WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping conservatives with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out key Cabinet roles as he continues to deliberate over his secretary of state.

Trump was moving forward with nominations, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury.

Mnuchin’s official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Trump on Tuesday chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to head the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and became close to the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump’s tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump’s senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump dined on frog legs and scallops with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Manhattan Tuesday night. After the elegant meal, the former Massachusetts governor — once a vocal critic — praised Trump for succeeding where he had failed, saying the president-elect offers a “message of inclusion and bringing people together.”

The meeting — their second in-person session — came as Trump is publicly weighing several options for secretary of state, including Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former CIA director David Petraeus.

Trump said on Twitter that he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air-conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used news of Carrier’s plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, “We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy.”

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price’s selection raised questions about the incoming president’s commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal “block grant” funding.

Like Price, Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision on secretary of state.

AP writers Catherine Lucey and Jonathan Lemire in New York and Joan Lowry and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.</s>Washington (CNN) President-elect Donald Trump is turning to a reliable stable of Republican and business world power brokers to fill out his administration, signaling he's looking to push his agenda using the political apparatus he famously pledged to dismantle.

Trump is expected to name his top fundraiser and former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin to the Treasury Department, pulling from a Wall Street world he once criticized as having "total control" over his campaign opponents. Wilbur Ross, a billionaire businessman, will be his Commerce secretary. Tuesday's announcements of Georgia Rep. Tom Price to run the Department of Health and Human Services and Elaine Chao to lead the Department of Transportation added two more Washington movers and shakers to the Trump Cabinet.

Trump pledged in his campaign to "drain the swamp" in Washington, but has also repeatedly said that he will look to people who understand the capital to help him govern. His selection of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, a former congressman, as vice president and chairman of his transition and choosing long-time political powerbrokers like GOP fundraiser Betsy DeVos as secretary of Education is part of that pattern.

"I think that what our people and Tea Party Patriots are seeing right now is that he's pulling from people who are committed to the promises he made on the campaign trail, and as far as 'draining the swamp' actually goes, I think the first thing and biggest thing to making that happen is to keep that contract with the American voter and turn that into a legislative reality," said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the grassroots conservative Tea Party Patriots group.

Democrats were happy to point out the irony of Trump nominating a Wall Street stalwart as his Treasury secretary.

"So much for draining the swamp. Nominating Steve Mnuchin to be Treasury Secretary -- a billionaire hedge fund manager and Goldman Sachs alumnus who preyed on homeowners struggling during the recession -- is a slap in the face to voters who hoped he would shake up Washington," said Democratic National Committee spokesman Adam Hodge in a statement. "Trump is already heading into office as the most corrupt, conflicted, and unpopular president-elect in history, and now he's breaking his signature promise to the voters who elected him."

When Trump's transition team was stocked with lobbyists and former lobbyists, Pence took over as chairman and instituted a policy that anyone working on the transition would have to cut ties with lobbying in the policy arena they were working on for the administration. But that only extends so far. Trump's Cabinet picks are stacked with insiders.

Price has been a fierce critic of Obamacare and will likely help lead the administration's efforts to fulfill its promise to repeal and replace the signature health care law. House Speaker Paul Ryan called Price a "very close friend" in a radio interview Tuesday.

Chao was secretary of Labor during the George W. Bush administration. She's also the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a major force behind his political career.

A transition source says Chao was a no-brainer for the administration when she expressed interest, and having a proven leader at the Department of Transportation will be key as Trump pursues a massive infrastructure building plan.

Chao and Price join earlier picks that drew from Washington.

One of Trump's first nominees was Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general, a longtime senator and a staunch anti-immigration, border hawk. As attorney general, Sessions would oversee the enforcement of the nation's immigration laws, as well as civil liberties oversight.

Trump tapped retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn as national security adviser. While Flynn had a long record in the Department of Defense, he was also pushed out for his reportedly combative leadership style, and has often been at odds with mainstream defense thinking.

Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo has been named for the post of CIA director. Pompeo is a favorite of conservatives, and was a harsh critic of Hillary Clinton on the House Benghazi Committee. He has called for strengthening America's surveillance apparatus, which was reformed after the revelations of Edward Snowden.

Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, has been named White House chief of staff -- a key post in getting policy through Congress and coordinating the administration's agenda. He's a longtime friend of Ryan, and knows Republican officials well.

But even when Trump goes outside the Beltway, the names are familiar within the GOP.

Education secretary nominee DeVos is a Michigan-based school choice activist and major Republican donor. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is Trump's nominee for the ambassador to the UN. Mnuchin and Ross both come from the world of investing and big money.

"There's a balance here," said Mike Shields, a CNN commentator and former GOP chief of staff who serves as president of the Congressional Leadership Fund. "This is a President-elect who is known for writing a book that is called 'The Art of the Deal,' and he is going to seek deals. And sometimes amongst conservatives, striking a deal can sound like a bad term."

But, Shields added: "No matter who he brings in, he himself is such an outsider, he's going to bring an outsider perspective to every decision he makes."

Former Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, who now works for lobbying and law firm DLA Piper, said Trump has picked people who can get things done -- the most important thing to getting policy in place.

"I think what he's done so far shows two things. Number one: He has picked people that know how the system works and are willing to make the commitment to him and his policies to make sure the trains run on time and the train stays on the track, and I think that's very important, particularly for someone who ran as an outsider," Chambliss said. "Secondly, I think most importantly, he's picking talent."

Many picks are still to come, experts point out, and could further indicate Trump's thinking. His national security team is still only partially installed, with the State Department and Department of Defense still in flux. Haley, Pompeo and Flynn all have different shades of conservativism, and whether Trump fosters a diverse group on national security or tries to make more of a coherent thread remains to be seen.

Democratic strategist and Obama administration alum David Axelrod, who is also a CNN commentator, said there's no way to staff an administration without people who have DC experience.

"The fact of the matter is he had no cadre of experienced advisers, so it was axiomatic that he was going to draw on some familiar Washington names," Axelrod said. "The fact that Mike Pence is leading the transition makes that more true, because he is a creature of Washington in many ways."</s>WASHINGTON- President-elect Donald Trump is enlisting a trio of nominees with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out his Cabinet, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department.

On Tuesday, Trump also chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation's health care system, picking a fierce "Obamacare" critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin's official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump's finance operations during the presidential campaign and become close with the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump's tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump's senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the "king of bankruptcy" for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump spent much of Tuesday in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as high-profile vacancies remain — none bigger than secretary of state. He emerged in the evening for a private dinner with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is on the shortlist for the nation's chief diplomat.

Romney spoke briefly to reporters after the meal, saying he has "increasing hope" that Trump can lead the country to a "better future."

A transition official said the president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used the news of Carrier's plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, "We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy."

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price's selection raised questions about the incoming president's commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.</s>Donald Trump is in the process of assembling the wealthiest Presidential administration in US history.

The President-elect has announced nominees for top positions that include several multimillionaires, an heir to a family mega-fortune, two billionaires and more ultra-rich Cabinet members are expected to be named in the coming weeks.

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a multi-millionaire in his own right, is in the running for the Secretary of State role.

While Mr Trump’s shock victory in the presidential election owed much to the working class vote, his appointees have tended to be, like Mr Trump himself, born wealthy, attended elite schools and grew up to build even bigger fortunes.

Previous Republican President George W. Bush came under fire for selecting a millionaires’ administration that ran the risk of being out of touch with average Americans. But their combined net worth of £200m is just one-tenth of the fortune of Mr Trump’s choice as Commerce Secretary, industrialist Wilbur Ross.

‘It fits into Trump’s message that he’s trying to do business in an unusual way, by bringing in these outsiders,’ Nicole Hemmer, an assistant professor in presidential studies at the University of Virginia, told the New York Times.

But she said Mr Trump and his team won’t be able to identify with poor and middle-class Americans when crafting policy in the way that President Obama could.

‘They’re just not going to have any access to that life experience. I guess it will be a test - does empathy actually matter? If you’re able to echo back what people are telling you, is that enough?’ she added.

The prospective Commerce Secretary Mr Ross, who made a £2 billion fortune running Rothschild’s bankruptcy practice, is just one of the super-rich who will soon be running the country.

The others include Mr Trump’s Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos, a billionaire whose family founded beauty care giant Amway and is worth a combined £4 billion, and Elaine Chao, the prospective Transportation Secretary, who’s the daughter of a shipping magnate.

Mr Trump’s choice as deputy at the Commerce Department, Todd Ricketts, is the son of a billionaire and the co-owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball club and Steven Mnuchin, who Mr Trump hopes will be his Treasury Secretary, is a former Goldman Sachs executive, hedge fund executive and Hollywood financier.

Among the other wealthy additions to Mr Trump’s team is likely to be Harold Ham, an oil industry executive worth roughly £12 billion, who is being lined up as Energy Secretary.

‘I’m not shocked by this. It’s a billionaire president being surrounded by a billionaire and millionaire cabinet, with a billionaire agenda... to hurt the middle class,’ Senator Sherrod Brown told the Times.

‘The appointments suggest that he’s going to break his campaign promises.’

‘This isn’t a criticism or a conspiracy but it’s important to recognise that everyone’s perspective and policy and government is shaped by the kind of life you’ve lived,’ added Nicholas Carnes, a political scientist at Duke University. ‘The research really says that when you put a bunch of millionaires in charge, you can expect public policy that helps millionaires at the expense of everybody else.’

Despite their lack of experience in government, the nominees insist they have what it takes.

‘I think one of the good things about both Wilbur and I, we have actually been bankers,” Mr Mnuchin told CNBC, adding: ‘We’ve been in the business of regional banking, and we understand what it means to make loans.’</s>US president-elect Donald Trump made two cabinet selections yesterday, choosing fierce Obamacare critic Tom Price to lead the department of health and human services, and Elaine Chao, who served in the cabinet of George W Bush, as secretary of transport.

Mr Trump announced his choice of Mr Price, while the selection of Ms Chao, the wife of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, was revealed byother sources.

Mr Price is “exceptionally qualified” to lead an effort to repeal and replace President Barack Obama’s health care law, Mr Trump said. The president-elect’s transition team did not immediately respond to questions about the congressman’s past commitment to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a position at odds with Mr Trump’s repeated campaign promises not to cut the popular health care programme that serves an estimated 57 million people.

The president-elect appeared to still be torn over his choice for secretary of state. He summoned Mitt Romney to New York for dinner last night to discuss the post for a second time. He was also meeting Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, who is getting new attention from Mr Trump’s team. On Monday, Mr Trump spent an hour with retired general David Petraeus, another contender.

Mr Trump’s decision to consider Mr Romney for the powerful cabinet post has sparked a public backlash from some of his closest aides and allies. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway has warned that it would be a “betrayal” to Trump supporters if he selected Mr Romney, who was a severe critic of the president-elect during the campaign.

Even as he weighed crucial cabinet decisions, Mr Trump appeared distracted by outside issues. He took to Twitter early yesterday to declare that “nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag”.

He warned that those who do should face “perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”</s>Image copyright AP Image caption Steven Mnuchin amassed a fortune during his 17 years at Goldman Sachs

Former Goldman Sachs executive Steve Mnuchin has confirmed he will be the new US treasury secretary ahead of an official announcement.

Mr Mnuchin told CNBC on Wednesday his priority in his new job would be to cut corporate taxes and boost the economy.

He said that cutting taxes would stimulate "huge economic growth".

Mr Mnuchin was Mr Trump's campaign finance chairman and has no government experience. He earned a fortune over 17 years at Goldman Sachs investment bank.

He told CNBC that most tax cuts would benefit middle-income people.

"Any reductions we have in upper income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class," he said.

On Tuesday, Mr Trump picked Tom Price as health secretary and Elaine Chao as transportation secretary.

He is still weighing his options in filling the posts of state and defence.

Wall Street insider

After leaving Goldman Sachs Mr Mnuchin founded a movie production company that was behind such box office hits as the X-Men franchise and American Sniper.

But it is not yet clear whether Mr Trump's first key economic policy move, potentially picking a consummate Wall Street insider to helm the nation's financial system, will be welcomed by supporters who were energised by the Republican's vow to "drain the swamp" of special interests.

Image copyright AP Image caption Tom Price (L) has been picked as health secretary and Elaine Chao (R) for transportation secretary

Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross - known as "the king of bankruptcy" for his restructuring of failing industries - is tipped to be named as Mr Trump's commerce secretary.

Elaine Chao

Ms Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, led the Labor Department from 2001-09 under President George W Bush.

Born in Taiwan, she was the first Asian-American woman to hold a position in a presidential cabinet.

The 63-year-old also served as deputy secretary of transportation in President George HW Bush's administration.

Ms Chao will play a crucial role under Mr Trump, who has vowed to make infrastructure spending on the country's roads, bridges and other public transit an integral part of his agenda.

She came to the US with her family at the age of eight and settled in New York, where her father became a shipping magnate.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ms Chao is married to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell

Tom Price

Mr Price, a 62-year-old congressman and orthopaedic surgeon, serves as the chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee.

The Georgia congressman has fiercely opposed the Affordable Healthcare Act, considered Mr Obama's flagship measure, and is expected to play a key role in efforts to dismantle the law.

During his election campaign, Mr Trump vowed to repeal and replace the act, but has since said he favours keeping certain provisions.

Mr Trump said Mr Price was a "tireless problem solver" and "the go-to expert on healthcare policy".

Mr Price said he was looking forward to the opportunity of serving as health secretary on behalf of the American people.

He said his aim was to create a new system that worked for patients, families and doctors, adding that it should "protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit".

But the appointment provoked a backlash from Democrats.

Liberal New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted: "Donald Trump's HHS pick makes it clear that he wants to take away health care from the aging and the poor. It will be up to us to stop him."

On Tuesday, Mr Trump met Mitt Romney for a second time despite one of his top aides launching a public campaign against offering the former Massachusetts governor the post of secretary of state.

Mr Trump had dinner with Mr Romney and the president-elect's chief of staff, Reince Priebus.

Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway spoke out against Mr Romney on Sunday, saying Mr Trump's supporters felt "betrayed" he would consider the 2012 Republican nominee for the prominent role.

Image caption Donald Trump had dinner with Mitt Romney (right) and his chief of staff Reince Priebus (left) on Tuesday

Mr Romney was one of Mr Trump's harshest critics during the campaign.

The president-elect will also sit down with Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee.

The two men are leading contenders for the all-important diplomatic post.

Earlier, Mr Trump met retired Gen David Petraeus. He said he was "very impressed" with the former CIA director in a tweet after their meeting on Monday.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is enlisting a trio of nominees with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out his Cabinet, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department.

On Tuesday, Trump also chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin’s official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and become close with the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump’s tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump’s senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump spent much of Tuesday in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as high-profile vacancies remain — none bigger than secretary of state. He emerged in the evening for a private dinner with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is on the shortlist for the nation’s chief diplomat.

Romney spoke briefly to reporters after the meal, saying he has “increasing hope” that Trump can lead the country to a “better future.”

A transition official said the president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used the news of Carrier’s plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, “We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy.”

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price’s selection raised questions about the incoming president’s commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump did not address Price’s position on Medicare in a statement released by his transition team. The team did not respond to subsequent questions about it.

“Chairman Price, a renowned physician, has earned a reputation for being a tireless problem solver and the go-to expert on health care policy, making him the ideal choice to serve in this capacity,” Trump said. “He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care to every American.”

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican. And I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican’s going to cut,” Trump told the Daily Signal.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal “block grant” funding.

Like any Cabinet official, Price would carry out the wishes of the president. And a sweeping Medicare initiative would have to go through Congress with some Democratic support, which would be unlikely.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders charged that Price “has a long history of wanting to do exactly the opposite of what Trump campaigned on.”

Like Price, Elaine Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Whether it’s integrating drones into the national airspace, deploying self-driving cars or “some other new technology, she’s not going to be especially inclined to second guess the industry when they say that this will be safe,” said Thomas McGarity, a University of Texas law professor and author of “Freedom to Harm,” a book about the Labor Department that includes Chao’s tenure.

The president-elect summoned Romney for dinner Tuesday night to discuss the secretary of state job for a second time. He also met with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, having met with former CIA director David Petraeus the day before.

After his meeting, Corker told reporters, “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president,” a possible jab at Romney, who aggressively opposed Trump’s candidacy.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision.

Even as he weighed crucial Cabinet decisions, Trump appeared distracted by outside issues — or eager to create distractions himself. He tweeted that “nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag.” He warned that those who do should face “perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Trump offered no context for his message. The Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment, and Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he doesn’t support Trump’s approach.

“I support the First Amendment,” he said.</s>By Steve Peoples, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Julie Pace, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is enlisting a trio of nominees with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out his Cabinet, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury Department.

On Tuesday, Trump also chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation’s health care system, picking a fierce “Obamacare” critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin’s official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump’s finance operations during the presidential campaign and become close with the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump’s tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump’s senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the “king of bankruptcy” for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump spent much of Tuesday in his Manhattan skyscraper, racing through meetings with prospective administration hires as high-profile vacancies remain — none bigger than secretary of state. He emerged in the evening for a private dinner with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is on the shortlist for the nation’s chief diplomat.

A transition official said the president-elect and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used the news of Carrier’s plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, “We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy.”

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan’s plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price’s selection raised questions about the incoming president’s commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump did not address Price’s position on Medicare in a statement released by his transition team. The team did not respond to subsequent questions about it.

“Chairman Price, a renowned physician, has earned a reputation for being a tireless problem solver and the go-to expert on health care policy, making him the ideal choice to serve in this capacity,” Trump said. “He is exceptionally qualified to shepherd our commitment to repeal and replace Obamacare and bring affordable and accessible health care to every American.”

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican. And I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid. Every other Republican’s going to cut,” Trump told the Daily Signal.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal “block grant” funding.

Like any Cabinet official, Price would carry out the wishes of the president. And a sweeping Medicare initiative would have to go through Congress with some Democratic support, which would be unlikely.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders charged that Price “has a long history of wanting to do exactly the opposite of what Trump campaigned on.”

Like Price, Elaine Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn’t issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Whether it’s integrating drones into the national airspace, deploying self-driving cars or “some other new technology, she’s not going to be especially inclined to second guess the industry when they say that this will be safe,” said Thomas McGarity, a University of Texas law professor and author of “Freedom to Harm,” a book about the Labor Department that includes Chao’s tenure.

The president-elect summoned Romney for dinner Tuesday night to discuss the secretary of state job for a second time. He also met with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, having met with former CIA director David Petraeus the day before.

After his meeting, Corker told reporters, “The world needs to know that the secretary of state is someone who speaks fully for the president,” a possible jab at Romney, who aggressively opposed Trump’s candidacy.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision.

Even as he weighed crucial Cabinet decisions, Trump appeared distracted by outside issues — or eager to create distractions himself. He tweeted that “nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag.” He warned that those who do should face “perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”

Trump offered no context for his message. The Supreme Court has ruled that flag burning is protected by the First Amendment, and Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he doesn’t support Trump’s approach.

“I support the First Amendment,” he said.

AP writers Catherine Lucey and Jonathan Lemire in New York and Joan Lowry and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump and his administration (all times EST):

President-elect Donald Trump is kicking off a “thank-you” tour in Ohio.

Trump announced the plans Tuesday on his website. He and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will appear in Cincinnati at 7 p.m. Thursday night.

Trump thrived on his large and often raucous rallies during the campaign. Trump has not announced any more stops on the tour, but his website also lists a rally with Pence in New Orleans on Saturday.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Elaine Chao to become transportation secretary, according to a Trump source.

The source has knowledge of the pick by spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the pick, which is expected to be announced Tuesday afternoon.

Chao, 63, was labor secretary under President George W. Bush and the first Asian American woman to serve in a president’s Cabinet. She also is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Chao came to the United States from Taiwan with her family at 8 years old. Her family settled in New York, where her father became a wealthy shipping magnate. She became head of the Peace Corps and deputy secretary of Transportation before taking over the Labor Department.

As Labor secretary, her job was to protect the nation’s workforce, including setting safety standards and addressing issues related to wages and retirement. She updated overtime regulations for “white-collar” workers and rules intended to force unions to disclose more details on their financial condition to members.

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is meeting with Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general.

It’s the first time a Trump Cabinet nominee has met with a member of Congress on Capitol Hill. Sessions is a Republican senator from Alabama who sits on Grassley’s committee. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected have the votes to confirm Sessions to Trump’s Cabinet.

Grassley says the panel plans to hold a confirmation hearing before Trump’s inauguration Jan. 20.

Senate Democrats in a letter called for a “fair and thorough” hearing and said the attorney general must be “the people’s lawyer, not the president’s lawyer.”

House Speaker Paul Ryan says the election was “pretty fair,” rejecting President-elect Donald Trump’s talk of voter fraud and independent Jill Stein’s recount effort.

The Wisconsin Republican was interviewed Tuesday by WCLO radio in his hometown of Janesville, Wis. Ryan said he didn’t see “any evidence of systemic fraud.”

Trump has claimed, without evidence, that millions voted illegally in three states that Democrat Hillary Clinton won — California, New Hampshire and Virginia. Stein has raised millions of dollars to finance recount votes in Wisconsin and is pressing for new counts in Pennsylvania and Michigan — states that Trump won.

The chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party is announcing plans Tuesday to seek the Democratic National Committee chairmanship.

Ray Buckley’s bid comes as the Democratic National Committee is deciding how to move forward after major losses in the presidential contest and races nationwide. Buckley says the DNC “from top to bottom needs urgent reform.”

New Hampshire was a bright spot for Democrats at the top of the ticket this year, with outgoing Gov. Maggie Hassan winning a U.S. Senate seat and Democrats taking both congressional seats.

Donald Trump’s spokesman says the president-elect is poised to name a transportation secretary.

Jason Miller tells Fox Business Network that Trump is expected to name the person to his Cabinet Tuesday afternoon.

Pennsylvania Republican congressman Lou Barletta has been a leading candidate for the position and is scheduled to meet with Trump Tuesday.

Barletta is a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and chairs the panel that oversees federal management of emergencies and natural disasters. He also serves on the House committees on homeland security and education and the workforce.

The No. 2 Republican in the House is dismissing President-elect Donald Trump’s baseless claim of voter fraud in this month’s election as well as the effort by independent Jill Stein to press for a recount in several states.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday that he trusts the results. He said: “I don’t have a problem, I think it’s time to govern.”

Trump tweeted on Sunday that there was voter fraud in McCarthy’s home state of California, New Hampshire and Virginia without providing any data to back up his claim.

McCarthy also said: “The election’s over I’m not into this recount.” Stein is pushing for a recount in several states where Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump says that anyone who burns an American flag should face unspecified “consequences,” such as jail or a loss of citizenship.

The president-elect’s tweet is a direct conflict with free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution. It comes as he prepares to name a secretary of state.

He tweets: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” It was not clear what prompted the tweet Tuesday morning.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1989 that flag-burning is protected by the First Amendment.

Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy suggested on CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday that Trump’s tweet was wrong. He said, “We want to protect those people who want to protest....I disagree with Mr. Trump on that.”

Duffy is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee’s panel on oversight and investigations.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the incoming Senate Democratic leader, is strongly criticizing Donald Trump’s pick of Rep. Tom Price to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Schumer said in a statement early Tuesday that the Georgia congressman “has proven to be far out of the mainstream of what Americans want when it comes to Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and Planned Parenthood.”

Schumer said those programs have helped millions of Americans, including “seniors, families, people with disabilities and women have access to quality, affordable health care.”

Having Price as HHS secretary, Schumer said, “is akin to asking the fox to guard the hen house.”

A Trump spokesman says Rep. Tom Price, Donald Trump’s nominee for Health and Human Services secretary, will have as his top mission replacing the so-called “Obamacare” health care law.

Jason Miller said Tuesday in a CNN interview that Price, an orthopedic surgeon and current Georgia congressman, will “lead the charge” on repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, which Trump targeted during his presidential campaign.

Miller says the law “is imploding” because of increasing premiums and other costs.

The law has extended health care coverage to millions of previously uninsured people, and Trump has said he plans to keep some of its provisions, including allowing people up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ health insurance.

Donald Trump’s choice to head the Department of Health and Human Services says he’ll work to ensure a health care system based on “sensible rules.”

Georgia congressman Tom Price, an orthopedic surgeon, says the system should work for patients, families and doctors. But he adds in a statement that it should be balanced to “protect the well-being of the country while embracing its innovative spirit.”

The president-elect nominated Price on Monday to head the agency. If Price is confirmed by the Senate, he’ll play a central role in repealing and replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Trump is expected to name more members of his administration this week.

Donald Trump’s hunt for a secretary of state is veering into dramatic terrain, with the president-elect summoning Mitt Romney back for a second look as a top aide leads a public pressure campaign against the pick.

Trump has a follow-up meeting Tuesday with the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, who has become a symbol of the internal divisions agitating the transition team. He also plans to sit with Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On Monday, Trump spent an hour with retired Gen. David Petraeus, a new contender.

Aides were divided over Trump’s choices. Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway has warned that Trump’s supporters would feel “betrayed” if he tapped Romney.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence has teased “a number of very important announcements” on Tuesday.</s>WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping conservatives with deep ties to Washington and Wall Street to fill out key Cabinet roles as he continues to deliberate over his secretary of state.

Trump was moving forward with nominations, including former Goldman Sachs executive Steven Mnuchin as secretary of the Treasury.

Mnuchin's official announcement was expected as early as Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the decision who insisted on anonymity in order to confirm the pick ahead of time.

Trump on Tuesday chose Georgia Rep. Tom Price to oversee the nation's health care system, picking a fierce "Obamacare" critic who has championed efforts to privatize Medicare. And he selected another veteran Republican, Elaine Chao, a former labor secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to head the Department of Transportation.

Mnuchin, 53, led Trump's finance operations during the presidential campaign and became close to the president-elect and his family. But he has no government experience, which could prove a hurdle in navigating the tricky politics of Washington.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mnuchin would play a central role in shaping Trump's tax policies and infrastructure plans. He would also lead an agency tasked with implementing international economic sanctions.

Mnuchin is expected to be joined on Trump's senior economic team by another financier, Wilbur Ross. The billionaire investor is considered the "king of bankruptcy" for buying beaten-down companies with the potential to deliver profits.

Trump dined on frog legs and scallops with 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Manhattan Tuesday night. After the elegant meal, the former Massachusetts governor — once a vocal critic — praised Trump for succeeding where he had failed, saying the president-elect offers a "message of inclusion and bringing people together."

The meeting — their second in-person session — came as Trump is publicly weighing several options for secretary of state, including Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former CIA director David Petraeus.

Trump said on Twitter that he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will travel to Indiana on Thursday for an event with Carrier, the air-conditioning company. During the campaign, Trump repeatedly used news of Carrier's plans to move some business to Mexico as criticism of Democratic trade policies. Carrier tweeted, "We are pleased to have reached a deal with President-elect Trump & VP-elect Pence to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indy."

Price, picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services after more than a decade in Congress, helped craft House Speaker Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare — a position Trump opposed in the campaign.

Price's selection raised questions about the incoming president's commitment to Medicare, among other popular entitlement programs he repeatedly vowed to preserve before the election. The Georgia congressman led GOP efforts on Capitol Hill to transform Medicare into a voucher-like system, a change that if enacted, would likely dramatically reduce government spending on the health care program that serves an estimated 57 million people.

Trump, in a 2015 interview promoted on his campaign website, pledged not to cut expensive entitlement programs that Republicans have fought for years to cut to help reduce the federal deficit.

He later changed his mind on Medicaid, embracing the GOP concept of turning the program over to the states with a fixed amount of federal "block grant" funding.

Like Price, Chao is well-known in Washington. She was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a president's Cabinet, as labor secretary under George W. Bush.

Her record in that post suggests she would bring a light hand to safety enforcement as transportation secretary. Under Chao at Labor, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration didn't issue a single significant new safety regulation for four years. Mine safety inspectors were cut and inspections reduced.

Transition aides said Trump was likely at least a few days away from a decision on secretary of state.
President-elect Donald Trump names Tom Price as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services; former President George W. Bush Administration official and wife of Mitch McConnell Elaine Chao as United States Secretary of Transportation; (BBC)