Trump appoints John Ratcliffe as CIA director and William McGinley as White House advisor

FILE - This April 13, 2016 photo shows the seal of the Central Intelligence Agency at its headquarters in Langley, Virginia. (FILE: AP)

President-elect Donald Trump has spent the last few days shaping his executive team and has gradually announced the most relevant positions in his future cabinet.

He president-elect of the United States, Donald Trumpannounced this Tuesday that it has chosen William McGinley as White House legal advisor, and former Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Ratcliffe, a close ally of Trump, was director of National Intelligence at the end of his first term.

As director, he was accused by Democrats and former intelligence officials of declassifying intelligence for Trump and his Republican allies to use to attack opponents, including Joe Biden, Trump's then-rival for the presidency, an allegation Ratcliffe's office has denied.

In the case of McGinley, whom he called by his nickname, “Bill,” Trump commented in a statement that “he is a smart and tenacious lawyer who will help me advance our 'America First' agenda while fighting for the integrity electoral and against the arming of the forces of order”.

McGinley was part of Trump's first presidential term as White House Cabinet Secretary. Also, the president-elect indicated that real estate investor and campaign donor, Steve Witkoff, was chosen to be his special envoy to the Middle East.

Likewise, the president-elect announced that he had chosen former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel.

Huckabee is a strong supporter of Israel and his nomination comes as Trump has promised to align US foreign policy more closely with Israel's interests while waging wars against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon. .