| | | | 'Hamilton': The latest feud Trump won't let go | | Donald Trump isn't letting slights go -- even after the ego-boosting accomplishment of winning the presidency. As the Republican President-elect greeted candidates for Cabinet positions at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course Sunday, he couldn't resist another shot at the cast of the musical "Hamilton" -- which had read a message about inclusion directly to Vice President-elect Mike Pence when he attended the Broadway production Friday night. With Pence looking on silently, Trump told reporters the remarks were "very inappropriate."
It marked the second straight day of Trump, now back in control of a Twitter account aides had wrested away in the closing stages of the campaign, raging against "Hamilton." Trump is currently interviewing candidates to form his Cabinet, receiving his first intelligence briefings and beginning to develop relationships with congressional leaders to enact his policy vision for America. But at 6:22 a.m. ET Sunday, the first words he offered were about Hamilton. | | | That was, of course, after Saturday morning's tirade: | | Cabinet rumblings: Mattis for defense, Ross for commerce | | President-elect Donald Trump said today he is considering retired Marine Gen. James Mattis to serve as his secretary of defense. Businessman Wilbur Ross, meanwhile, is said to be a leading contender for commerce secretary. Trump met with both men Sunday in New Jersey.
Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane turned down Trump's offer to become defense secretary, citing personal reasons surrounding the recent death of his wife, NPR's Bill Chappell reports.
Trump still involved in business dealings? The New York Times' Eric Lipton and Ellen Barry report that he "met in the last week in his office at Trump Tower with three Indian business partners who are building a Trump-branded luxury apartment complex south of Mumbai, raising new questions about how he will separate his business dealings from the work of the government once he is in the White House." | | "Who knows?" -- Michael Flynn, Donald Trump's pick for national security adviser, during a 2015 trip to Russia, on whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gassed his own people. (President Barack Obama, NATO and Western leaders have all said they do, in fact, know it was Assad. Vladimir Putin has suggested otherwise.) | | | NBC's "Saturday Night Live" lampooned Donald Trump as being shocked at just how hard it will be to achieve his promises -- and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway as aghast that Trump actually won. The skit featured Mitt Romney, too.
This morning, Trump made clear he'd seen the show and didn't like it. | | Priebus talks Trump U settlement, business conflicts | | Donald Trump's incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus defended his new boss' decision to pay $25 million to settle Trump University lawsuits, saying the President-elect simply wanted to put that litigation to rest before taking the oath of office. In an interview Sunday with CNN's Jake Tapper, Priebus noted that Trump did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement announced Friday.
"When the presidency hits you, and it's at your front door and you realize that you are president of the United States for all Americans, there are some things that are important to you and some things that you decide," Priebus said. "Look, let's move on, we're not admitting wrongdoing, and let's just start leading this country without distraction. That's what you're seeing, and I think Americans should look at this as a real positive sign about what kind of great president he is going to be and how he wants to lead this country."
The current RNC chairman also talked conflicts of interest. He said it will be up to the White House counsel to make sure Trump's business interests don't conflict with his policy-making moves. "Obviously we will comply with all of those laws and we will have our White House counsel review all of these things. We will have every 'i' dotted and every 't' crossed, and I can assure the American people that there wouldn't be any wrongdoing or any sort of undue influence over any decision-making," Priebus said.
President Barack Obama, speaking at a news conference in Peru during the APEC summit, declined to directly respond to a question about how President-elect Trump should handle potential conflicts of interest due to his business dealings. Obama talked about what he did upon being elected in 2008, including liquidating assets that could raise questions about how they might influence policy. | | | Jake Tapper looks at Donald Trump's "Apprentice"-style Cabinet selection process in this week's "State of the Cartoonion." | | Melania and Barron won't move to the White House | | Donald Trump told reporters he will live in the White House after he takes the oath of office, but that his wife, Melania, and 10-year-old son Barron will be living in New York temporarily to allow their son to finish out the year at the same school. During a photo op at his Bedminster Golf Club as he was saying goodbye to Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, Trump said yes when asked if he intended to live in the White House. Then when asked if Melania and Barron would move to Washington, he said "very soon. Right after he finishes school."
Credit for the scoop goes to The New York Post's Isabel Vincent, who also has details on how security around Trump Tower will change. | | Pelosi challenger: Democrats lost economic focus | | Rep. Tim Ryan, the Ohio Democrat challenging Nancy Pelosi for the party's House leadership, faulted the House minority leader on Sunday for focusing too narrowly on issues such as Zika virus funding in the lead-up to the election. "We were talking a lot about issues that weren't deeply economic, and I think that provided a huge opening for Donald Trump to come in, and that led to the disaster that happened on Tuesday," Ryan said in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."
Ryan's case in point: Zika. He pointed out that a month before Congress left Washington to hit the campaign trail full time, Democrats were battling for increased funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to fight the Zika virus. "That's not a deep economic message that's a national message; that's a message in a couple (of) regions in the country. And I think things like that throw us off track," Ryan said.
On the other hand ... A Pelosi spokesman disputed Ryan's claim that Zika was a more important message priority than the economy, and noted that Ryan, too, had called on House Speaker Paul Ryan to "hold an immediate vote on emergency aid" on Twitter in August.
Backing Ryan's run against Pelosi: New York Rep. Kathleen Rice, per Politico's John Bresnahan. | | | Vice President-elect Mike Pence says ethics reform will be a top Donald Trump priority. ... Henry Kissinger says Trump is the "most unique" President-elect of his lifetime because he has no baggage or political debts. ... Sen. Jeff Sessions' selection as Trump's attorney general has set off a round of jockeying for his Alabama Senate seat. | | | We'd love to share our other newsletters with you. Check out CNNMoney's Reliable Sources, an insider's look into the media brought to you by Brian Stelter. | | | Get the Nightcap, a comprehensive summary of the most important political news, delivered to your inbox daily. | | | | | |
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