Trump’s transition team in turmoil

White House aides said Obama administration officials at agencies across the government remained legally barred from delivering the normal guidance and briefings to Trump’s transition team because essential documents had still not been completed.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump pledged in his campaign to throw out what he called stifling regulations, including the stricter financial rules that Congress built to prevent another crisis.

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. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo for Central Intelligence Agency director.

Transition spokesman Sean Spicer says Trump will require new government officials to terminate their role as either state or federal lobbyists before joining the administration.

Aides to Trump acknowledged that members of the transition team had been fired since the ouster of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey as the head of the transition.

The mayor, a liberal Democrat, and Trump have previously clashed.

Despite the lack of apparent progress, Trump received a vote of confidence from an unlikely source: Vice President Joe Biden, who met with Pence at the U.S. Naval Observatory, the vice president’s official residence, where they dined with their wives.

Despite such differences, De Blasio said the hour-long session was “respectful” and added that Trump “loves this city”.

Additionally, Trump is expected to hold a private meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, “which I believe will bring the total up to 32 world leaders that the president-elect will have met with”, Miller said. He also denied reports that his transition team has sought security clearances for his children.

“The failing @nytimes story is so totally wrong on transition”, he tweeted, without specifying what it was in the article that was incorrect.

At The Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council gathering on Monday, Giuliani said Trump’s foreign policy early on will most likely focus on destroying ISIS. The switch to Pence, however, slowed Trump’s ability to coordinate with the White House.

“There’s a coup of sorts”, says Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.

“I’m just watching all the sniping coming in”.

All three have been fierce critics of President Barack Obama’s handling of terrorism and national security, and their selection likely signals a sharp shift in US policy. After speaking to the transition team, he wrote, he had “changed my recommendation: stay away”. “Only once you’ve had a chance to talk to people can you really understand what’s going on”. “But they’re going to do it in a methodical way”.

Former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who has informally advised members of Trump’s national security team, blamed Trump’s detractors for the reports of drama. They will take back what they learn to the transition to inform the White House team as well as the future secretary or leader of that agency. Pence was making the rounds of meetings on Capitol Hill on Thursday, sitting down with Republican and Democratic leaders.

“Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions”.

Trump supporters cheered him on the campaign trail when he promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington, and the directive could result in at least more nine aides departing, if fully implemented, Politico reported.

Stone suggested that factions of Trump’s inner circle were pulling him different directions.

On Saturday, Trump will meet with former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney – a discussion fueling speculation about a possible nomination as secretary of state.

Trump, a Republican outsider who won a surprise election victory last week, also cleared a paperwork snag that had temporarily stalled his transition after he put his Vice President-elect Mike Pence in charge of the process. But they said little contact had been made. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can.

Increasingly, among the shards are more mainline Republicans in the national security field.

The Latest on Donald Trump’s transition to the presidency (all times EST): 2:40 p.m. America’s future First Lady Melania Trump “paused her studies” to pursue a modeling career in Milan and Paris. The move came as Trump made his most direct foray into foreign policy since the election, meeting with Japan’s prime minister.

Rogers’s departure coincided with word from Sen. Marco Rubio in the Republican primaries, might now be a candidate for secretary of state. Have I been having intimate conversations?

“I understand I’m in the mix”, Corker told CNN. Rand Paul, who said he’d oppose the former mayor as well as the other reported contender, former United Nations ambassador John Bolton. But both could be problematic, even among Republicans who would have to confirm them.