Among a blizzard of announcements on Tuesday, the president-elect said he had chosen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, two of his most prominent wealthy backers, to lead what is being called the Department of Government Efficiency.

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Updated Nov. 12, 2024, 10:10 p.m. ET30 minutes ago

Michael D. Shear and Eric Lipton

Here are the latest developments.

President-elect Donald J. Trump is turning to two of his most prominent wealthy backers, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, to overhaul the federal government, saying on Tuesday that they would lead what he called the Department of Government Efficiency.

Calling it “the Manhattan Project” of this era, Mr. Trump said the department would propel “drastic change” throughout the federal bureaucracy by July 4, 2026.

“A smaller Government, with more efficiency and less bureaucracy, will be the perfect gift to America on the 250th Anniversary of The Declaration of Independence,” Mr. Trump wrote in a statement. “I am confident they will succeed!”

Mr. Musk said before the election that he would help Mr. Trump cut $2 trillion from the federal budget, but he did not elaborate on Tuesday night about how he would do that, or which parts of the government would be cut or restructured.

“This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people!” Mr. Musk said in the statement.

Among a blizzard of announcements on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump also said he would nominate Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, to be his next defense secretary. In veering away from a traditional defense secretary, Mr. Trump elevated a television ally to run the Pentagon and lead 1.3 million active-duty troops.

Mr. Trump said that his nominee to lead the C.I.A. would be John Ratcliffe, a former Texas congressman who served as the director of national intelligence during Mr. Trump’s first term.

Mr. Trump also confirmed that he would nominate Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota to run the Homeland Security Department, a role in which she would be tasked with carrying out the president-elect’s promises to crack down on the border and deport millions of people.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he had chosen Representative Michael Waltz of Florida to be his national security adviser, turning to a former Green Beret who has taken a tough line on China to oversee foreign and national security policy in the White House.

The choice of Mr. Waltz — as well as Representative Elise Stefanik, Mr. Trump’s pick to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations — puts some pressure on what is expected to be Republicans’ precarious House majority once the remaining races are called. Speaker Mike Johnson said on Tuesday that he did not expect any additional Republican House members to be picked by Mr. Trump, but said he would leave it up to the president-elect.

Mr. Trump has moved far more quickly to announce his picks than he did in 2016, when he was surprised by his victory and hampered by a chaotic and sluggish transition effort. This time, he and advisers seem to be better prepared, allowing the president-elect to make public his decisions faster.

But the manner of his announcements still differs from that of most presidents. President Biden and former President Barack Obama both grouped their announcements thematically, such as revealing most of their choices for national security positions as a group, rather than individually, as Mr. Trump has done.

Mr. Trump has not announced his nominees for high-profile jobs like secretary of state or attorney general. He is expected to name Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as his secretary of state, three people familiar with his thinking said on Monday, cautioning that he could still change his mind at the last minute.

His choices for the cabinet, which includes the leaders of 15 departments and the vice president, will require confirmation by the Senate, something that is likely to slow down the process. That is the case for most presidents, though Mr. Trump will have a Republican-controlled Senate, which is likely to confirm his nominees quickly.

Here’s what else to know:

• Senate leadership: Three men are pitching themselves as the best equipped to carry out Mr. Trump’s agenda ahead of a secret ballot on Wednesday when senators will choose their leader. Senators John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas are seen as having an edge over Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who is seen as the favorite of the party’s right flank.
• House update: Control of the House of Representatives remains unclear, though analysts say Republicans are favored to win a narrow majority when all of the votes are counted in close races around the country. Seven of the 13 uncalled races that will determine the balance of power are in California, where the counting of ballots typically takes longer than in any other state.
• White House visit: President Biden will host Mr. Trump at the White House on Wednesday, a presidential tradition that Mr. Trump did not offer four years ago after Mr. Biden defeated him.
• More Trump picks: Mr. Trump announced on Tuesday that he intended to nominate Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and the father of the office’s current occupant, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to be the U.S. ambassador to Israel. On Monday, he selected former Representative Lee Zeldin to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Maggie Haberman contributed reporting.