Thread: Intelligence Expert Mike Rogers Leaves Trump Transition Team Amid Shake-up

Intelligence Expert Mike Rogers Leaves Trump Transition Team Amid Shake-up

Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman seen as Chris Christie ally; Ben Carson turns down cabinet post

ENLARGE
Mike Rogers, shown in this 2014 file photo when he was a member of Congress, has left the transition team of President-elect Donald Trump. PHOTO: MANUEL BALCE CENETA/ASSOCIATED PRESS


By DAMIAN PALETTA and
CAROL E. LEE
Updated Nov. 15, 2016 11:32 a.m. ET 520 COMMENTS

WASHINGTON—Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers has left President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team amid a major shuffle and power consolidation that has pushed out multiple key figures.

Mr. Rogers, a Republican who represented Michigan until last year, held a central role overseeing the national-security transition process for Mr. Trump’s team since before last week’s election. But he is considered a close ally of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and multiple people close to Mr. Christie were removed from the transition team in recent days amid a major shake-up.

Ben Carson has declined an offer to become the next secretary of Health and Human Services, a spokesman said in a statement Tuesday. Dr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was among the first of Mr. Trump’s Republican primary rivals to endorse him and he served as one of the president-elect’s primary surrogates during the campaign.


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Presidential transitions can be intense, with the winning nominee and staff members, often exhausted from months of campaigning, forced to make pivotal decisions just weeks before the Jan. 20 inauguration. President Barack Obama named his chief of staff shortly after he was elected but it was almost three weeks before he named his economic team and another week before he named his national security team.

The Trump transition team didn’t respond to request for comment on Mr. Rogers departure or the progress of his team’s work.

After hurried meetings and phone calls last week following Mr. Trump’s victory, the transition process has nearly stalled, several people familiar with the matter said. There is tension between different camps, with the exodus of Christie allies and the ascension of aides close to Sen. Jeff Sessions(R., Ala.), one of Mr. Trump’s most trusted advisers. Former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Mike Flynn also holds considerable influence with Mr. Trump, said people familiar with the transition team’s work.

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THE TRUMP TRANSITION

Mr. Sessions is expected to hold a cabinet position in the Trump White House, possibly as attorney general, people familiar with the matter said.

Three of Mr. Trump’s adult children and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are also playing a central role in the planning. Mr. Trump has placed a priority on rewarding people for loyalty during the campaign, people familiar with the transition said, and this is impacting the transition.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the leading candidate to be Mr. Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, people familiar with the matter said, a move that would elevate a well-known national figure to become the U.S.’s chief diplomat.

Mr. Trump’s aides have also considered former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton as a possible candidate, but the close relationship between Messrs.

Giuliani and Trump was a major consideration, the people said.

Mr. Christie was ousted from the transition team’s top position on Friday and made a vice chair of the transition, a title he shares with four other people.

“It was a privilege to prepare and advise the policy, personnel and agency action teams on all aspects of the national security portfolio during the initial pre-election planning phase,” Mr. Rogers said in a statement. “Our work will provide a strong foundation for the new transition team leadership as they move into the post election phase, which naturally is incorporating the campaign team in New York who drove President-elect Trump to an incredible victory last Tuesday.”

The statement didn’t explain why Mr. Rogers was leaving, saying only that he was “proud of the team” he had put together and was now handing off his work to “the stellar new leadership team.”

The departure of Mr. Rogers removes one of the most experienced national security and foreign policy hands from the transition team. He was a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being elected to Congress, and he has extensive contacts in law enforcement, intelligence, and foreign-policy circles. He also has worked closely with Democrats during his congressional tenure.

Mr. Rogers was seen by many Republican foreign policy veterans as a likely candidate for the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It is unclear whether his chances for this top post will be affected now that he has left the transition.

Mr. Trump’s transition team was scheduled to have a large-scale meeting on Friday to plan their “landing teams” for every federal agency, but that process was upended when Vice President-elect Mike Pence replaced Mr. Christie.

This has forced the transition team to redraft what is known as a memorandum of understanding with the Obama administration authorizing Mr. Pence to lead the transition process with various federal agencies. These landing teams are crucial because they help inform the incoming administration what policies the agencies are working on, how their personnel is structured, and what issues need to be addressed.

“We look forward to completing that work so that we can provide the necessary access to personnel and resources to get the president-elect’s team up to speed and deliver on President Obama’s directive for a smooth transition,” said White House spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.

Messrs. Trump and Pence are scheduled to meet Tuesday in New York to discuss the transition process, a meeting that could lead to more changes or expedite the process for picking cabinet nominees. Another reason the process is moving slowly is because multiple people being considered for key positions in the Trump administration haven't completed their paperwork or specified what potential conflicts of interest they might face, a person familiar with the matter said.

So far, Mr. Trump has named just two officials who will work in the new White House: Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and his chief strategist Steve Bannon.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/intellig...-up-1479221847

Ben Carson turned down role in Trump's cabinet

NOV 15 2016, 9:58 AM ET

Trump Transition Shake-Up Part of 'Stalinesque Purge' of Christie Loyalists

by KEN DILANIAN and ALEXANDRA JAFFE



The Donald Trump transition, already off to slow start, bogged down further Tuesday with the abrupt resignation of former Congressman Mike Rogers, who had been coordinating its national security efforts.

Two sources close to Rogers said he had been the victim of what one called a "Stalinesque purge," from the transition of people close to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who left Friday. It was unclear which other aides close to Christie had also been forced out.

The Trump transition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rogers confirmed his exit in a statement that said that, despite his departure, he planned to continue to "provide advice and counsel as needed to the incoming Trump administration."

He and his top aide had been working for months, preparing the groundwork for transition. Two sources close to the situation described an atmosphere of sniping and backbiting as Trump loyalists position themselves for key jobs.

"It was a privilege to prepare and advise the policy, personnel and agency action teams on all aspects of the national security portfolio during the initial pre-election planning phase. Our work will provide a strong foundation for the new transition team leadership as they move into the post-election phase, which naturally is incorporating the campaign team in New York who drove President-elect Trump to an incredible victory last Tuesday," Rogers said in the statement.

Congressman Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI). Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images, file

Rogers was initially seen as a leading candidate for CIA director, but now is likely off the list, a source told NBC News. Rep. Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, is now a top contender.

Rogers' departure follows Christie's demotion from head of the team to a vice-chair, with Vice President-elect Mike Pence taking over for him last week.

The purge indicates the emphasis on loyalty — and significant influence of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka — that characterized Trump's campaign will carry over into his White House.

Multiple sources indicated that Christie was demoted because he wasn't seen as sufficiently loyal to Trump, failing to vocally defend him at key moments on the campaign trail.



But he has long been in a precarious position with Trump, due in part, multiple sources say, to a longstanding grudge sparked when Christie prosecuted Kushner's father in 2004. Due to Christie's investigation, Charles Kushner eventually pleaded guilty to 18 felony counts, including tax fraud and witness tampering, and was sentenced to two years in federal prison.

Rogers' exit and Christie's demotion are the latest wrinkles in a transition process that's gotten off to a rocky start following Trump's unexpected election victory last week.

The Trump transition has yet to take up offices in the State Department or the Pentagon, government officials tell NBC News, and as of last night Trump had not received an intelligence briefing.

The vice president-elect, Mike Pence took over the transition Friday after Christie's sudden resignation.

But since Christie had signed the legal paperwork, not Pence, the transition hit a bureaucratic snag, a transition aide said.

Trump over the weekend named RNC Chair Reince Priebus his chief of staff and Breitbart Founder Steve Bannon chief strategist, earning plaudits with the first but backlash over the former, because of Bannon's controversial comments on minorities and Breitbart's often incendiary reporting, among other issues.

In a separate development, Eliot Cohen, a senior State Department official under George W. Bush who blasted Trump during the campaign, ripped into the president-elect's transition effort Tuesday.

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Eliot A Cohen @EliotACohen

After exchange w Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They're angry, arrogant, screaming "you LOST!" Will be ugly.
5:07 AM - 15 Nov 2016

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Cohen, one of 122 Republican national security figures who signed an open letter last spring opposing Trump's candidacy, had written an essay last week in which he suggested that military and intelligence officials "continue to do their jobs."

But on Tuesday, he tweeted, "After exchange w Trump transition team, changed my recommendation: stay away. They're angry, arrogant, screaming 'you LOST!' Will be ugly."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016...alists-n684081