When Elisa Smithers was deployed to Iraq in 2005, there was a ban on women serving in ground combat operations. She now fears the progress made for women in combat since then will be reversed after President-elect Donald Trump announced Pete Hegseth this week as his pick for secretary of defense – a Fox News host and Army veteran who has criticized efforts to allow women into combat roles.

The president-elect is hoping to put Kennedy in charge of the agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine, and food safety to medical research and Medicare and Medicaid.

Collins is a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command. The Republican served in Congress from 2013 to 2021, and he helped defend Trump during his first impeachment process.

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he's nominating former Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia to be his secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs as he continues to quickly assemble his next administration.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked former Georgia congressman Doug Collins to lead the Veterans Affairs Department in his new administration

President-elect Donald Trump has announced former Rep. Doug Collins as his pick to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Trump says he will nominate former Rep. Doug Collins, Air Force reservist, as veterans affairs secretary.