Trump selects Reince Priebus as chief of staff


Donald Trump on Sunday announced that Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and a Washington insider who worked his way up the ranks of the Wisconsin Republican Party, will be his White House chief of staff.
Trump also named Stephen Bannon, the former head of a right-wing website and his campaign's chief executive officer, as his senior counselor and chief strategist. In a statement, Trump's transition team said Priebus, who is close friends with Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and Bannon will work "as equal partners to transform the federal government." This is a classic Trump move, The New York Times notes, consistent with the "management style in his businesses and in his campaign: creating rival power structures beneath him and encouraging them to battle it out."
Several people familiar with the decisions being made by the transition team told the Times that Trump does listen to advice from his children and daughter Ivanka Trump's husband, Jared Kushner, who told Trump not to pick anyone controversial for the chief of staff position. Kushner has no experience in politics or government, but often has the last word in advising Trump, the Times says.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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