Tech executives have been making moves to try and get Silicon Valley insiders appointed to key positions in the incoming Trump administration, according to a report by The New York Times.
Elon Musk, in particular, has been a focus of these efforts due to his close relationship with Donald Trump. Friends of Musk, like Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and venture firm 8VC, have reportedly been pitching ideas to Musk for potential roles.

Some tech leaders have even suggested Emil Michael, former COO of Uber, as a candidate to head the Department of Transportation. Before his time at Uber, Michael worked in the Obama administration as a White House fellow and as a special assistant to Robert Gates at the Department of Defense. Michael departed Uber in 2017, just before the company’s founder Travis Kalanick was pressured to step down.
Meanwhile, Jim O’Neill, a longtime ally of Peter Thiel, was proposed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. However, according to the Times, Trump ultimately went with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is known for his skepticism of vaccines.
O’Neill’s name has been brought up in the past. He was previously recommended to head the FDA during Trump’s first term, while he was working for Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management.