 "Donald Trump's transition team planning first months in office")
President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi and will have his first post-election meeting with President Barack Obama on Thursday to discuss the transfer of power between their two administrations in January.
Trump’s transition team has been gathering for months, and they packed into an office on Wednesday a block away from the White House to continue drafting blueprints for the new administration. Among the proposals: a policy that would ban many members of the transition team from lobbying the same federal agencies they are helping shape. The proposed ban, which may last as long as Trump is in office, would underscore the “change” theme that powered the Republican nominee’s surprising victory on Tuesday, according to people familiar with the planning.
It would also limit his pool of potential hires by disqualifying or alienating many Washington consultants whose careers straddle public service and private business. “There will be a real effort to put in place dramatically tougher ethics reforms,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said in an interview about Trump’s administration.
The transition team also includes a unit studying how Trump can quickly deliver on his promise to build a wall on the southern US border to prevent illegal immigration. Obama, who was among Trump’s harshest critics on the campaign trail, struck a conciliatory tone in remarks on Wednesday, praising Trump’s victory speech and pledging to work hard to ensure a successful transition. “I want to make sure that handoff is well executed, because ultimately we’re all on the same team,” the president said. Obama will use his meeting with Trump to discuss specific policies he would like to see carried over to the next administration, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Wednesday. Trump also will receive briefings from Obama’s national security team on foreign-policy issues. And the president-elect and vice president-elect will begin to receive the broader daily national security briefing that the president reviews each morning. A campaign aide said Trump’s conversations with the leaders of Israel and Egypt — as well as Saudi Arabia — were congratulatory, not policy-focused. The president-elect invited Netanyahu, who has had a tense relationship with Obama, to meet as soon as is feasible, the aide said. Trump’s transition team, like his campaign operation, has had a much smaller staff than previous Republican nominees, and hasn’t produced the voluminous policy proposals and potential legislation sought by other candidates, including Mitt Romney four years ago.
Instead, they produce mostly two-page and 20-page memos on specific items about the function of certain agencies and what issues will be a priority on the first day, the first 100 days, and the first 200 days, according to three transition team members. The team has also been assembling a list of people to fill key jobs in a Trump administration. Some have been close to home. Among those discussed for attorney general are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a top campaign adviser who heads the Trump transition team, and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, according to two Trump campaign aides. Gingrich and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani have also been mentioned as potential candidates.
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In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Giuliani said he isn’t that interested in a post. “You never say no, but I’d rather help him find someone else who can do it. I’m very happy not being in the government,” he said.
Candidates discussed for Health and Human Services secretary include Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Ben Carson, one of Trump’s former primary rivals, a member of the transition team said. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin has been mentioned as a potential secretary of the interior, the member said. A chief of staff should be named within two weeks, and there will be a rush to have his cabinet nominated and approved within two weeks of inauguration, said Mike Leavitt, a former Utah governor advising the transition team. “The priority is to put a team on the field,” Leavitt said. “You’ll start to see significant proposals roll out, though not necessarily the expectation that they will pass right away. But there is a need to get the proposals on the table. I don’t know how prepared they are at this point.”
Trump sketched a broad outline of his first days in office during an October speech in Gettysburg, Pa., a blueprint that was overshadowed by his threat in the speech to sue the women who had accused him of sexual misconduct.
His actions, he said, would be aimed at cleaning up corruption and “special interest collusion.” He promised to protect American workers and “restore security and constitutional rule of law.”
The plan included a hiring freeze on new federal workers, with exceptions for positions in the military, public safety and public health. He promised to eliminate two regulations for every new rule created during his time in office. He proposed a five-year ban on lobbying for officials who leave the executive and legislative branches of government. In his first days in office, Trump has said, he plans to announce he will reopen the North American Free Trade Agreement, and will withdraw consideration of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He plans to order his commerce secretary to identify, and then remedy, all foreign trade “abuses that unfairly impact American workers.” He plans to lift restrictions on tapping energy reserves, approve the Keystone XL pipeline and cancel billions in payments to United Nations climate-change programs.
Several of Trump’s early initiatives could likely be accomplished through executive orders and regulatory changes, which would make it easy for him to execute because he can bypass Congress. But he could also seek congressional input to foster a better relationship with lawmakers, and his senior staff will have to decide soon on what agenda to set.
Carol E. Lee and Josh Dawsey contributed to this article
Source: The Wall Street Journal
