Trump announces two more staff appointments

President-elect Donald Trump made two staff appointments today, neither of which will require Senate confirmation.

Fox News analyst Kathleen Troia “K.T.” McFarland, who worked in the Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan administrations, will serve as deputy national security adviser. Trump lauded her "tremendous experience and innate talent" in a statement announcing her appointment.

Attorney Donald McGahn, who worked for Trump's campaign, will take over as White House counsel in January. McGhan is a veteran Republican election attorney. Trump described him as having "a brilliant legal mind, excellent character, and a deep understanding of constitutional law."

Transition team staff said the president-elect does not plan to make any more appointment announcements during the holiday weekend.

Trump and his family are spending Thanksgiving at his Palm Beach, Fla., compound, where he continued to speak with world leaders by phone and mull over potential administration appointments. Based on tweets from strategist Kellyanne Conway, Trump appears to have narrowed his choice for secretary of state to former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Giuliani is a Trump loyalist who is expected to play an important role in the new administration. But critics say his lack of international experience makes him a weak choice for the country's top diplomatic post. Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee who lost to President Barack Obama, has long been a vocal Trump critic. But that hasn't disqualified other new Cabinet members, notably South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and Romney's supporters say he's a much better person to lead the State Department.

Trump and Vice President–elect Mike Pence will resume meeting with potential cabinet appointees Monday. Retired neurosurgeon and one-time presidential candidate Ben Carson also is expected to reveal whether he plans to take Trump's offer of the top spot at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Carson, who previously claimed he didn't want a government job, said Wednesday he planned to spend the holiday weekend talking with his family and praying over the decision.