Trump, Pence to discuss cabinet picks

US President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence will meet on Tuesday to review candidates for federal appointments, according to a campaign spokesman.

Transition communications adviser Jason Miller announced on Monday night that the pair will be reviewing "a number of names" for cabinet and senior White House positions in the Trump-Pence administration, Politico reported.

"There has been a lot of work put in by both the Vice President-elect and a number of members of the transition team," he said.

"I don't want to put a finite time able. Obviously, inauguration day is not getting further away. And people need to get going. This is an absolute top priority understood by the President-elect and the Vice President-elect."

Though Miller would not say whether any decisions were forthcoming in light of the meeting, he stressed that any gathering between Trump and Pence signified strong deliberations, adding: "If the Vice President-elect is getting together with the President-elect to discuss names, then I would say that it's serious, obviously."

On Sunday, Trump announced that he had selected Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus as his chief of staff and Steve Bannon as chief strategist and senior counsellor.

While the selection of Priebus received praise from conservatives, Bannon's inclusion received widespread condemnation, from minority groups to conservative operatives who who fear he will bring extremist "alt-right" ideology into the White House, Politico said.

--IANS

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