Who is behind the search for new cabinet candidates for Mr. Trump?

Donald Trump Jr. - the eldest son of President-elect Trump - is considered by researchers to be the most influential member of the Trump family in his father's current transition process, especially in building a team of subordinates in the new cabinet.

Trump has long been known to seek political advice from his family members, but he listens differently to each member. For his eldest son, Trump Jr., Trump has always placed him in a completely different position.

According to many close sources, Mr. Trump Jr. played a quite important role in the decisions when he supported Senator JD Vance - who was chosen as the Vice President candidate as well as prevented former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from joining the new cabinet.

Mr. JD Vance is known to be a close friend of Mr. Trump Jr. At the time he was chosen as the running mate of former President Trump, Mr. Vance was also subject to many rumors that were not really beneficial to the election campaign. However, Mr. Trump later considered himself quite satisfied with what Mr. Vance had shown, and at the same time gave his eldest son the position of advisor during the transition process.

According to some analysts, Mr. Trump Jr. often looks for candidates loyal to his father. In addition, he also looks for people who have similar views to his father, such as pursuing protectionist economic policies, cutting military interventions and foreign aid.

However, some candidates supported by Mr. Trump Jr. and nominated by his father are involved in some "controversial" cases and are not easily confirmed by the US Senate. Among them are Mr. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services and Ms. Tulsi Gabbard - the nominee for Director of National Intelligence.

Kennedy Jr. is an environmental activist who has made controversial statements about vaccines, while Gabbard has endorsed the Russian president’s rationale for waging war in Ukraine and had a controversial meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017.

According to some assessments, not all of Mr. Trump Jr.'s opinions were followed by his father, including many choices that were completely different from his father's advice. Among them, Mr. Trump Jr. introduced his close friend Ric Grenell - former US Ambassador to Germany - to become the new Secretary of State. But his father chose Senator Marco Rubio for this position.

Several sources close to Mr. Trump Jr. said he was not involved in any personnel decisions and was not working full-time during the transition, nor was he expected to play a major role in vetting candidates for lower-level positions.

"The reality this time is we really know what we're doing. And that's surrounding my father with people who are both competent and loyal," Trump Jr. said in an interview with Fox News.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, played a prominent role in their father’s 2016 presidential campaign, the subsequent transition, and throughout Trump’s first term. Kushner was selected as a senior adviser to Trump focusing on the Middle East. However, the couple’s role in this campaign has been much less prominent and more active.

However, recently, Mr. Jared Kushner also said that he had talked with billionaire Steve Witkoff - who was recently chosen by Mr. Trump as the US Special Envoy to the Middle East. He said: "I worked with Mr. Witkoff to update him on Mr. Trump's previous efforts." Mr. Kushner is still expected to participate in President-elect Trump's Middle East policy planning in an unofficial capacity, with the goal of normalizing relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia under the 2020 Abraham Accords extension agreement.

According to sources close to Mr. Trump's transition team, the President-elect does not seem to need advice from his family as much as before, with effective advisers such as Ms. Susie Wiles - who has been appointed as White House Chief of Staff and was the first Cabinet nominee announced by Mr. Trump.