Chairman of Senate Finance Committee is set to oversee confirmation of many cabinet nominees and approval of president-elect’s legislative agenda
.. Mr. Hatch was one of the first senators to endorse Mr. Trump for president.. The committee will handle several other priorities for Mr. Trump, including replacing President Barack Obama’s health-care law and overhauling the tax system... Mr. Trump doesn’t have close ties with many members of Congress, so Mr. Hatch has become an important middleman between Mr. Trump and the Senate. A few weeks ago, Mr. Trump tapped Mr. Hatch’s chief of staff, Robert Porter, to assist with his transition process... Mr. Hatch has also forged a close relationship beginning this summer with Reince Priebus, who has been chairman of the Republican National Committee and is Mr. Trump’s incoming chief of staff. Mr. Hatch donated a total of $75,000 from his political-action committee to the RNC and Mr. Trump’s presidential campaign, one of the few senators to do so... Mr. Hatch endorsed Mr. Trump in May, when the nomination was all but sewn up. Still, he was among the first senators to do so... When Mr. Trump suggested a federal judge’s Mexican heritage should disqualify him from overseeing a case involving Trump University, the now defunct real-estate school, Mr. Hatch told the Los Angeles Times: “Be nice to him. He’s a poor first-time candidate.”.. At the summer’s Republican convention, Mr. Hatch sat in the Trump family’s box on occasion.. In October, after the release of a tape of Mr. Trump making lewd comments about groping women, Mr. Hatch was steadfast in his support, though he called Mr. Trump’s comments “offensive and disgusting.”.. Last month, the two had several conversations about potential nominees for secretary of state, including former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Trump’s Taiwan phone call was long planned, say people who were involved
The historic communication — the first between leaders of the United States and Taiwan since 1979 — was the product of months of quiet preparations and deliberations among Trump’s advisers about a new strategy for engagement with Taiwan that began even before he became the Republican presidential nominee, according to people involved in or briefed on the talks.
.. Several leading members of Trump’s transition team are considered hawkish on China and friendly toward Taiwan, including incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus.
.. In an article for Foreign Policy magazine titled “Donald Trump’s Peace Through Strength Vision for the Asia-Pacific,” Peter Navarro and Alexander Gray described Taiwan as a “beacon of democracy in Asia” and complained that its treatment by the Obama administration was “egregious.”
The article, flagged to China experts as a significant policy blueprint, described Taiwan as “the most militarily vulnerable U.S. partner anywhere in the world” and called for a comprehensive arms deal to help it defend itself against China.
.. Priebus is reported to have visited Taiwan with a Republican delegation in 2011 and in October 2015, meeting Tsai before she was elected president. Taiwan Foreign Minister David Lee called him a friend of Taiwan
.. Edward J. Feulner, a longtime former president of the Heritage Foundation, has for decades cultivated extensive ties with Taiwan and is serving as an adviser to Trump’s transition team.
.. At the Republican National Convention in July, Trump’s allies inserted a little-noticed phrase into the party’s platform reaffirming support for six key assurances to Taiwan made by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 — a priority for the Taiwan government. Also written into the 2016 platform was tougher language about China than had been in the party’s platform in its previous iteration four years ago.
.. Trump accused China of “raping” the United States by stealing trade secrets, manipulating its currency and subsidizing its industries.
.. “Calls like this may upset the diplomats, but they communicate to Americans that he’s not going to play by the same rules and isn’t just talking differently but will act differently.”
.. the call with Tsai “was deliberate. It was not an accident. Obviously he made a conscious decision to have the call arranged. She called him, but there was an agreement for it.”
.. “It doesn’t make sense that Tsai out of the blue would call Donald Trump. She is not known for taking big leaps into the unknown, and it would be politically embarrassing when it was learned that she called Trump and he would not take her call.”
Trump Names Steve Bannon as White House Chief Strategist and Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff
“Bannon and Priebus will continue the effective leadership team they formed during the campaign, working as equal partners to transform the federal government, making it much more efficient, effective and productive,” stated a press release from Trump’s transition team on Sunday.
.. “We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory,” Bannon added. “We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”
Donald Trump Expected to Pick Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff
Mr. Trump’s choice is certain to anger some of his most conservative supporters, many of whom expect him to battle the Washington establishment over issues like taxes, immigration, trade, health care and the environment. They view Mr. Priebus as a deal maker who will be too eager to push the new president toward compromise.
.. Mr. Kushner, who has no experience in politics or government, is often the last person Mr. Trump turns to for counsel.
.. Mr. Bannon — the longtime chairman of Breitbart News, a site distinguished by its nationalist, conspiracy-laden coverage — will probably hold a role as a top White House adviser, as well. He is likely to serve as a conduit to the populist right and conservative media outlets.
A onetime Goldman Sachs banker, Mr. Bannon has transformed himself into a media figure who favors a scorched-earth style of politics and views the corporate elite and the government establishment with disdain.
.. Despite his image as a bomb-thrower, Mr. Bannon is also savvy at cutting deals to achieve his goals.
.. While Mr. Trump, 70, is known for his brashness and at times his viciousness, the much younger Mr. Priebus, 44, is regarded for his low profile and humility.
.. “I never had a bad second with him,” Mr. Trump said. “He’s an unbelievable star.”