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Trump’s Team to Include Three of his Children and his Son-in-Law | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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U.S. President, real estate mogul and TV personality Donald Trump poses with his family after formally announcing his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination during an event at Trump Tower in New York June 16, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid


Washington – President-elect Donald Trump assigned three of his five children and his son-in-law Jared Kushner as part of his transition team.

Donald Trump tweeted: “Busy day planned in New York. Will soon be making some very important decisions on the people who will be running our government!”

He pointed out that his vice president Mike Pence will take over the transition team.

On Friday, Trump met with many of his top advisers in his Manhattan apartment at Trump Tower to discuss formation of his administration prior to taking office on January 20.

New security measures were taken around the Trump Tower with barricades and checkpoints.

Trump has about 70 days to decide on a 15-member Cabinet as well as other top staff for his administration. Several of his close advisers have been mentioned as options to fill key posts. Here are some of the names on the table.

Internally, Trump is working on forming his team and filling key posts. Some names are circulating in media including: former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani Giuliani, former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, New Jersey governor Chris Christie, Senator Bob Crocker, among others and all are old white men.

The White House announced that Obama will meet several German, French, British, and Italian officials and leaders during his visit to Berlin.

During his last Veterans Day speech, Obama urged Americans to learn from the example of veterans as a divided nation seeks to “forge unity” after the bitter 2016 campaign.

Obama, in remarks at Arlington National Cemetery, noted that Veterans Day often comes on the heels of hard-fought campaigns that “lay bare disagreements across our nation.”
“But the American instinct has never been to find isolation in opposite corners,” Obama said.

“It is to find strength in our common creed, to forge unity from our great diversity, to maintain that strength and unity even when it is hard,” he added.

On Thursday, Trump met with Obama at the Oval Office, which Obama described as excellent meeting.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has spoken of his confidence that Donald Trump will distance himself from his campaign rhetoric and address global issues such as climate change during his presidency.

During an interview, Ban Ki-Moon said he hoped to meet America’s President-elect in the coming weeks, and that he expected the United States to retain its “leading role” on key issues under Trump’s Government.

The U.N. released a statement following Trump’s victory to say the two men had spoken and had agreed to stay in contact.

Ban Ki-Moon, who is due to step down on 31 December after 10 years as the world’s diplomat-in-chief, believes Trump will understand the importance of maintaining the historic agreement.

“He has made a lot of worrying statements, but I am sure that he will understand the whole importance and seriousness and urgency. The presidency may be important, but humanity and all our lives and our planet Earth are eternal,” Sec-Gen said.

“Now business communities are fully on board. Civil society members are fully on board. How can one change all this course? It’s a huge trend,” Ban added.

But, a source in the Trump transition team said Trump, who has called global warming a hoax, was considering ways to bypass a theoretical four-year procedure for leaving the accord.

“It was reckless for the Paris agreement to enter into force before the election,” said the source, who works on Trump’s transition team for international energy and climate policy, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“If one party decides to withdraw that it doesn’t call the agreement into question,” said a U.N. official.