President-elect Trump named a slew of staff members to his White House on Wednesday.
In a press release, Trump announced Katie Walsh would serve as White House deputy chief of staff, Rick Dearborn would serve as deputy chief of staff for legislative, intergovernmental affairs and implementation, and Joe Hagin would serve as deputy chief of staff for operations.
Walsh will be coming from the Republican National Committee, where she works as Priebus’ chief of staff. She started working at the RNC in 2013 and before that worked at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and in Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn’s office.
“President-elect Trump is assembling a phenomenal team to implement the change of status quo that the American people voted for in November,” said Kellyanne Conway, incoming counselor to Trump. “Katie Walsh is an all-star. She helped our party achieve sweeping victories across the country, and I’m thrilled to have another strong female leader on our Senior White House team.”
Dearborn is currently Sen. Jeff Session’s chief of staff; Sessions is Trump’s pick to be attorney general. Dearborn is the executive director of Trump’s presidential transition team and has worked for six senators during his time in Washington, D.C. He’s spent more than 25 years working on Capitol Hill.
Hagin worked in the White House for 14 years under Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. His most recent government job was as the deputy chief of staff for operations.
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus praised the selections as fitting with Trump’s vision for the country.
“The President-elect’s bold vision to make America great again demands a team of doers who can hit the ground running on day one,” Priebus said. “Katie, Rick, and Joe will fill critical roles as we push forward on all of the key priorities for our great nation.”
Trump also announced a subsequent wave of appointments:
- Marc Short, assistant to the president and director of legislative affairs
- John DeStefano, assistant to the president and director of presidential personnel
- Omarosa Manigault, assistant to the president and director of communications for the Office of Public Liaison
- Josh Pitcock, assistant to president and chief of staff to the vice president
- Keith Schiller, deputy assistant to the president and director of Oval Office operations
- George Gigicos, deputy assistant to the president and director of advance
- Jessica Ditto, deputy assistant to the president and deputy communications director
- Raj Shah, deputy assistant to the president and deputy communications director and research director
- Bill Stepien, deputy assistant to the president and political director
- Jen Pavlik, deputy assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff to the vice president
- John McEntee, special assistant to the president and personal aide to the president
Manigault is a former contestant on NBC’s The Apprentice. Schiller has worked as Trump’s personal bodyguard. Stepien is a former aide to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who was fired after the Bridgegate scandal.
