Vice President-elect Mike Pence will replace New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as chairman of President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential transition effort, a change that will cement Pence’s influence over the incoming administration’s policy and personnel.
The transition shake-up, announced Friday, will substantially dilute the influence of Christie and his closest aides. Rick Dearborn, the chief of staff to Sen. Jeff Sessions, an Alabama Republican, a Trump loyalist, will now serve as the transition’s executive director, replacing ex-Christie chief of staff Richard Bagger.
Christie was named a vice chair of the transition Friday along with Sessions, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former House speaker Newt Gingrich, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Republican presidential primary contender Ben Carson – all considered likely members of a Trump administration.
“Together this outstanding group of advisors, led by Vice President-elect Mike Pence, will build on the initial work done under the leadership of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to help prepare a transformative government ready to lead from day one,” Trump said in a statement.
“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,” the statement said. “Together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding this nation – specifically jobs, security and opportunity.”
The changes come as the transition effort races to organize personnel and policy for the administration that will begin Jan. 20. Three days after Trump’s surprise win over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and one day after Trump met with leaders in Washington, campaign insiders spent Friday at Trump Tower in Manhattan to discuss the next steps.
The group included Christie, who met privately Thursday with campaign chairman and Breitbart News chief Steve Bannon for several hours, according to two people familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity to discuss Friday’s shake-up.
A senior Republican briefed on the Trump transition team’s deliberations said Trump confidants, including son-in-law Jared Kushner and banker Steven Mnuchin, his campaign’s national finance co-chairman and a possible Cabinet appointee, felt the transition team was too loyal to Christie and wanted to assert Trump’s influence on the operation. The Republican spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks have been confidential.
“The Trump high command felt like the president-elect needed to get control of his transition,” this person said. “It was populated with Christie loyalists, not that they weren’t for Trump, and it didn’t appear to be as ramped up as it should have been. So taking a page from George W. Bush’s book, he decided to put his vice president in charge.”
Other people familiar with Friday’s developments played down the reduction in Christie’s power but acknowledged that he had been layered in the inner circle. They described Sessions and Dearborn as low-key presences at Trump Tower in recent days and the “natural” successors to Christie because of their loyalty to the candidate and populist instincts. Neither clashed with Christie, the people said.
The appointment of Dearborn is intended to install someone well known to Congress to serve as a bridge between Trump Tower and Capitol Hill, helping recruit talent and processing incoming requests and résumés from lawmakers. Pence is also bringing on three of his senior advisers – Nick Ayers, Josh Pitcock and Marc Short – to assist him on transition work.
Other prominent Trump allies will serve on the transition team’s 16-person executive committee, including Mnuchin, Kushner, Bannon, billionaire investor Peter Thiel and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.
Trump’s three eldest children – Ivanka, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric – were also named as members of the panel. This could present conflicts of interest, since Trump said during the campaign the three would run the Trump Organization on his behalf if he won the presidency.