In a break from his approach in 2016, Donald Trump has turned to a pair of staunch allies from the private sector — Howard Lutnick and Linda McMahon — to lead his transition effort. Lutnick is in charge of personnel, while McMahon is overseeing policy.
Lutnick, the longtime CEO of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, was Trump’s leading conduit to Wall Street during this year’s campaign. He personally gave more than $10 million to the former president’s campaign and raised more than $75 million. Trump is close with Lutnick, who once appeared on “The Apprentice.”
But Lutnick’s approach to leading the transition has been controversial among some in Trump’s orbit. He has faced accusations from some Trump insiders that he has improperly mixed his business interests with his duties standing up a potential administration. Concerns about potential conflicts of interest for Lutnick include Cantor Fitzgerald and its relationship with one of the most controversial cryptocurrency companies in the world, Tether, which issues a digital token that is pegged to the value of the U.S. dollar and is reportedly under federal investigation.
Some Trump allies have also accused him of working to sideline advisers who worked in the first Trump administration in hopes of filling the second administration with new people who could be personally beneficial to him.
Lutnick’s camp has denied the accusations and he said in a statement that the “entire transition team is solely focused on ensuring President Trump is victorious and that he is ready to start building out his historic second administration immediately.” Two people close to Lutnick, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, say he has been intimately involved in building out a roster of potential staffers and Cabinet officials so that Trump can hit the ground running on day one.
“I promise you, the greatest field of people ever to walk into government is going to join him on Jan. 20,” Lutnick declared at an October town hall.
McMahon served in Trump’s first administration, as head of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019, and has remained an important player in his orbit since leaving government. She serves as board chair of the America First Policy Institute, a think tank formed by Trump allies after his 2020 election loss that has long been quietly preparing for a second term, and has led the pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.
McMahon was one of the forces behind transforming World Wrestling Entertainment from a small business into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. A personal friend and donor to Trump and Republicans, she twice ran unsuccessfully for Senate in Connecticut more than a decade ago.
McMahon’s AFPI has done much of the initial policy planning for a second Trump administration already, including drafting more than 100 proposed executive actions. McMahon engaged with former Trump administration officials and allies to create policy memos and present policy ideas to be enacted in the first 100 days.
In addition to McMahon and Lutnick, Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have been given honorary roles on the transition. Trump Jr. is expected to help with selecting staff.