President-elect Donald Trump has lined up the legislators, business leaders and others who will help him make the move to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., and there are some familiar names—notably many of those Republicans, and one Silicon Valley billionaire, who spoke up and out for the candidate when many in the party refused to.
The transition team will help Trump pick top officials in his administration, which are likely to include a number of those transition officials doing the picking.
Trump said Friday the Vice President-elect Mike Pence will chair the presidential transition team. Pence is the former Indiana governor and House member who was once a conservative radio talk show host.
Trump also named vice chairs of the team, many of whom are former campaign rivals.
Vice chairs will be Dr. Ben Carson, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).
“The mission of our team will be clear: put together the most highly qualified group of successful leaders who will be able to implement our change agenda in Washington," said Trump in announcing the changes.
The transition team executive committee includes Energy & Commerce Committee vice chair Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), as well as three of Trump's children, Donald Trump Jr., Eric and Ivanka, as well as RNC chair Reince Priebus and Trump Campaign CEO Stephen Bannon, both of whom are said to be in the running for chief of staff.
Also on the executive committee are Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Pa.), Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), Jared Kushner, Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.), Rebekah Mercer, Steven Mnuchin, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), Anthony Scaramucci, and Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley billionaire and PayPal cofounder who backed Trump.
Elsewhere on the chief-of-staff front, Trump said that Sessions' chief of staff, Rick Dearborn, will join the transition team as executive director.
