President-Elect Trump Announces White House Staff Hires

Wednesday, President-elect Donald Trump announced a series of White House staffing hires for key senior deputies.

Many of those announced have been deeply involved in the president-elect’s campaign, the presidential transition or both. The first round of hires announced were three key senior deputies: Katie Walsh as deputy chief of staff to the White House, Rick Dearborn as deputy chief of staff for legislative, intergovernmental affairs and implementation, and Joe Hagin as deputy chief of staff for operations.

“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,” incoming White House Chief of Staff and RNC Chairman Reince Priebus said. “Katie, Rick and Joe will fill critical roles as we push forward on all of the key priorities for our great nation.”

The Presidential Transition Team issued the following information about the three deputies to Priebus:

Walsh will serve as the deputy chief of staff for the White House. In this role, she will assist Chief of Staff Priebus in overseeing senior staff as well as the scheduling operation and the Office of Public Liason. She is currently the chief of staff for Chairman Priebus at the Republican National Committee (RNC). She joined the RNC in 2013 and was elevated to finance director in June of that year and helped the RNC break several fundraising records, leading to GOP success in the last several election cycles. Walsh became chief of staff in 2015 and helped oversee national ground and data operations in the presidential victory where she worked on a daily basis with senior members of the Trump campaign to seamlessly integrate the RNC with the campaign. Walsh maintains close relationships in the U.S. Senate, having worked at the National Republican Senatorial Committee and for Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn. She has also served on numerous political campaigns, including Governor Matt Blunt and Senator John Ashcroft.

Dearborn will lead the White House Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Cabinet affairs. He is currently chief of staff to U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions and the executive director of the Presidential Transition Team. Dearborn has worked for six U.S. senators, including two members of leadership, and spent more than 25 years working on Capitol Hill. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate to become the assistant secretary of energy for congressional affairs, where he worked with the Senate, House and Tribal Governments on the president’s energy agenda.

Hagin will lead operations in the White House, including Management & Administration, Advance, Security and the Military Office. He served in the White House for 14 years, working for the administrations of President Reagan, President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. Most recently in government, he served as the White House deputy chief of staff for operations.

“Rick and Katie have been instrumental in our victory and transition efforts,” incoming White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon said. “These leaders will guide critical White House operations as we aggressively follow through on President-elect Trump’s promise to put America first.”

A short time later, Trump announced the following White House staff hires:

• 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

“These individuals will be key leaders in helping to implement the president-elect’s agenda and bring real change to Washington,” Priebus said. “Each of them has been instrumental over the last several months, and in some cases, years, in helping the president-elect.”