NEW YORK: Donald Trump held court from his perch high above Manhattan on Monday, receiving a line of former rivals, longtime allies and TV executives while overseeing a presidential transition that at times resembles a reality show like the one he once hosted.
Out of public view himself, he fell back on his TV star roots by filming a video that touted his legislative goals once he takes office.
He appeared in a 2½-minute video released late Monday in which he pledged to the American people that he was appointing “patriots” to his administration and reiterated a number of his campaign promises, including plans to renegotiate trade deals, scrap excessive regulations and institute a five-year ban on executive officials becoming lobbyists. He promised to “provide more updates in the coming days.”
“Truly great and talented men and women — patriots indeed — are being brought in and many will soon be a part of our government, helping us to make America great again,” Trump said in the video.
The video — which made no mention of key pledges to build a border wall with Mexico or repeal the Affordable Care Act — continues the president-elect’s practice of trying to go over the heads of the media and take his case directly to the American public. Since Election Day, he has twice ditched the group of reporters designated to follow his movements and has so far eschewed the traditional news conference held by the president-elect in the days after winning.
On Monday, Trump met with nearly a dozen prospective hires, all of whom were paraded in front of the cameras set up in the Trump Tower lobby as they entered an elevator to see the president-elect.
Trump did not announce any appointments after the meetings, which came on the heels of a two-day whirlwind of interviews at his golf course in Bedminster, N.J.
Unlike his predecessors, who often spoke with Cabinet candidates under a cloud of secrecy, Trump has turned the search into a very public audition process. The extraordinary exercise took on a routine feel on Monday: First, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown stepped off the gold-plated elevator into the marble-coated lobby after his meeting to declare to waiting reporters that he was “the best person” to become Veterans Affairs secretary.
Next, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, a candidate for interior secretary, did much the same, striding off the lift to say she had “a wonderful discussion” with Trump. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry declined to speak to reporters, but he did take time for a photo with the Naked Cowboy, the underwear-sporting, guitar-strumming New York institution who has spent recent days camped out at Trump Tower singing about the president-elect.
Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who resigned her post on the Democratic National Committee after endorsing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton, also met with Trump but entered and exited out of sight. She later defended crossing party lines to meet with Trump about U.S. involvement in Syria, saying in a statement she would never “play politics with American and Syrian lives.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a longtime Trump ally, also arrived with his wife, Callista, and told reporters that he indicated to Trump that he was interested in being a “senior planner” to coordinate long-term political efforts among the Republicans.
Senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said of the visitors, “Not all of them will be in his Cabinet and his federal government, but they are all incredibly important in offering their points of views, their experience and certainly their vision of the country.”
No one was saying whether Trump would announce more appointments before heading to Florida for Thanksgiving. He was planning to leave Tuesday or Wednesday to spend the holiday at his Mar-a-Lago estate, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence will spend Thanksgiving in Mississippi, where his Marine son is stationed.
Media issues
Trump has largely remained out of sight since winning the election, save for a flurry of brief public appearances over the weekend. He remained in the upper floors of his skyscraper Monday, seeking counsel on the phone and interviewing candidates all while keeping an eye on the cable news coverage of the day’s events.
Trump has not held a full-fledged news conference since July.
But the media were clearly on his mind as he met with executives and on-air personalities from TV networks. Among the attendees were NBC anchor Lester Holt and Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, ABC’s Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos and anchor David Muir, CBS’ Face the Nation host John Dickerson, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and several executives at the networks.
The Washington Post reported Trump criticized the campaign coverage as “unfair” and “dishonest” and specifically singled out CNN and NBC News during the meeting, according to four people who attended but spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was off the record.
Politico reported a source said Trump also complained about photos of himself that NBC used that he found unflattering.