Washington
Trump said he has asked his transition team to come up with a list of executive actions that the administration can take “on Day One to restore our laws and bring back our jobs.”
He laid out several of these actions, but did not provide any details about how they would work.
On the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, the president-elect said he’d issue “a notification of intent to withdraw” from the agreement.
He also plans to “cancel” what he called “job-killing restrictions on the production of American energy.”
Trump wants the Labor Department to investigate visa violations that “undercut the American worker.” Using his now ubiquitous tagline about draining the swamp, Trump repeated his promise to ban executive staff from becoming lobbyists for five years after they leave the administration. The ban also includes a lifetime prohibition on executive officials lobbying on behalf of foreign governments.
The president-elect promised new rules that would require two old regulations to be dismantled whenever one new regulation is created.
On national security and defense, he plans to ask the Department of Defense to come up with what he called “a comprehensive plan” to protect American infrastructure from “cyberattacks and all other forms of attack.”
The video — which made no mention of key pledges to build a border wall with Mexico or repeal the Affordable Care Act — continues the president-elect’s practice of trying to go over the heads of the media and take his case directly to the American public.
Trump meanwhile on Monday was holding court from his perch high above Manhattan, receiving a line of former rivals, longtime allies and TV executives while overseeing a presidential transition that at times resembles a reality show like the one he once hosted.
Trump met with nearly a dozen prospective hires, all of whom were paraded in front of the cameras set up in the Trump Tower lobby as they entered an elevator to see the president-elect.
Trump did not announce any appointments after the meetings, which came on the heels of a two-day whirlwind of interviews at his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Unlike his predecessors, who often spoke with Cabinet candidates under a cloud of secrecy, Trump has turned the search into a very public audition process. The extraordinary exercise took on a routine feel on Monday.
First, former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown stepped off the gold-plated elevator into the marble-coated lobby after his meeting to declare to waiting reporters that he was “the best person” to become Veterans Affairs secretary.
Next, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a candidate for interior secretary, did much the same, striding off the lift to say she had “a wonderful discussion” with Trump.
Former Texas Governor Rick Perry declined to speak to reporters, although he did take time for a photo with the Naked Cowboy, the underwear-sporting, guitar-strumming New York institution who has spent recent days at Trump Tower singing about the president-elect.
Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned her post on the Democratic National Committee after endorsing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, also met with Trump but entered and exited out of sight.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime Trump ally, also arrived and told reporters that he indicated to Trump that he was interested in being a “senior planner” to coordinate long-term political efforts among the Republicans in control of all three branches of government.
Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said of the visitors, “Not all of them will be in his Cabinet and his federal government, but they are all incredibly important in offering their points of views, their experience and certainly their vision of the country.”
— Associated Press contributed ot this report.
He was planning to leave today or Wednesday to spend the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence will spend Thanksgiving in Mississippi, where his Marine son is stationed.
Since Election Day, Trump has twice ditched the group of reporters designated to follow his movements and has so far eschewed the traditional news conference held by the president-elect in the days after winning.
Trump has not held a full-fledged news conference since July.
But the media were clearly on his mind as he met Monday with executives and on-air personalities from TV networks. He frequently singled out the media — declaring them “so dishonest” — for criticism during the campaign, but it’s not unusual for presidents to hold off-the-record meetings with journalists when trying to promote policies or programs.
Among the attendees were NBC anchor Lester Holt and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, ABC’s Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos and anchor David Muir, CBS’ Face the Nation host John Dickerson, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and several executives at the networks.
None of the attendees would discuss the meeting with reporters in the lobby, though Conway said it was “very cordial, very productive, very congenial.”
— Associated Press contributed to this report.