Here’s what we’re watching in transition world today:
The Trump transition has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Biden White House after an unprecedented delay in signing the agreements that lasted weeks after a winner was declared. The signing clears the way for coordination between incoming Trump officials and the federal agencies they will soon take over.
Trump transition advisers and outside allies have been discussing ways to quickly unwind the various Biden-era initiatives that offered new or easier paths to student loan forgiveness for borrowers.
Kash Patel and Cliff Sims are jostling for the deputy director gig at the CIA.
A new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll shows that the public isn’t very familiar with the people President-elect Donald Trump has chosen for prominent and consequential roles in his second administration, save for a few high-profile celebrities, West Wing Playbook reports.
Trump picked Jamieson Greer to be U.S. trade representative
Vince Haley was tapped to lead the Domestic Policy Council
Jim O’Neill, a close associate of early Trump backer Peter Thiel, was tapped for HHS deputy secretary
Trump selected businessperson John Phelan as his nominee for Navy secretary
Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford University physician and economist known for his controversial views during the Covid-19 pandemic, was picked for director of the National Institutes of Health
Kevin Hassett is heading back to the White House as director of the National Economic Council