Trump battles back against charges of transition tumult

Election Day was eight days ago, but Donald Trump’s transition team has yet to contact the Pentagon, State Department or other federal agencies.

The Trump transition team must now provide the Obama administration with the “names of individuals they have authorised to represent the transition effort across the government”, Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokesperson said.

With some administrative stalling as Mike Pence took over the presidential transition team and the purging of several transition members, there’s been speculation that the team planning Trump’s transition is unprepared to accomplish everything it will need to do before the GOP businessman takes the oath of office on January 20. Some of those who appear to be under the most serious consideration are conspicuously strolling by the pack of journalists gathered in the Trump Tower lobby on their way to meetings with the president-elect and his team.

Kissinger was Secretary of State under Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

The abrupt removal of Governor Chris Christie as head of the transition effort – the most visible corpse of all – has been the clearest indication of turmoil on the top floor. Christie had signed the document, but Pence’s promotion made it invalid.

Statements made by Trump during the campaign have caused consternation in many world capitals, including Tokyo. Jeff Sessions, the sources say.

Initially, the team felt announcements about further personnel had to come quickly. (Maybe his firing was deserved.) But another thing was going on: with nearly no one in Washington thinking a Trump victory was possible, there was never the cacophony of would-be applicants they might have expected knocking their door down to get on board.

Christie, once viewed as a possible VP pick, had also faced concerns during the summer’s vice presidential search from Trump’s children, who anxious about his involvement in the Bridgegate scandal and believed that the GOP ticket needed geographic balance. He told fellow Republicans he had Trump’s support, and heralded “the dawn of a new, unified Republican government”.

The greatest danger, he said, is “the establishment boarding party”. Trump transition senior adviser and former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told reporters that she didn’t believe such clearance being sought for Trump’s son-in-law indicates impropriety.

Trump tweeted Tuesday night that the process is “organized”. When we talk about draining the swamp, this is one of the first steps.

2016: Trump goes to Washington, where he meets with Obama in the Oval office to discuss the transition.

Christie was called in on Friday, demoted and marginalized. “Service in the Trump-Pence Administration will be service to our Nation and thus a high honor, which demands both sacrifice and dedication”. This is the first move on behalf of Pence in terms being in charge of the transition team.

On the policy side of the transition, a review of the chart shows that eight out of 17 names listed have been registered lobbyists at one time. Kevin O’Connor, a former senior Justice Department official, joined that group.

But not all sources familiar with the transition said the narrative was entirely accurate. The move came after questions about the lobbyists were posed to Trump on “60 Minutes” after he railed against them and “Washington insiders” during his campaign. Shortly after capturing the Democratic nomination, he asked his campaign chairman, Mickey Kantor, to head his transition team. But everybody that works for government, they then leave government and they become a lobbyist, essentially.

This means for one thing that the urgency that Ms Clinton’s transition crew presumably possessed was always missing in the Christie operation.

White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said the administration was waiting on more documents required by law before agencies could begin sharing information with the transition team.

Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker and a top Trump economic adviser, told reporters the transition team was working on plans for regulatory and tax code changes, and creating an infrastructure bank to pay for improvements to roads and bridges. His son Eric Trump said new appointments were likely to be announced Wednesday, though other aides suggested a slower process.

Another Trump spokesman, Jason Miller, said some of those Trump is meeting with are potential Cabinet nominees, calling them “top-shelf people”.

“For everyone anxious about what I’m going to do, and what job I should take and where I should live – let me give you all an update”. O’Connor was US attorney for CT from 2002 until 2008 while Christie was serving in New Jersey.