Transition team

[TonyM]

TRUMP MEETINGS TODAY

-Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg
-lawyer Sheri Dillon, who's separating Trump from his businesses
-Fox's Ainsley Earhardt
-Fox News's Judgen Nap
-reporter Mike Allen from Axios
-photo shoot with Wash Post

[TonyM]

Trump's Last Vacant Cabinet Post


The president-elect has yet to name a secretary of agriculture, a delay
that has caused controversy and illustrated the difficulties governing
will pose.

The pick has become mired in politics and drama, unsettling the
agriculture industry and potentially imperiling Trump’s standing with
some of his most ardent supporters—the residents of rural America. In
the process, it has become a case study in the difficulty Trump will
face as he begins to govern, as his sweeping promises and catchy slogans
run up against competing interests.

Already, the delay in picking an agriculture secretary has caused alarm. “The lack of quick and
decisive action on picking a new Secretary of Agriculture by the Trump
administration has given rise to charges that agriculture is not a high
priority for the incoming president,” columnist Gary Truitt wrote
recently in Hoosier Ag Today. “While this may or may not be true, the fact that this was the last
cabinet post to be filled has raised concerns and will produce some
challenges for the new nominee.” ***

After Perdue’s appointment was floated, reports indicated that the Trump
team wanted to pick a woman or Hispanic for the position instead, in
order to add diversity to the Cabinet. Elsa Murano, the former president of Texas A&M, and Abel Maldonado,
former lieutenant governor of California, have been prominently
mentioned. Both have experience with agriculture: Murano, an expert on
food safety, was a USDA undersecretary under George W. Bush, while
Maldonado is the child of immigrant farmworkers and owns a vineyard. But
the idea that the administration might use the USDA post to “balance”
the overwhelmingly white and male Cabinet has sparked controversy in agricultural circles.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics...t-post/513338/

[TonyM]

Donald Trump will nominate former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue as Agriculture Secretary

http://bloom.bg/2jpyMCp

[TonyM]

Trump’s National Security Team Is Missing in Action

President-elect Donald Trump will
enter the White House Friday with most national security positions still
vacant, after a disorganized transition that has stunned and
disheartened career government officials.

Instead of hitting the ground running, the Trump team emerged from
the election ill-prepared for the daunting task of assembling a new
administration and has yet to fill an array of crucial top jobs
overseeing the country’s national security and diplomacy, fueling
uncertainty across the federal government.


http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/18/...ng-in-action/?

[TonyM]

[TonyM]

National security team not yet in place --

Michael Crowley, Politico: “Is Trump Ready for a National Security Crisis?”

Mark Landler, New York Times, “Trump National Security Team Gets a Slow Start”

Jonathan Bernstein, BloombergView, “The Empty Trump Administration.”

Dan DeLuce and John Hudson, Foreign Policy, “Trump’s National Security Team is Missing in Action.”

[TonyM]

Trump keeps Obama appointee at DoD tasked with helping run the war against ISIS, at least temporarily

https://t.co/RDTjZVzIRW

[TonyM]

Additions to list of White House staff --

[TonyM]

A GUIDE TO INAUGURATION DAY with live updates


http://live.reuters.com/Event/Election_2016?

[TonyM]