Former Fox News host Heather Nauert served as the State Department spokesperson, while Trump's national security adviser John Bolton, communications adviser Mercedes Schlapp and Treasury Department spokesperson Tony Sayegh were all Fox News contributors.
Others from the first Trump administration with a TV background included Larry Kudlow, who was a well-known CNBC contributor before becoming Trump's director of the National Economic Council. Omarosa Manigault Newman was a contestant on Trump's reality show The Apprentice before briefly serving in his administration.
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Trump's second and final stint in the White House appears likely to include even more TV personalities, alongside a selection of prominent Republicans who appear on camera less frequently.
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Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Thursday that the president-elect had "made brilliant decisions on who will serve in his second Administration at lightning pace," with his Cabinet nominees reflecting "his priority to put America First."
"President Trump will continue to appoint highly-qualified men and women who have the talent, experience, and necessary skill sets to Make America Great Again," she added.
The following current Trump administration nominees were all previously fixtures on TV:
- Pete Hegseth: Trump's controversial nominee for defense secretary, a former officer in the Army National Guard, joined Fox News in 2014 and served as a co-host on the weekend edition of Fox & Friends from 2017 until he was nominated to the president-elect's Cabinet last month.
- Dr. Mehmet Oz: Long before being nominated by Trump as the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Oz was a well-known TV personality as host of the health and wellness-focused Dr. Oz Show for more than a decade. He entered the national political scene in late 2021, running a Trump-backed but failed campaign for U.S. senator from Pennsylvania the following year.
- Sean Duffy: Trump's nominee for transportation secretary, a Wisconsin Republican congressman from 2011 until 2019, has been a Fox Business host and a Fox News contributor in recent years. Duffy's TV career began in the 1990s, when he was a featured cast member on the MTV reality shows The Real World and Road Rules.
- Mike Huckabee: Trump's nominee for U.S. ambassador to Israel, the former governor of Arkansas and a GOP presidential candidate, was the host of Huckabee on Fox News from 2008 to 2015. Since 2017, he has continued to host the show on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, a Christian channel.
- Linda McMahon: McMahon co-founded the company that later became World Wrestling Entertainment along with her husband, Vince McMahon, in 1980 and appeared on scripted WWE broadcasts on multiple occasions. She served in the first Trump administration as the administrator of the Small Business Administration before being nominated as the next education secretary this year.
- Dr. Janette Nesheiwat: Before being nominated by Trump last month to serve as the next U.S. surgeon general, Nesheiwat regularly appeared on Fox News as a medical contributor.
- Kari Lake: Trump nominated Lake to serve as the next director of the state-funded media outlet Voice of America on Wednesday. She recently ran unsuccessful gubernatorial and U.S. Senate campaigns as a GOP candidate in Arizona, Lake served as a news anchor with Phoenix Fox station KSAZ from 1999 to 2021.
- Kimberly Guilfoyle: Trump nominated Guilfoyle, who became engaged to his son Donald Trump Jr. in 2020 and was previously married to California Governor Gavin Newsom, as the next U.S. ambassador to Greece earlier this week. Guilfoyle worked as a Court TV host before joining Fox News as an on-air personality in 2006. She remained with the conservative news network until 2017, when an assistant accused her of sexual harassment.
- Tulsi Gabbard: Trump's controversial pick for national intelligence director was a frequent face on Fox News after ending her time as a Democratic member of Congress, acting as a regular guest host on Tucker Carlson Tonight and appearing as a paid contributor on several other shows.
Update 12/12/24, 11:18 p.m. ET: This article has been updated to include a statement from Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt.
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