President-elect Trump announced a slew of appointments as his team prepares to transition to the White House next year. 

The incoming president announced Jamieson Greer as his pick to serve as the next U.S. trade representative. Greer previously served as chief of staff to the trade representative during Trump’s first term, Robert Lighthizer at a time when the administration implemented tariffs on China and other nations. 

In announcing Greer’s nomination, Trump said in a statement that Greer was instrumental in his first term in imposing tariffs on China and others and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, “therefore making it much better for American Workers.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Greer would be responsible for negotiating directly with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes, as well as memberships in international trade bodies such as the World Trade Organization.

Also nominated will be Jim O’Neill to serve as the deputy secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been tapped to lead the agency.

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O’Neill, who served as principal associate deputy secretary of HHS, “will fight in unison to ensure every American, and especially our most precious resource, our children, will live long and healthy lives and, Make America Great and Healthy Again!” said Trump.

Jamieson Greer is President-elect Trump’s pick to serve as U.S. trade representative.  (USCC)

Trump also tapped Vince Haley, who served speechwriter during his campaign, to serve as director of the Domestic Policy Council, and Kevin A. Hassett to lead the White House National Economic Council. 

“I am proud to announce that Vince Haley, who served as Director of Policy and Speechwriting on my Winning Campaign, will lead my Domestic Policy Agenda as Director of the Domestic Policy Council,” Trump said in a statement. 

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“Vince helped lead the Speechwriting Department in my First Administration, working to convey our message to the Public,” he added. “Prior to joining my 2016 Campaign, he worked for twelve years in a variety of roles for Newt Gingrich, a man who I greatly respect.”

Haley served as policy director and campaign manager for Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign. 

Vince Haley during Trump’s podium check at the Fiserv Forum before the start of the session of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, July 17.  (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

In his new role, Haley will lead Trump’s domestic agenda, the incoming president said. 

Economist Kevin Hassett, 62, was named director of the White House National Economic Council, bringing into Trump’s administration a major advocate for tax cuts. He played a crucial role in helping design and pass the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Trump said. 

He will also “will play an important role in helping American families recover from the inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration” and that together they would “renew and improve” the 2017 tax cuts, many of which are set to expire after 2025.

Hassett served in the first Trump term as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.

“He will play an important role in helping American families recover from the Inflation that was unleashed by the Biden Administration,” Trump said.

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, speaks to members of the media outside the White House in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Businessman John Phelan will serve as the next secretary of the Navy as well. Phelan is the co-founder of co-founded MSD Capital.

“His Record of Success speaks for itself — A true Champion of American Enterprise and Ingenuity!” Trump said in a statement.

John Phelan, co-managing partner and co-founder of MSD Capital LP. (Photographer: Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“John will be a tremendous force for our Naval Servicemembers, and a steadfast leader in advancing my America First vision,” Trump said. “He will put the business of the U.S. Navy above all else.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

President-elect Trump’s transition team announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to a memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House allowing the two sides to formally begin the transition of power.

“After completing the selection process of his incoming Cabinet, President-elect Trump is entering the next phase of his administration’s transition by executing a Memorandum of Understanding with President Joe Biden’s White House,” Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, announced in a press release.

“This engagement allows our intended Cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power.”

The press release went on to explain that the transition “will not utilize taxpayer funding for costs related to the transition” in order to be “consistent with President Trump’s commitment to save taxpayers’ hard-earned money.”

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The press release added that the transition will “operate as a self-sufficient organization” in a “streamlined” manner and that “security and information protections” are already built in so that “additional government bureaucratic oversight” will not be required. 

The transition team also said an “existing” ethics plan is in place that will be posted to the website of the General Services Administration. 

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Former President Trump brings Susie Wiles to the podium at an election night watch party on Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

“The Transition landing teams will quickly integrate directly into federal agencies and departments with access to documents and policy sharing,” the press release stated. “Per the agreement, the Transition will disclose the landing team members to the Biden Administration.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not immediately receive a response. 

President Biden delivers a speech at Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore. (Getty Images)

Trump has been facing heat from his Democratic critics in recent weeks for not agreeing to the memorandum sooner. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter to the GSA last week slamming the president-elect.

Signing the documents means the government can now provide security clearances and briefings to incoming administration officials and the FBI can screen Trump’s picks for the Cabinet and other key posts. The agreements also provide “office space, IT equipment, office supplies, fleet vehicles, mail management, and payment of compensation and other expenses,” according to the GSA. 

That process is designed to uncover personal problems, criminal histories and other potential red flags that would raise questions about a nominee’s suitability for key jobs. 

Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report

RENO —  Weeks before election day, more than 150 volunteers boarded early morning buses in Sacramento and traveled east, through the towering mountains of the Humboldt–Toiyabe National Forest and across the Nevada border to convince voters to approve a ballot measure that they, as Californians, could not vote on themselves.

When the group of mostly women landed 130 miles later in eclectic Reno, “the biggest little city in the world,” they set out on foot to knock on doors in unfamiliar neighborhoods, asking for support on an initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Nevada constitution.

It was all part of Democrat Maggy Krell’s strange campaign for the California Assembly. Facing a sleepy race against an often missing-in-action Republican contender for the legislative seat that represents Sacramento County, the former Planned Parenthood attorney pivoted her energy and supporters to a battleground state fighting for the same protections California voters approved two years ago.

“This is my adopted campaign,” Krell said amid the chimes of slot machines, wearing a hot pink blazer and matching tennis shoes at a makeshift volunteer headquarters inside a Reno casino last month.

Her risky plan worked. Not only is Krell, a former deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice, poised to be sworn into the state Legislature on Dec. 2 but the Nevada abortion measure passed overwhelmingly.

The way Krell saw it, the California voters that believed in her would understand why protecting their neighbors’ abortion rights was important. In 2022, California voters passed a similar measure to enshrine abortion access in the state constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a federal right to the procedure.

“I don’t think it was a wacky strategy at all,” Krell said earlier this month. “I’m really glad I did it. I felt like it was the most important thing I could be doing with my time.”

The unique campaign strategy was prescient, as even Republican voters who helped Trump win the presidential election supported abortion rights measures across the country, solidifying the issue as one that crosses political and cultural lines.

Volunteers for Maggy Krell, a candidate for California Assembly, prepare to campaign on abortion rights in Nevada.

(Scott Sady / For The Times)

“Nevada voters reaffirmed an undeniable truth: Reproductive freedom is a winning issue that mobilizes voters in historic numbers,” Reproductive Freedom for All President and Chief Executive Mini Timmaraju said in a statement following the election.

Krell, 46, has never been in public office before but considered a run for Sacramento mayor this year and unsuccessfully ran for county district attorney a decade ago.

She won more than 65% of the vote in Assembly District 6, a safely Democratic district that includes downtown Sacramento, home to the California Capitol, against young Republican newcomer Nikki Ellis. Ellis, who works for the state Chamber of Commerce, ran an unusually quiet campaign and reported no fundraising or spending activity to the state.

Krell will replace Kevin McCarty, a Democrat who served in the state Legislature for a decade who is poised to be elected mayor of Sacramento.

As a former prosecutor, Krell worked in the California Department of Justice under Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, then state attorney general, and helped to take down Backpage, a classifieds website that allegedly facilitated sex trafficking.

Krell will take part in a special legislative session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom focusing on how to further “Trump proof” California, including when it comes to protecting abortion rights.

“The best defense that we really have at this point is state constitutional rights,” Krell said. “In light of what’s happened nationally, there’s definitely more work that we need to do.”

Tameiko Heim, of Sacramento, rode four hours round trip on Krell’s bus and knocked on doors in Reno in part because she was concerned about how Trump’s abortion policies could impact maternal deaths, especially among Black women who are at higher risk than most.

“It’s important for us to not rest on our laurels,” she said. “No one should tell me what to do with my body, point blank, period.

As Californians descended on Reno in late October, a place where gamblers and outdoorsmen collide as tourists, it offered them a chance they don’t often get back home in the deep blue state where elections are typically won by a solid Democratic majority without fanfare.

“I wanted to go somewhere where I could knock on a door and make a real difference,” said Talia Smith of Lodi, who does not live in Krell’s district and therefore couldn’t vote for her but is passionate about abortion rights. “This is a rare opportunity for us.”

The campaign also offered a glimmer of hope to some Nevadans who opened their doors weeks ahead of the election, worried that its outcome could risk abortion access nationwide.

Trump was ultimately again elected president, and while he has said he does not plan to impose a national abortion ban, activists have urged caution, pointing to his flip-flopping record and his appointment of U.S. Supreme Court judges who overturned the federal right to abortion two years ago, leaving it up to states.

Maggy Krell, left, speaks with Patricia Lynch of Reno while out canvassing in support of Measure 6.

(Scott Sady / For The Times)

Patricia Lynch, 76, stood on her front porch in her quiet neighborhood near Reno High School and choked up talking about how, decades ago, she too had spoke out about abortion rights.

She graduated from law school in 1973, the same year that the Supreme Court ruled that abortion is a constitutional right, striking down limitations in states. She met Sarah Weddington, the young Texas attorney who won the landmark Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case, solidifying abortion as a fundamental right.

In 1990, she helped convince voters to pass a referendum safeguarding Nevada’s abortion laws amid concerns then that politicians could roll back the right.

The self described “old feminist,” wearing a flannel and jeans, held back tears as she placed her hand on Krell’s shoulder — another female attorney fighting for reproductive rights more than 50 years later.

“I’m just thinking back on all the battles. It’s been a long time,” Lynch said. “I can’t believe we’re back and we’re still fighting.”