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Trump says transition’s going ‘smoothly,’ disputing disarray reports

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the leader of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team, walks past the media as he leaves Trump Tower with his wife Karen, Tuesday, in New York.

WASHINGTON >> President-elect Donald Trump denied today that his transition was in disarray, assailing media reports about firings and infighting and insisting in an early-morning Twitter burst that everything was going “so smoothly.”

But legal and procedural delays by Trump’s transition team continued today, all but freezing the traditional handoff of critical information from the current administration more than a week after Trump won the presidential election.

The president-elect criticized a report in The New York Times about his early telephone contacts with foreign leaders. In a post on Twitter, he said he had made and received “calls from many foreign leaders despite what the failing @nytimes said. Russia, U.K., China, Saudi Arabia, Japan.”

The Times reported that Trump had taken calls from the leaders of Egypt, Israel, Russia and Britain, but said they had been conducted haphazardly and without State Department briefings that traditionally guide conversations with foreign leaders.

Of the transition effort, Trump wrote: “It is going so smoothly.”

Jason Miller, a spokesman for Trump, told reporters this afternoon that the effort to fill staff positions in the new administration was “very calm, it’s very structured.” He said that reports of chaos were being spread by disgruntled former members of the transition or people bitter about the election results.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was put in charge of the transition last Friday, has counseled Trump not to feel pressured to make announcements rashly, according to people familiar with the deliberations inside Trump Tower.

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.

A wholesale shake-up of Trump’s team — replacing Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and the transition staff he had assembled — has forced Pence to sign a new memorandum of understanding, a legally required document. White House officials said Pence delivered that document to them Tuesday.

But by this morning, Trump’s team still had not delivered a series of required, supporting documents.

In the lobby of the State Department, there is a sign that says “Transition.” It has been quiet.

“We have not been contacted,” said John Kirby, the State Department press secretary.

8 responses to “Trump says transition’s going ‘smoothly,’ disputing disarray reports”

  1. Keonigohan says:

    Misguided “disarray” reports from the Dems MSM just because they weren’t invited to President Elect Trumps dinner last night.

    • Ken_Conklin says:

      November 14, 2016 is the date when the U.S. Department of Interior “final rule” 43CFR50 took effect, creating a pathway for a small percentage of ethnic Hawaiians (30,000 out of 600,000) to create a government that is guaranteed to get federal recognition as an Indian tribe.

      The Trump transition team is already assembling a long list of Obama regulations and executive orders to be nullified by executive order from President Trump. It’s important to make sure that “Fed Wreck” 43CFR50 gets included IMMEDIATELY on Trump’s list for repeal, because that list is already being compiled.

      If you know how to contact any Republican on Trump’s transition team, or in his future Department of Interior or Department of Justice, please forward this notice to them. Please include a webpage newly created on November 14 which provides links to hundreds of published articles by well-known conservative commentators and civil rights groups during the past 16 years opposing the concept of tribalism in Hawaii. Those authors and institutions who protested the Hawaiian tribal concept should also be contacted, along with Republican members of the upcoming 115th Congress and their staffers.

      See “Repeal 43 CFR 50” at
      http://tinyurl.com/zkbd22p

  2. calentura says:

    MSM order of business:
    ! Find dirt on potential appointees.
    2. Expose possible mistakes, delays, confusion within transition.
    3. Pit operatives against each other.
    4. Label anyone possible as sexist, racist, homophobic, etc.
    5. Interview non-voting protestors twice daily.
    6. Ask US mayors for their take on what Trump did not say.
    7. Give the impression the new administration should be ready tomorrow.
    8. Occasionally report substantive news.

  3. MillionMonkeys says:

    It’s a wee bit insane that Trump and the GOP ran with the “Lying Hillary” theme, from years before up to Nov 8, 2016. Will Trump appoint a special prosecutor? NO.

    Why? Because he knew all along he was distorting her carelessness and a few inaccurate statements to convince undereducated citizens that she is a “felon.” There will be no mention of emails or picking on the A-rated Clinton Foundation—unless she decides to run again.

    “Every 3 Minutes” Trump denying that there’s disarray in his team. Just a wee bit insane.

    • meat says:

      Hey monkey (love saying that), it’s not just Mr. Trump, the majority of the American people believes she is a liar. So that puts you in the minority monkey. ” A few inaccurate statements”? It obviously seems that you are the undereducated you monkey.

    • st1d says:

      while the combover may not appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the female felon, the f.b.i. has agents who are more than willing to properly investigate the numerous mishandling of classified information, the pay to play money laundering operation run by the clinton mafia, and the state department employees working simultaneously at the criminal money laundering operation.

      congress also will continue their investigations into the female felon’s criminal history as well.

      glad the congenital liar finally sobered up to face the public, albeit, in a tiny wee bit of dog and pony show. bill was smart to avoid being with her election night having been targeted enough during her frequent tantrums in the past.

  4. meat says:

    As expected from the mouthpiece of the Democraps. It’s the Democraps who are in “dissaray”. Mr. Trump will serve 2 terms thanx to these clowns. Liking that.

  5. AhiPoke says:

    The NY Times is an extension of the democratic party whose goal it to discredit anything any competing party may be doing. I find it difficult to understand why anyone would go to them for an objective report on anything with political implications. Even David Axelrod, an insider on the Obama team, defended the Trump transition team. I’m starting to believe that biased organizations, like the NY Times, are actually having an opposite impact than they hope for as many people are becoming wise about their credibility.

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