Kash Patel, Vivek Ramaswamy, Bobby Jindal Among Indian American Names Floating for Posts in the Second Trump Administration

President-elect Donald Trump started the process of assembling his team when he takes office for a second time in January. His transition team has already started vetting potential candidates to serve in key administration posts. Top contenders for some of the key posts overseeing defense, intelligence, diplomacy, trade, immigration, and economic policymaking will include some of his closest and loyal allies who have been by his side over the past few years. Many names have been floating around, including Trump Indian American loyalists like Kash Patel, Vivek Ramaswamy, Bobby Jindal, and Hindu American Tulsi Gabbard. 

In a statement, transition co-chairs Linda McMahon and Howard Lutnick mentioned that as President-elect Trump “chooses the best people to join his team and best policies to pursue, his transition team will ensure the implementation of President Trump’s common sense agenda starting on Day 1.”

Kash Patel

The former Republican House staffer rose from an obscure Hill staffer to become one of the most powerful players in the national security apparatus. Having served in various high-ranking staff roles in the defense and intelligence communities during the first Trump administration, he is likely to be picked as the new chief of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Indian American is also helping organize the next administration’s transition, according to CNN.

During his final months in office, Trump pushed the idea of installing Patel as the deputy director of the CIA. Trump dropped those plans after CIA director Gina Haspel threatened to resign and Attorney General William Barr argued against it. According to the Axios report at the time, Trump had been contemplating Haspel’s removal, and “as he grew to distrust her.” He “wanted a loyal ally at the top of the CIA,” the Axios report said. He wanted to “force out” CIA Deputy Director Vaughn Bishop, and replace him with Patel, “and if Haspel quit in protest, then Patel or another loyalist would lead the CIA.” The orchestrated plan almost came to fruition when Haspel had it known that she would quit if Patel was made her deputy director.

However, on Dec. 11, 2020, the day Trump planned to name Patel Deputy Director of the CIA, his plans were thwarted when Haspel decided for the first time in weeks to attend the President’s daily intelligence briefing. After the meeting, when Vice President Mike Pence and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone defended Haspel and counseled against getting rid of Haspel, Trump changed his plans and decided to call off Patel’s appointment.

Patel played “a very large role” in Nunes’ attempt to undermine the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Ignatius says. Patel flew to England in the summer of 2108, where he tried unsuccessfully to meet with Christopher Steele, the author of the Steele dossier that purported to detail links between the Trump campaign and Russia. Patel was a primary author of a 2018 memo, released by Nunes over the objections of the FBI, that accused federal investigators of bias against Trump and his team.

Vivek Ramaswamy

Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who was once in the shortlist of Trump’s running mate, could be considered for a Cabinet job leading the Department of Commerce, Homeland Security, or Health and Human Services given his background as an entrepreneur and head of a pharmaceutical company, The Hill has reported. According to a March report in Bloomberg, Trump personally told the Indian American biotech entrepreneur that he is considering him for other roles, including head of the Department of Homeland Security. “Some Trump allies see Ramaswamy as ideal for the job,” Bloomberg said, “because they say he excels at public speaking and, as an Indian American son of an immigrant, could neutralize criticism of sweeping immigration restrictions. 

Ramaswamy suspended his presidential campaign in January and endorsed Trump. Since then he embraced his role as a Trump surrogate, appearing frequently on the cable news shows to defend Trump against his critics. Last month, he arrived at a campaign event in Charlotte, North Carolina in a T-shirt showing Oscar the Grouch in a trash bin and wearing a yellow vest. In a video shared on X, he was seen operating a garbage truck, greeting sanitation workers, and collecting trash on the streets. “We’re not the garbage,” he told the attendees. “It’s time to take out the real trash in America, and send Kamala Harris packing,” he said to a thunderous applause.

In turn, Trump has appreciated Ramaswamy highly during his campaign. In October, he said that “smart as hell” Ramaswamy initially gave him tough competition. “He’s really smart, and I hope he’s going to be involved in our administration,” Trump said. Alluding to giving Ramaswamy an important department, he said, “We can put him in charge of one of these big monsters and he’ll do a better job than anybody you can think of.”

Bobby Jindal 

Former Louisiana governor and congressman Bobby Jindal is among those considered for the position of Health and Human Services Secretary, according to a Politico report.  He is currently chair of the Center for a Healthy America, “a wing of the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. In that role, he has argued for changes to the Affordable Care Act and new price transparency measures. Politico notes that “indal’s new focus on health policy — as well as having held leadership roles — could boost a nomination to lead HHS.” Additionally, “his record running a state government could help him argue that he is equipped to lead one of the federal government’s largest agencies.”  He was assistant secretary of HHS under former President George W. Bush and he was executive director of the National Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare.

Tulsi Gabbard 

Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic presidential candidate who became a staunch Trump supporter, could be considered for an administration job. The former Hawaii Congresswoman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate endorsed Trump in August. She was named honorary co-chair of Trump’s She was briefly considered to be Donald Trump’s running mate and was helping Trump prepare for his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris. 

She left the Democratic party in 2021 accusing it of being “under complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism.” But she has “long signaled some level of support for Trump, even while she sat in the U.S. House as a Democrat,” according to the AP. An outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine and U.S. military interventions overseas and has “often shared Trump’s approach toward the world in his post-presidency,” The Washington Post said.  In 2019, she was the only lawmaker to vote “present” when the House of Representatives impeached Trump for his dealings with Ukraine.