Mike Pence Orders Lobbyists Be Removed From Transition Team

Others close to the transition process described advisers “fighting for power”.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence is now running the transition team after a shakeup that included the demotion of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

But with Pence at the helm, the IN governor has apparently done little to steady the ship or stop leaks to the media.

Trump spent much of the campaign railing against the cozy relationship between the government and K Street lobbyists, pledging to “drain the swamp” if elected.

Though Christie has denied any role in it and has not been accused of involvement, his history with the Kushner family is understood to have led to his unceremonious ouster from the transition team head and that of his allies, such as Rogers.

Former Rep. Mike Rogers, a respected Republican voice on national security issues, announced he was quitting the transition effort.

The source close to Christie said it could be strategic to spin a narrative that Christie was too reliant on lobbyists and not delivering, saying, the story “has been leveraged to deepen the wound – particularly in the NY media market”.

CNN obtained an organizational chart of the transition’s staff from before the announcement, and at least eight agency leads had been a registered lobbyist, though some had already been let go of the transition for other reasons. Hopefully they’ll get that settled pretty soon. “For certain areas I would [consider a fence], but certain areas, a wall is more appropriate”, he said in an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired Sunday night. Christie was removed, sources told NBC News, because he was seen as insufficiently loyal to Trump during the campaign, and because Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner continues to hold an old grudge over Christie’s prosecution of his father when Christie was New Jersey District Attorney.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence says he’s confident the all-Republican government can “rebuild our military, revive our economy and, in a word, make America great again”. Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the second-ranking leader of the Senate, said he had received no direct information from the transition team about its work, even as the Senate will be in charge of confirming Trump’s Cabinet picks, according to the Texas Tribune. But on Tuesday, Cohen had done a complete turnaround, painting the transition as chaotic and motivated by revenge.

Mr Trump’s calendar has been packed with meetings. Since his stunning victory over Hillary Clinton last week, Trump has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Theresa May and almost three dozen other world leaders by telephone.

The paper reported on Wednesday the presidents of Egypt and Israel got through to Trump quickly but British Prime Minister Theresa May had to wait 24 hours before reaching him. Paul, who also ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, said he was concerned by Giuliani’s work on behalf of foreign governments.

Democrats, still absorbing last week’s electoral rebuke, took further steps toward defining how they would operate as an opposition party, voting in a leadership team in the Senate with a few new names, including Vermont Sen.

Trump has mostly stuck to normal practice for a USA president-elect with the order in which he has spoken to foreign leaders since his surprise election victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Extra Security at Trump Tower Bringing Traffic, Headache for CommutersHeavily armed officers now stand guard outside the entrance of Trump Tower.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani seems to be publicly campaigning for the job of secretary of state.

Ms. Conway said Wednesday that Mr. Trump will hold a news conference “sometime soon”, but that he’s now busy talking to foreign leaders and potential Cabinet members.

“The neocons who show up out of nowhere, who after leaving their never-Trump headquarters, say ‘I’ve been with you the whole time, ‘ and I want to be assistant secretary of State or assistant secretary of the Treasury or whatever”, Stone said.

A speech he gave last month to the Heritage Foundation illustrated one area where he might have disagreed with Trump, who favors conciliation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “The Russians are certainly on the march”, Rogers said. Patrick J. Buchanan, a White House veteran of the Nixon and Reagan administrations, said Bannon and Priebus, regardless of their shared allegiance to the president-elect, carry with them different ideologies and experiences. Bannon’s news website has peddled conspiracy theories, white nationalism and anti-Semitism.

NBC News’ Hallie Jackson, who made a reservation at the restaurant, reports Trump was dining inside with his wife Melania, and that Secret Service agents moved to block her view of them.

Hicks said she was unaware that Trump planned to leave his home and had not meant to leave the press in the dark.