WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is considering a woman to run the Republican Party and an openly gay man to represent the U.S. at the United Nations, moves that would inject diversity into a Trump team.

The incoming president is considering Richard Grenell as United States ambassador to the United Nations. If picked and ultimately confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first openly gay person to fill a Cabinet-level foreign policy post. Grenell previously served as U.S. spokesman at the U.N. under former President George W. Bush's administration.

At the same time, Trump is weighing whether to select Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, a niece of Trump critic and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney. She would be the first woman in decades to run the Republican National Committee.

"I'll be interested in whatever Mr. Trump wants," McDaniel told The Associated Press on Monday, adding that she was planning to seek the Michigan GOP chairmanship again.

Appointing McDaniel to run the GOP's political arm could be an effort to help the party heal the anger after a campaign in which Trump demeaned women. The appointment of Grenell could begin to ease concerns by the gay community about Vice President-elect Mike Pence's positions on same-sex marriage during his time as Indiana governor.

The personnel moves under consideration were confirmed by people with direct knowledge of Trump's thinking who were not authorized to publicly disclose private discussions. They stressed that the decisions are not final.

Internal deliberations about staffing come a day after Trump made overtures to warring Republican circles by appointing RNC Chairman Reince Priebus as his White House chief of staff and Breitbart News executive Stephen Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor.

The two men had made up the president-elect's chief of staff shortlist, and while Priebus received that job, Bannon is expected to wield significant clout. Trump gave top billing to the former media executive, who led a website that appealed to the so-called "alt-right" — a movement often associated with efforts on the far right to preserve "white identity," oppose multiculturalism and defend "Western values."

Priebus on Monday defended the media mogul, saying the two made an effective pair as they steered Trump past Democrat Hillary Clinton and toward the presidency. He sought to distance Bannon from the incendiary headlines on his website, saying they were written by unspecified others.

"Together, we've been able to manage a lot of the decision making in regard to the campaign," Priebus told NBC's "Today." ''It's worked very, very well."

Trump's hires were, at first glance, contradictory, though they fit a pattern of the celebrity businessman creating a veritable Rorschach test that allowed his supporters to see what they wanted. Priebus, who lashed the RNC to Trump this summer despite some intraparty objections, is a GOP operative with deep expertise of the Washington establishment that Trump has vowed to shake up. He has close ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Wisconsinite.

Bannon, meanwhile, helped transform the Breitbart News site into the leading mouthpiece of the party's anti-establishment wing, which helped fuel the businessman's political rise. Ryan has been one of his most frequent targets.

Neither Priebus nor Bannon brings policy experience to the White House. Chiefs of staff in particular play a significant role in policymaking, serving as a liaison to Cabinet agencies and deciding what information makes it to the president's desk. They're often one of the last people in the room with the president as major decisions are made.

In announcing the appointments, Trump said Priebus and Bannon would work as "equal partners" — effectively creating two power centers in the West Wing. The arrangement is risky and could leave ambiguity over who makes final decisions.

Trump has long encouraged rivalries, both in business and in his presidential campaign. He cycled through three campaign managers during his White House run, creating a web of competing alliances among staffers.

Priebus is a traditional choice, one meant as an olive branch to the Republicans who control both houses of Congress as Trump looks to pass his legislative agenda.

The Bannon pick, however, is controversial.

Bannon, who became campaign CEO in August, pushed Trump to adopt more populist rhetoric and paint rival Hillary Clinton as part of a global conspiracy made up of the political, financial and media elite, bankers bent on oppressing the country's working people — a message that carried Trump to the White House but to some, carried anti-Semitic undertones.

An ex-wife of Bannon said he expressed fear of Jews when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers reviewed this summer by The Associated Press. In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Mary Louise Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he "didn't want the girls going to school with Jews."

A spokeswoman for Bannon denied he made those statements.

AP writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, Ken Thomas in New York contributed to this report.</s>Washington (CNN) Donald Trump's transition is being marked by sharp internal disagreements over key cabinet appointments and direction, both for internal West Wing positions and key national security posts, sources involved in the transition team tell CNN.

One source with knowledge of the transition described it as a "knife fight."

The split has put traditional Republican operatives such as Reince Priebus -- named Trump's chief of staff Sunday -- against more non-traditional influences such as Steve Bannon -- the alt-right leader of Breitbart News -- who will be Trump's chief strategist. A particular challenge is lack of clarity about the division of power among Priebus, Bannon and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who also has a key role in transition decisions. Another source tied to the transition described resulting the confusion as "buffoonery."

The divisions are being played out as Trump considers key appointments in the national security and diplomatic sectors, including secretary of state, with mainstream conservatives supporting John Bolton against Rudy Giuliani, who is seen as a loyalist to Trump.

On other key national security appointments, there is more agreement. Senator Jeff Sessions is the leading contender for secretary of defense, say multiple sources with knowledge of the transition. Retired Lt. General Ron Burgess, former director of the DIA, is a leading contender for director of national intelligence. Retired General Michael Flynn is leading candidate for national security adviser.

No matter who gets what job, one description seems to fit the makeup of the short list: unconventional. And it highlights the dilemma faced by Trump, who is now torn between a campaign promise to shake up Washington and a need to build a national security team with policy experience.

The presence of so many political backers could signal that Trump values loyalty over experience and is keen to have people on board who share his worldview and are willing to depart from conventional wisdom.

This is particularly true when it comes to the secretary of state post. The position of America's chief diplomat is considered a particularly high-profile one, charged with maintaining relationships around the globe.

But some of the names being rumored for the job seem to indicate that Trump will favor an iconoclastic approach to the role:

Bolton, a diplomat in the George W. Bush administration, backed Trump soon after he secured the nomination and would be one of the more conventional choices.

But despite spending years at the State Department, Bolton has at times rankled feathers in Washington. He was appointed to be ambassador to the UN, a cabinet level position, in 2005. But his nomination was met with fierce opposition in Congress and Bush was forced to appoint him during a congressional recess.

A source familiar with the transition said the Trump team acknowledges that Bolton's confirmation might be difficult but they think it would be less tough than it was 10 years ago.

He also has elements of the conservative mainstream in his corner; he was endorsed by the influential National Review magazine in an open letter to President-elect Trump over the weekend.

Bolton has consistently advocated for unilateral and interventionist approaches to foreign policy challenges.

Like Trump he has opposed the Iran nuclear deal going so far as to call for airstrikes against Iran, penning a 2015 op-ed in the New York Times titled "To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran."

He has also been highly critical of international institutions and organizations like the UN, something that tracks closely with Trump's professed "America first" and anti-"globalist" approach to foreign policy. In that vein Bolton led efforts to withdraw America's signature from the International Criminal Court.

But Bolton has also been a harsh critic of Russia -- a stance that might put him at odds with any effort to improve ties with Moscow, something Trump has stated as an objective of his administration.

Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor and mayor of New York, has little foreign policy experience to speak of but has been a vocal advocate of Trump's since early on in the campaign.

During his own run for the presidency in 2008, Giuliani espoused a fairly conventional Republican foreign policy view, calling on continued US engagement abroad and robust efforts to fight terrorism and stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also signaled support for democracy promotion, something at odds with Trump's pronouncements where he has put value on stability and counter-terrorism as opposed to democracy and human rights.

A source familiar with the transition process told CNN that Giuliani has expressed his preference for the secretary of state position as opposed to the post of attorney general.

On the defense side, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn has emerged as a possible choice for national security adviser. Former military officers have found themselves in the role before, Barack Obama's first national security agency was former Gen. James Jones and Colin Powell served as the National Security Adviser to President Ronald Reagan.

Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, is well versed in international and security affairs.

But Flynn, a vocal and sometimes fiery advocate for the president-elect during the campaign, has also echoed Trump's rhetoric of fighting terrorism, boosting ties with Russia, and casting a more critical eye on NATO.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, possible secretary of defense or attorney general

According to one source familiar with transition, the job of Defense Secretary is Sessions' if he wants it. Trump is also interested in the senator for attorney general, CNN's Dana Bash reports.

Sessions would also be a more conventional choice having represented Alabama in the Senate since 1997. He sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee and also served in the US Army Reserve from 1973-1986.

Sessions also meets the loyalty test having been the first sitting senator to endorse Trump during the campaign.

But Sessions is not a typical Washington insider, at times taking positions at odds with his colleagues on the Armed Services committee.

While Sessions has called for a defense spending boost, many of his other positions, such as a skeptical view of NATO and friendlier view of Russia, while at odds with his Republican senatorial colleagues brought him more into line with Trump's campaign comments.

Sessions shares Trump's hardline positions on immigration as well and is also under consideration for Attorney General.

Why there are so few conventional choices

A few more establishment type names are being floated for roles that oversee the intelligence community.

Burgess, the former DIA director, is also thought to be a potential selection for the director of national intelligence, which oversees the sprawling intelligence community.

And Pete Hoekstra, a long-serving former congressman from Michigan who chaired the House Intelligence Committee from 2004-2007 is thought to be in the running for the same role or director of the CIA.

While more conventional picks had initially been rumored for State and Defense such as the head of the Council of Foreign Relations, Richard Haas, and George W. Bush's National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, most analysts are beginning to believe that the odds favor a more conventional choice.

One of the reasons for the non-traditional short-list is that many of the Republican Party's most senior national security experts denounced their presidential candidate during the campaign as too reckless to lead the nation safely, somewhat limiting the pool from which to draw.

But some foreign policy luminaries have suggested that Republican experts should put aside their differences and Brent Scowcroft, George H.W. Bush's national security adviser national security adviser and who backed Hillary Clinton for president, told attendees as a ceremony at the Aspen Strategy Group Monday that "If you're asked to serve, please do. This man needs help."</s>WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Anti-Defamation League decried Donald Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon as a top White House adviser, saying Bannon’s association with “unabashed anti-Semites and racists” is disqualifying.

Bannon, longtime CEO of the right-wing Breitbart news website, a clearinghouse of alt-right views, joined Trump’s presidential bid late in the campaign and helped lead it to victory.

The ADL in its statement first praised the president-elect for his other hire announced Sunday: Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, as chief of staff.

“At the same time, the ADL strongly opposes the appointment of Steve Bannon as senior adviser and chief strategist in the White House,” said the statement posted on Twitter by ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. “It is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ – a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists – is slated to be a senior staff member in the ‘people’s house.’”

Breitbart employs Jews and covers Israel sympathetically, but also has become the nexus of the alt-right movement, which includes in it those who have expressed homophobic, misogynist, white supremacists and anti-Semitic views. In one recent instance, a writer mocked a critic of Polish populism because she is Jewish.

Bannon’s ex-wife in 2007, in sworn affidavits, said he was resisting sending their daughters to a private school because he “didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.” Bannon denied it.

Before the appointment was made official, Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House of Representatives speaker who is expected to play a senior role in a Trump administration, dismissed claims that Bannon was an anti-Semite.

Saying concerns about Bannon and the alt-right come from “nut cakes,” Gingrich, who is close to the right wing pro-Israel community, told CBS on Sunday morning that Bannon could not be an anti-Semite because he had worked on Wall Street and in Hollywood.

Liberal Jewish groups joined in the criticism of the Bannon appointment.

“Those of us who were alarmed by Trump’s campaign when it began over a year ago are starting to see the things we feared come to pass, and this is one of them — the elevation of an avowed bigot to a position of incredible official power,” said Stosh Cotler, the CEO of Bend the Arc Jewish Action, a political action committee that had opposed Trump.

The National Jewish Democratic Committee said in a statement that the hire showed that Trump was not serious about Jewish sensibilities, despite his oft-repeated defense that his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish.

“No amount of Jewish family members or potential White House Shabbat dinners will overshadow the fact that Trump has hired a man like Bannon as one of his most senior staffers,” the NJDC said. “We won’t forget.”

Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that is part of the boycott Israel movement, likened Trump to the Israeli government.

“From our work on Israel, we are familiar with the deepening violence, hatred and repression that comes from a far right government,” it said. “We cannot sit by and watch that take place here — this is not a time for business as usual.”

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said in a statement that his office is “deeply disturbed” by Bannon’s appointment.

“The President is entitled to choose advisors who he believes will help him implement his agenda. However, both in his roles as editor of the Breitbart website and as a strategist in the Trump campaign, Mr. Bannon was responsible for the advancement of ideologies antithetical to our nation, including anti-Semitism, misogyny, racism and Islamophobia. There should be no place for such views in the White House,” the statement said. “President-elect Trump has said he wants to be president for all the people. We urge him in this spirit to assemble a leadership team that reflects that aspiration.”

The American Jewish Committee called on Trump to remember his promise to be a president for all Americans.

“Of utmost concern is ensuring that policies proposed and put into place make good on President-elect Trump’s Election Night promise, for the benefit of all citizens of our too-divided country, and address the central concerns of the American people and our allies around the world. Presidents get to choose their teams and we do not expect to comment on the appointment of every key advisor,” said Jason Isaacson, AJC Assistant Executive Director for Policy, in a statement.</s>NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump vowed Sunday to move aggressively on a conservative agenda in filling Supreme Court vacancies, cracking down on immigration and cutting taxes, but also sought to reassure worried Americans they have nothing to fear from his presidency.

Setting aside the strident tone of his campaign, the 70-year-old Trump assumed a gentler manner in his first television interview since his shock election, saying he was “saddened” by reports of harassment of Muslims and Hispanics, and telling the perpetrators: “Stop It.”

The interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” which was taped Friday and aired in full Sunday, offered Trump an opportunity to reintroduce himself after an ugly, name-calling campaign and surprise victory that sparked protests in cities across the United States.

“I just don’t think they know me,” the billionaire real estate mogul said at one point, of the thousands of protesters who have massed in streets below his Trump Tower headquarters with signs that read “Not our president.”

Told that many Americans are scared of his presidency, Trump said: “Don’t be afraid. We are going to bring our country back.”

On the issues, however, Trump made it clear he intends to aggressively push a right-wing agenda, pledging to name justices to the Supreme Court who are anti-abortion and pro-gun rights.

“The judges will be pro-life,” Trump told CBS. “In terms of the whole gun situation,” he added, “they’re going to be very pro-Second Amendment.”

He will have an immediate opportunity to fill a vacancy on the court left by the death of arch conservative justice Antonin Scalia. President Barack Obama’s attempt to fill the seat was blocked by the Republican-controlled Senate.

On immigration, Trump reaffirmed his signature campaign pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico, although he conceded parts of it may be just a fence.

And he said as many as three million undocumented immigrants with criminal records would be deported or incarcerated.

“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers,” he said.

“We have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” he said.

He left the door open, however, on the fate of the millions of other hard-working immigrants in the country illegally.

“After the border is secured and after everything gets normalized, we’re going to make a determination on the people that you’re talking about who are terrific people,” he said.

Immigration, he said, was one of three top legislative priorities he has discussed with House Speaker Paul Ryan, the others being action to undo Obama’s signature health care reform and a bill to cut taxes and simplify the tax code.

Trump had previously indicated he would keep some aspects of Obamacare, including a ban on insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing conditions.

There were other conciliatory notes as well.

He signalled that he would not seek to overturn the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States.

“It’s law. It was settled in the Supreme Court. I mean it’s done,” Trump said when asked if he supports marriage equality. “And I’m — I’m fine with that,” he added.

He also confirmed he would forego the $400,000 salary that comes with the office of US president.

“I’m not going to take the salary. I’m not taking it,” he said. “I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year,” he added.

Earlier Sunday, Trump made his first high level appointments, naming anti-establishment firebrand Steve Bannon his top strategist and top Republican Reince Priebus his White House chief of staff.

The choices suggested Trump, a political novice, intends for his new administration to preserve the populist edge that won him the White House, tempered by political pragmatism.

Priebus, head of the Republican National Committee, is a seasoned political operative with close ties to Ryan, the House speaker.

But Bannon, the campaign chairman in the final months of the Trump campaign, is CEO of the right-wing, conspiracy-mongering Breitbart News website known for withering attacks on the Republican elite.

It has also likened abortions to a “Holocaust,” railed against Muslim immigrants, and once advised female victims of online harassment to “just log off” and stop “screwing up the internet for men,” illustrating that point with a picture of a crying child.

In the “60 Minutes” interview, Trump made no promises to tone down his own rhetoric as president.

“I don’t want to be just a little nice monotone character,” he said.

Newt Gingrich, a member of Trump’s inner circle, said he would advise the president-elect to “swing for the fences.”

“This is a city which if you don’t shove it as hard as you can while you have momentum, it will just surround you. I mean, the swamp doesn’t want to be drained. And the swamp will just suck you in if you let it,” he said on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Despondent Democrats are vowing resistance — despite now being locked out of power not only in the House and Senate, but now in the White House as well.

“Our job now is to hold him accountable,” said Bernie Sanders, who lost to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination race. AFP</s>WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is shaking up his transition team as he plunges into setting up his administration, an enormous undertaking that likely requires him to alter his hands-on management style and consider going outside his small, insular group of loyalists.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence is now heading the operations, a demotion for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had been running the Republican's transition planning for months. The scramble is on to identify people for top White House jobs and Cabinet posts, a herculean task that must be well in hand by the time Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

For Trump, who ran on a pledge to "drain the swamp" of Washington insiders, the team is strikingly heavy on those with long political resumes.

Another apparent contradiction emerged Friday as Trump, who repeatedly vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act "on Day One," said he would be open to maintaining portions of President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement.

In a statement Friday, Trump said Pence would "build on the initial work" done by Christie.

"Together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding this nation — specifically jobs, security and opportunity," Trump said.

Christie was a loyal adviser to Trump for much of the campaign, offered a key early endorsement and came close to being the businessman's pick for running mate. But Trump ultimately went with Pence, Indiana's governor and a former congressman with Washington experience and deep ties to conservatives.

In a statement, Christie said he was "proud to have run the pre-election phase" of the transition team and thanked Trump for the "opportunity to continue to help lead."

Christie will still be involved in the transition, joining a cluster of other steadfast Trump supporters serving as vice chairs: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

In addition, three of Trump's adult children — Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka — are on the transition executive committee, along with Jared Kushner, Ivanka's husband. Kushner played a significant role in Trump's campaign and was spotted at the White House on Thursday meeting with President Barack Obama's chief of staff.

The children's inclusion raises questions about the role the Trump family will play in the White House — as well as Trump's ability to sever ties between the administration and the sprawling family business — after the celebrity businessman repeatedly said during the campaign that his grown children would not follow him to Washington and instead run the Trump Organization.

Trump's remarks about the Affordable Care Act also raised some eyebrows Friday. He told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that, after speaking with Obama at the White House the day before, he was considering keeping the clause that allows children to stay on their parents' insurance policies. In a separate interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," he said "it happens to be one of the strongest assets."

He has previously said he may keep the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of patients' existing conditions.

He also said that he wants "a country that loves each other" but said he did not regret his incendiary rhetoric during the campaign.

By appointing Pence, Trump became the first incoming president since at least Jimmy Carter to use his vice president-elect to run his transition team.

Trump and Christie grew apart through the last stretch of the campaign. The governor became increasingly frustrated that Trump wouldn't listen to his advice, particularly over the response to the release of a video in which the businessman is heard making predatory comments about women.

Christie is also facing calls for impeachment in New Jersey following the conviction of two former aides in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial. Christie has denied any knowledge of the lane closures until weeks or months after they occurred in September 2013.

The governor was notably absent from the steady stream of advisers entering Trump's eponymous skyscraper in New York for meetings Friday. Among the first decisions facing the president-elect is whom to choose as chief of staff, a key post that will set the tone for Trump's White House and be a key conduit to Capitol Hill and Cabinet agencies.

Trump is said to be considering Steve Bannon, his campaign chairman and a conservative media executive, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for the role. Neither has significant policy experience, though Priebus is well-liked in Washington and has ties with key lawmakers.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump's campaign manager, is also said to be in the mix for a senior job. Conway is a veteran Republican pollster who formed a strong rapport with the candidate after taking the helm of his campaign in the general election.

Giuliani, who emerged as Trump's frequent travel partner and close aide during the campaign's stretch run, is on the short list for several positions, including attorney general.

"Donald has been my friend for 28 years," Giuliani said Friday after leaving a meeting at Trump Tower. "I can see already how he is going to be a great president and I am glad I can play a small role."</s>(CNN) Donald Trump named two top advisers to his administration Sunday, tapping Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus to be his new chief of staff and Steve Bannon, the Trump campaign CEO and executive chairman of Breitbart News, as chief strategist and senior counselor.

"Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory. Now I will have them both with me in the White House as we work to make America great again," Trump said in the release.

It's an unusual arrangement that could create two power centers in the new White House. The campaign statement, which listed Bannon's role first, referred to the two men as "equal partners."

"Bannon and Priebus will continue the effective leadership team they formed during the campaign, working as equal partners to transform the federal government, making it much more efficient, effective and productive," it said.

The dynamic will continue the structure of the two men's roles in the campaign, with Priebus and Bannon working as partners, but with very different Trump constituencies to manage. Both Priebus and Bannon were highly involved with working out the arrangement, a source familiar with the decision said.

Priebus should be a reassuring presence to establishment Republicans still uncertain about what a Trump White House will look like. The pick signals that Trump may look to build bridges in Washington and keep continuity with longtime Republican agendas, as opposed to make waves from the beginning.

Priebus is among the longest serving chairmen of the Republican Party, and has generally been popular amid different factions within the party. He is largely credited with building the ground game that elected Trump and with helping to unite his party after a divisive primary that resulted in many Republicans shunning Trump's nomination.

Trump's choice for chief of staff was believed to come down to Priebus and Bannon. In a repeat of the tumultuous process that led Trump to tap Indiana Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana as his running-mate, GOP officials pressed the President-elect to go with Priebus for the chief of staff job.

House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged Trump on Thursday to pick Priebus, a source told CNN on Friday. Trump's son-in-law and top adviser, Jared Kushner, has also said privately he is supportive of that decision.

After the announcement, a spokesman for Ryan said the speaker was pleased by the decision.

"The speaker is very happy for his friend and ready to get to work," said Doug Andres, his spokesman.

Priebus has served as a negotiator between the party and Trump. When Ryan did not initially endorse Trump, Priebus organized meetings and helped diffuse tension between the two when Ryan criticized Trump and Trump hit back.

Sources say Priebus and Trump have grown very close over the course of the campaign. Priebus had a leadership role in Trump's debate prep and traveled with him in the latter days of the campaign. Many of the RNC's top operatives were installed in Trump Tower to work closely with the campaign.

During the campaign, Trump often said he would look to politicians to help him govern, including his selection of Pence -- another Ryan friend and ally -- as vice president. But he also ran a campaign as an outsider, saying he would "drain the swamp" of Washington.

Priebus earned Trump's trust in the final months of the campaign, as he steered the RNC's resources behind Trump's candidacy despite Republican officials urging Priebus to abandon Trump and instead help down-ballot candidates.

As Trump's candidacy was engulfed in the controversy stemming from a 2005 tape in which he boasted about being able to grope and kiss women without their consent, and as sexual assault allegations surfaced the next week, Priebus stood fast behind Trump and worked to salvage his campaign.

Trump's debate over the selection demonstrated how he was once again being pulled between a more pragmatic selection with a pick who will enable his outsider persona and bellicose instincts.

Bannon represents bare-knuckle style politics seen as appealing to Trump's most inflammatory instincts, and his initial hiring prompted a raft of criticism from Democrats accusing Trump of embracing the "alt right."

But Trump ran an outsider campaign and Bannon's hiring signals an intention to keep the insurgent sentiment that propelled his campaign close.

Bannon is a former Navy officer and Goldman Sachs investment banker and has been an executive in the right-wing media for years. He joined Trump's campaign in August alongside new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, after Paul Manafort was fired as campaign manager.

While pundits worried that Bannon's hiring would hasten Trump going way off-message, he had some of his most disciplined weeks of his campaign under Bannon and Conway's leadership, though it was almost derailed by a hot mic video that caught Trump bragging of sexually violent and aggressive behavior toward women.

A potential White House role for Conway is a possibility. A Trump source says the President-elect has made clear to Conway that he wants her to work in the new administration, but she has not decided whether to do so for several reasons. That includes being mother to four young children.

CNN is told Conway is more likely to stay outside the government and follow the template of President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign strategist David Plouffe, who opted not to go in the White House.

Conway may follow that model and help the Trump administration by organizing conservative groups and pushing Trump policies and legislation from the outside.

Given Conway's exposure through the Trump campaign, she is also poised to make a lot of money working outside of government.

This story has been updated.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Steve Bannon, a leading force of the far-right, a flame-throwing media mogul and professional provocateur, a man who made a career out of roiling the establishment from the outside, just landed squarely on the inside.



Donald Trump's pick for chief strategist and senior counselor signals the president-elect has no intention of abandoning his brash, outsider instincts as he puts together his new government. Trump didn't give Bannon the top White House job — that went to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. Still, Trump made clear Sunday that a man many credit with righting the businessman's campaign — and one others accuse of amplifying a bigoted fringe — would have a plum position in the West Wing.



Bannon joined Trump's election team as chief executive late in the campaign, following the departure of Trump's second campaign team in August. He quickly became a member of Trump's inner circle, frequently traveling with the candidate and working to re-shape his message to emphasize Trump's populist and outsider appeal.



Bannon came from Breitbart News, an unabashedly pro-Trump outlet that had declared war on GOP leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, with whom Trump will have to work to pass his agenda if Ryan retains his role.



But other elements of Bannon's tenure are getting more attention. Under his leadership, the site pushed a nationalist, anti-establishment agenda and became one of the leading outlets of the so-called alt-right — a movement often associated with far-right efforts to preserve "white identity," oppose multiculturalism and defend "Western values."



The site specializes in button-pushing, traffic-trolling headlines, including one that called conservative commentator Bill Kristol a "Republican spoiler, renegade Jew." Others asked, "Would you rather your child had feminism or cancer?" and "Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy."



Bannon has been personally accused of prejudice. His ex-wife said in court papers obtained by The Associated Press that Bannon made anti-Semitic remarks when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago. In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Mary Louise Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he "didn't want the girls going to school with Jews."



Alexandra Preate, a spokeswoman for Bannon, denied he'd ever said such things.



Bannon also faced domestic violence charges following an altercation the pair had on New Year's Day 1996 following a spat over money. He was charged in 1996 with misdemeanor witness intimidation, domestic violence with traumatic injury and battery. The charges were dropped after Piccard didn't show up at trial.



A Harvard MBA, Bannon began his career as a Goldman Sachs investment banker. He later capitalized on an entertainment industry deal that left him with a share of "Seinfeld" royalties, founded the Government Accountability Institute to ferret out "crony capitalism" and government corruption, and created a number of his own films, including paeans to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the tea party movement and Ronald Reagan.



Breitbart's founder, the late Andrew Breitbart, once admiringly described Bannon as the Leni Riefenstahl of the tea party movement, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek profile. Riefenstahl was a filmmaker vilified after World War II for her propaganda pieces about Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.



He was hired by Breitbart News after Breitbart died suddenly in 2012.



Unafraid to play favorites, the website early last year prominently featured positive stories about Trump rival Ted Cruz. But as Trump gained momentum later in the year, the site began pumping out pro-Trump stories — and remained a chief proponent of Trump's candidacy through the end of the race.



Given his background and reputation, many had expected Bannon's arrival in August to signal a new, caustic phase for the Trump campaign. There were moments. Trump's pre-debate news conference with the women who'd accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual assault seemed to be signature Bannon. But largely, Trump appeared more comfortable and willing to stick to the teleprompter under the guidance of Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, who was promoted to the role of campaign manager when Bannon joined the team.



Ultimately, Bannon's biggest influence appeared to be pushing Trump to adopt more populist rhetoric and paint rival Hillary Clinton as part of a globalist system bent on oppressing the country's working people.



Trump's campaign said Bannon will work "as equal partners" with Priebus. The arrangement suggests the president-elect is putting a premium on loyalty and maintaining much of his existing inner circle as he begins to fill thousands of government positions over the coming weeks.



"I want to thank President-elect Trump for the opportunity to work with Reince in driving the agenda of the Trump administration," Bannon said in a statement. "We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory. We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda."



___



Follow Colvin on Twitter at https://twitter.com/colvinj</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is making an overture to warring Republican circles by appointing GOP chief Reince Priebus as his White House chief of staff and Breitbart News executive Stephen Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor.

The two men had made up the president-elect’s chief of staff shortlist, and while Priebus received that job, Bannon’s post is expected to wield significant clout. Trump gave top billing to the former media executive, who led a website that appealed to the so-called “alt-right” — a movement often associated with efforts on the far right to preserve “white identity,” oppose multiculturalism and defend “Western values.”

Priebus on Monday defended the media mogul, saying the two made an effective pair as they steered Trump past Democrat Hillary Clinton and toward the presidency. He sought to distance Bannon from the incendiary headlines on his website, saying they were written by unspecified others.

“Together, we’ve been able to manage a lot of the decision making in regard to the campaign,” Priebus told NBC’s “Today.” ‘‘It’s worked very, very well.”

Trump’s hires were, at first glance, contradictory, though they fit a pattern of the celebrity businessman creating a veritable Rorschach test that allowed his supporters to see what they wanted. Priebus, who lashed the RNC to Trump this summer despite some intraparty objections, is a GOP operative with deep expertise of the Washington establishment that Trump has vowed to shake up. He has close ties to House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Wisconsinite.

Bannon, meanwhile, helped transform the Breitbart News site into the leading mouthpiece of the party’s anti-establishment wing, which helped fuel the businessman’s political rise. Ryan has been one of his most frequent targets.

“Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory,” Trump said Sunday in a statement announcing his picks. “Now I will have them both with me in the White House as we work to make America great again.”

Neither Priebus nor Bannon brings policy experience to the White House. Chiefs of staff in particular play a significant role in policymaking, serving as a liaison to Cabinet agencies and deciding what information makes it to the president’s desk. They’re often one of the last people in the room with the president as major decisions are made.

In announcing the appointments, Trump said Priebus and Bannon would work as “equal partners” — effectively creating two power centers in the West Wing. The arrangement is risky and could leave ambiguity over who makes final decisions.

Trump has long encouraged rivalries, both in business and in his presidential campaign. He cycled through three campaign managers during his White House run, creating a web of competing alliances among staffers.

Priebus is a traditional choice, one meant as an olive branch to the Republicans who control both houses of Congress as Trump looks to pass his legislative agenda.

The Bannon pick, however, is controversial.

Under Bannon’s tenure, Brietbart pushed a nationalist agenda and became one of the leading outlets of the so-called alt-right — a movement often associated with white supremacist ideas that oppose multiculturalism and defend “Western values.”

John Weaver, a Republican strategist who worked for Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s presidential campaign, tweeted, “The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant, America.”

Bannon, who became campaign CEO in August, pushed Trump to adopt more populist rhetoric and paint rival Hillary Clinton as part of a global conspiracy made up of the political, financial and media elite, bankers bent on oppressing the country’s working people — a message that carried Trump to the White House but to some, carried anti-Semitic undertones.

An ex-wife of Bannon said he expressed fear of Jews when the two battled over sending their daughters to private school nearly a decade ago, according to court papers reviewed this summer by The Associated Press. In a sworn court declaration following their divorce, Mary Louise Piccard said her ex-husband had objected to sending their twin daughters to an elite Los Angeles academy because he “didn’t want the girls going to school with Jews.”

A spokeswoman for Bannon denied he made those statements.

The appointments came after a day in which Trump’s tough-talking plan to rein in illegal immigration showed signs Sunday of cracking, with the president-elect seemingly backing off his vow to build a solid wall along the southern U.S. border and Ryan rejecting any “deportation force” targeting people in the country illegally.

Though Trump told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview which aired Sunday night that his border wall might look more like a fence in spots, one thing didn’t change from his statements on this matter during the primary season: the combative billionaire took to Twitter to settle some scores.

During a four-hour spree, Trump gloated about establishment Republicans congratulating him and savaged The New York Times for being “dishonest” and “highly inaccurate.”

“The @nytimes states today that DJT believes ‘more countries should acquire nuclear weapons.‘ How dishonest are they. I never said this!” Trump tweeted late Sunday morning.

But in a March interview with the Times, Trump was asked whether he would object to Japan acquiring its own nuclear arsenal, which it does not now have. He replied, “Would I rather have North Korea have them with Japan sitting there having them also? You may very well be better off if that’s the case.”

Trump also told “60 Minutes” he would eschew the $400,000 annual salary for the president, taking only $1 a year.

Lemire reported from New York. AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Reach Lemire and Kellman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire and http://twitter.com/@LaurieKellman</s>S.E. Cupp is the author of " Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media's Attack on Christianity ," co-author of " Why You're Wrong About the Right " and a columnist at the New York Daily News. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers.

(CNN) It was the first serious test of Donald Trump's leadership, and it would send an important and clear message to a country that is both excited by and terrified of his presidency.

And yet, in true Trump fashion, his appointment of both Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon to "equal" leadership posts in his cabinet has accomplished little but confusion and continued consternation over who Trump intends to be as president.

His dilemma was clear. The chief of staff position was going to be scrutinized to the hilt, and he narrowed it down to two choices. In picking Priebus, the steady Republican National Committee chair with the folksy Wisconsin accent, he would reassure moderate Republicans and even some Democrats that he was shifting into a more conventional governance, and away from the more divisive elements he borrowed from Bannon's alt-right base.

But in picking Bannon, president of Breitbart News, he'd pledge his fealty to his loudest supporters, reward their loyalty and show his commitment to the anti-establishment anger that got him elected.

Both appointments, however, were fraught with peril. Priebus is the embodiment of the establishment, which is why he is reassuring to anti-Trumpers, but often reviled by Trump's base. Trump himself once called Priebus's RNC a "disgrace" and said "Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself" for running what he alleged was a rigged primary.

Further, to many Never-Trump conservatives, Priebus is to blame for ushering Trump through the primary process, forgiving his many controversial transgressions, and forcing him to sign a loyalty pledge to a party for which he has shown little affection. Later, during the general election, Priebus threatened principled Republicans like John Kasich and Jeb Bush that if they didn't support Trump, they should reconsider ever running again, a move that little resembled the diplomatic Green Bay Packers fan and reeked more of his bullying nominee.

But Steve Bannon was a far more controversial pick. His website is rife with bigoted, anti-Semitic, homophobic, misogynist and just plain creepy content that got a huge platform boost thanks to Trump and Bannon's campaign collaboration. What was once just a fringy dark corner of the far-right came out of the shadows and into the mainstream, leading to disturbing moments on the trail, like the Trump supporter in Phoenix who yelled "Jew-S-A" at the press pen.

The rise of Bannon's Breitbart has rightly terrified the left and the Never-Trump right. If we thought the kind of unabashed and open prejudice that marked earlier generations had been killed off by modernity, the alt-right was here to prove otherwise. The night before the election, Ann Coulter lamented on Twitter, "If only people with at least 4 grandparents born in America were voting, Trump would win in a 50-state landslide." White nationalism wasn't dead -- it had just been in hiding.

Still, if we've learned anything about Donald Trump over the past three decades, it's that more is always better. So instead of choosing one of these two architects of the Trump presidency to become his top aide, on Sunday he chose both, appointing Priebus as chief of staff and Bannon as chief strategist.

Splitting the baby to please everyone usually pleases no one. And this move has many wringing their hands in frustration. The country wants clarity, and this provides none. A Trump statement insists both men will have equal roles, but surely Trump will lean on one more heavily. Which one?

This was a huge missed opportunity. The new GOP, under a President Trump, has three white guys at the top, one of whom runs a pro-white media company. This sure looks more like the America of the 1950s than one of the future.

The idea that Trump only had these two options is also hugely shortsighted. If he were truly a courageous visionary, he could have chosen Kellyanne Conway, his tireless campaign manager who brilliantly steered him through the final harrowing months of his flailing campaign, attempting, with some success, to keep him on message and away from dumpster fires.

Instead of head-scratching and more scrutiny, the appointment of Conway would have been met with immense positivity from both sides of the aisle and signaled to the country that he was both committed to his cause but also serious about uniting the nation.

Empowering both Bannon and Priebus shows he's only serious about uniting the Republican Party, which isn't likely to occur with Bannon still in the picture.

I didn't vote for Trump, but I want him to succeed, and that has to start with a clear vision that brings the country together. Hopefully, in his next crucial appointments, he can worry less about rewarding his accomplices and more about what's best for the nation.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is shaking up his transition team as he plunges into setting up his administration, an enormous undertaking that likely requires him to alter his hands-on management style and consider going outside his small, insular group of loyalists.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence is now heading the operations, a demotion for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had been running the Republican’s transition planning for months. The scramble is on to identify people for top White House jobs and Cabinet posts, a herculean task that must be well in hand by the time Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

For Trump, who ran on a pledge to “drain the swamp” of Washington insiders, the team is strikingly heavy on those with long political resumes.

Another apparent contradiction emerged Friday as Trump, who repeatedly vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act “on Day One,” said he would be open to maintaining portions of President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement.

In a statement Friday, Trump said Pence would “build on the initial work” done by Christie.

“Together, we will begin the urgent task of rebuilding this nation — specifically jobs, security and opportunity,” Trump said.

Christie was a loyal adviser to Trump for much of the campaign, offered a key early endorsement and came close to being the businessman’s pick for running mate. But Trump ultimately went with Pence, Indiana’s governor and a former congressman with Washington experience and deep ties to conservatives.

In a statement, Christie said he was “proud to have run the pre-election phase” of the transition team and thanked Trump for the “opportunity to continue to help lead.”

Christie will still be involved in the transition, joining a cluster of other steadfast Trump supporters serving as vice chairs: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

In addition, three of Trump’s adult children — Don Jr., Eric and Ivanka — are on the transition executive committee, along with Jared Kushner, Ivanka’s husband. Kushner played a significant role in Trump’s campaign and was spotted at the White House on Thursday meeting with President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.

The children’s inclusion raises questions about the role the Trump family will play in the White House — as well as Trump’s ability to sever ties between the administration and the sprawling family business — after the celebrity businessman repeatedly said during the campaign that his grown children would not follow him to Washington and instead run the Trump Organization.

Trump’s remarks about the Affordable Care Act also raised some eyebrows Friday. He told The Wall Street Journal in an interview that, after speaking with Obama at the White House the day before, he was considering keeping the clause that allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance policies. In a separate interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” he said “it happens to be one of the strongest assets.”

He has previously said he may keep the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of patients’ existing conditions.

He also said that he wants “a country that loves each other” but said he did not regret his incendiary rhetoric during the campaign.

By appointing Pence, Trump became the first incoming president since at least Jimmy Carter to use his vice president-elect to run his transition team.

Trump and Christie grew apart through the last stretch of the campaign. The governor became increasingly frustrated that Trump wouldn’t listen to his advice, particularly over the response to the release of a video in which the businessman is heard making predatory comments about women.

Christie is also facing calls for impeachment in New Jersey following the conviction of two former aides in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial. Christie has denied any knowledge of the lane closures until weeks or months after they occurred in September 2013.

The governor was notably absent from the steady stream of advisers entering Trump’s eponymous skyscraper in New York for meetings Friday. Among the first decisions facing the president-elect is whom to choose as chief of staff, a key post that will set the tone for Trump’s White House and be a key conduit to Capitol Hill and Cabinet agencies.

Trump is said to be considering Steve Bannon, his campaign chairman and a conservative media executive, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus for the role. Neither has significant policy experience, though Priebus is well-liked in Washington and has ties with key lawmakers.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, is also said to be in the mix for a senior job. Conway is a veteran Republican pollster who formed a strong rapport with the candidate after taking the helm of his campaign in the general election.

Giuliani, who emerged as Trump’s frequent travel partner and close aide during the campaign’s stretch run, is on the short list for several positions, including attorney general.

“Donald has been my friend for 28 years,” Giuliani said Friday after leaving a meeting at Trump Tower. “I can see already how he is going to be a great president and I am glad I can play a small role.”

Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin and researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report.

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC and Jonathan Lemire at http://twitter.com/JonLemire
President-elect Donald Trump names Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as his White House Chief of Staff.