Sebastian Gorka has been nominated to serve as Donald Trump’s senior director for counterterrorism.
The announcement was made by the president-elect on Friday night, saying he had more than 30 years of national security experience.
Gorka, 54, is a conservative commentator who spent less than a year in Trump’s first White House term.
‘Since 2015, Dr. Gorka has been a tireless advocate for the America First Agenda and the MAGA Movement,’ the president-elect wrote.
‘Dr. Gorka is a legal immigrant to the United States, with more than 30 years of National Security experience,’ Trump added.
Martin Makary has been chosen by Trump to be commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Makary is a Johns Hopkins surgeon and author who argued against pandemic lockdowns.
During the pandemic he routinely appeared on Fox News and wrote opinion articles questioning mask for children.
He cast doubt on mandates but supported vaccines generally. And he also cast doubt on whether booster shots worked, which was against federal recommendations on the vaccine.
He authored a book: ‘Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets It Wrong, and What It Means for Our Health.’
Makary has declared the U.S. health system ‘broken’ and in need of a shakeup.
In his books and articles, Makary has decried the overprescribing of drugs, the use of pesticides on foods and the undue influence of pharmaceutical and insurance companies over doctors and government regulators.
Trump announced the nomination in a statement Friday night, saying Makary ‘will restore FDA to the gold standard of scientific research, and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the agency to make sure Americans get the medical cures and treatments they deserve.’
Headquartered in the Maryland suburbs outside Washington, the 18,000 employees of the FDA are responsible for the safety and effectiveness of prescription drugs, vaccines and medical devices as well as a swath of other consumer goods, including food, cosmetics and vaping products.
Makary gained prominence on Fox News and other conservative outlets for his contrarian views during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He questioned the need for masking and, though not opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine, had concerns about vaccinations in young children.
Trained as a surgeon and cancer specialist, Makary was part of a vocal group of physicians calling for greater emphasis on her immunity to stop the virus, or the idea that mass infections would quickly lead to population-level protection.
If confirmed, Makary would be expected to report to anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to oversee the nation´s Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the FDA.
Makary does not share Kennedy’s discredit views on vaccines, but he has a similar distrust of the pharmaceutical industry.
He will need to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate to take the post.
As the nominations continued, Trump named Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News contributor and medical doctor in New York and New Jersey, as his nominee for surgeon general in his second administration.
‘I am proud to announce that Dr. Janette Nesheiwat will be the Nation’s Doctor as the United States Surgeon General. Dr. Nesheiwat is a double board-certified Medical Doctor with an unwavering commitment to saving and treating thousands of American lives,’ Trump said in a press release
Nesheiwat is a general practitioner who serves as medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care centers in New York and New Jersey. She’s a former contributor on Fox News.
Trump also tapped Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon for the job of Labor Secretary.
Trump said Chavez-DeRemer has worked ‘tirelessly’ with business and labor to build the U.S. workforce and support Americans.
‘I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand training and apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs,’ Trump said in a statement.
Chavez-DeRemer, who was elected to Congress in 2022, lost her seat to Democrat Janelle Bynum earlier this month so her nomination is a great consolation prize.
As a potential labor secretary, Chavez-DeRemer would oversee the Labor Department’s workforce, its budget and put forth priorities that impact workers’ wages, health and safety, ability to unionize, and employer’s rights to fire employers, among other responsibilities.
Chavez-DeRemer is one of few House Republicans to endorse the ‘Protecting the Right to Organize’ or PRO Act would allow more workers to conduct organizing campaigns and would add penalties for companies that violate workers´ rights.
The act would also weaken ‘right-to-work’ laws that allow employees in more than half the states to avoid participating in
Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Republican congressman from Florida, will lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a sweeping agency with a $17.3 billion budget used as a public health model around the world.
Weldon recently ran for a Florida state legislative seat and lost; Trump backed the other candidate to win.
He also spent many years as a Florida Congressman and weighed in on one of the nation’s most heated debates of the 1990s over quality of life and a right-to-die.
The case concerned whether Terri Schiavo, who was in a persistent vegetative state after suffering a cardiac arrest, should have been allowed to have her feeding tube removed. He sided with the parents who did not want it removed.
Alex Wong was also named as principal deputy national security adviser.
Wong worked on issues involving Asia during Trump´s first term and served as deputy special representative for North Korea.
‘He helped negotiate my Summit with North Korean Leader, Kim Jong Un,’ Trump said in a statement.