A breakdown of Trump's uber-wealthy admin officials as Joe Biden warns of 'oligarchy'
President-elect Donald Trump may have claimed that he would hire "the best people" to work in his incoming administration, but one thing's for certain — he is hiring the richest.
In fact, the combined wealth of Trump’s richest nominees and transition team officials "amounts to over $313 billion," according to a report from Americans For Tax Fairness.
Trump's pick for treasury secretary, hedge fund executive Scott Bessent, is set to answer questions at his confirmation hearing on Thursday. Bessent "has hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and owns property from North Dakota to the Bahamas," CNN reported.
ALSO READ: Fox News has blood on its hands as Trump twists the knife
CNN national political writer Fredreka Schouten pointed out the irony in an article for CNN.com Thursday, writing, "Trump is returning to the White House after making appeals to working-class voters in last year’s election, but he has assembled one of the wealthiest administrations in history – turning to nearly a dozen people worth at least $1 billion on their own or combined with their spouses’ assets – to oversee the nation’s policies and represent the US overseas as ambassadors."
Some of the more high-profile multi-millionaires and billionaires ready to take their place in the Trump administration are Elon Musk ($300+ billion), Vivek Ramaswamy ($1 billion), Doug Bergum ($100 million), and, of course, Trump ($5.4 billion) and incoming Vice President J.D. Vance ($4.8 to $11.3 million), themselves.
Americans For Tax Fairness broke out the names and net worths of some of the other wealthiest nominees and office holders. They include:
Linda McMahon, Education Secretary Nominee, $2.6 billion; Howard Lutnick, Commerce Secretary Nominee, $2 billion; Scott Bessent, Treasury Secretary, $1 billion; Steven Witkoff, Special Envoy to the Middle East, $500 million; Chris Wright, Energy Secretary Nominee, $171 million; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. HHS Secretary Nominee, $15 million; Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Labor Secretary Nominee, $9.6 million; Michael Waltz, National Security Advisor, $9 million; Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary Nominee, $6 million; Kristi Noem, Homeland Security Secretary Nominee, $1 to $5 million; Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Nominee, $3 million; Brooke Rollins, Agriculture Secretary Nominee, $3 million; Elise Stefanik, UN Ambassador Nominee, $1.8 million; Pam Bondi, Attorney General Nominee, $1.8 million.
During his farewell speech Wednesday, President Biden warned Americans about allowing the super-rich to control the government.
“I want to warn the country of some things that give me great concern. And this is a dangerous concern. And that’s the dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a very few ultra-wealthy people,” Biden said. “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
View the list of the wealthiest nominees and office holders here and read the CNN Politics article here.