Trump works on filling top jobs, posts
Associated Press
NEW YORK
President-elect Donald Trump is embarking on the massive undertaking of creating a new administration as a circus-like atmosphere unfolded around his building in Manhattan.
While he’s announced one decision – putting Vice President-elect Mike Pence in charge of the transition instead of Chris Christie – Trump must identify other people for top White House jobs and Cabinet posts. He apparently was trying to sort through names as he holed himself up in Trump Tower, and protesters swarmed outside behind barricades protecting the building and ritzy stores along Fifth Avenue.
At one point, documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, a liberal critic of Trump who nevertheless had predicted his victory, entered the tower lobby with a camera crew in tow and asked to see Trump. “I just thought I’d see if I could get into Trump Tower and ride the famous escalator,” said Moore, who did just that until he reached the fourth floor and the Secret Service told him he could go no higher.
For Trump, who ran on a pledge to “drain the swamp” of Washington insiders, the transition team is strikingly heavy on those with long political resumes.
Another apparent contradiction emerged Friday as Trump, who repeatedly vowed to achieve the repeal of President Barack Obama’s health care law, said he would be open to maintaining portions of it.