this is getting really, really fascinating really fast. you know, whether you blame stalin or not, whether you blame a stalinesque purge or not, the start of the trump administration is wobblier and weirder than i think anyone expected or imagined. the trump campaign has taxpayer funded transition offices in washington. apparently, though, they are not really using them. they re still apparently, reportedly trying to do everything or some things or just the not chris christie things from trump tower instead of working from washington. the dumping of chris christie all of a sudden as the transition chief, that has frozen the transition effort with the white house in its tracks because the white house has a formal process for this stuff. it s governed by statute. the obama administration signed is all the paperwork with chris christie. all the formal legal agreements about how the transition will be handled and the nondisclosure agreements on both side. the trump campaign had christie si
transition effort, he s out, too. chris christie s former law partner who he picked to be the general counsel of the transition effort, he s out, too, the former republican congressman who chris christie staped to head up national securitying for the transition, as of the today, he s out too. his ouster should be seen as a part of a, quote, stalinesque purge of people close to chris christie. stalinesque, already, week one. you guys, pay attention. snap out of your funk. this is getting really, really fascinating really fast. you know, whether you blame stalin or not, whether you blame a stalinesque purge or not, the start of the trump administration is wobblier and weirder than i think anyone expected or imagined. the trump campaign has taxpayer funded transition offices in washington. apparently, though, they are not really using them.
drain the swamp. and this will be an interesting transition, anderson. because while drain the swamp is certainly a catchy campaign phrase, it s difficult to do that at the outset. you still need people who understand how government agencies work and how to run a government. and so i think we re seeing these sort of two philosophies hit heads right now, as they re trying to map out their transition team. what we do know is that mike pence was here with donald trump today. they were going over different cabinet positions, going over how to proceed. and mike pence will be in washington, d.c., tomorrow. he s actually going to be visiting their d.c. transition offices. so that could potentially give folks there a little bit more clarity on how to proceed. but in talking to people who have been working on this for months, they do say that this effort has essentially stalled amid all the shake ups. sarah, can you just explain the purging of maybe purging is too soviet a term, but what
cabinet positions, going over how to proceed. and mike pence will be in washington, d.c., tomorrow. he s actually going to be visiting their d.c. transition offices. so that could potentially give folks there a little bit more clarity on how to proceed. but in talking to people who have been working on this for months, they do say that this effort has essentially stalled amid all the shake-ups. so sara, can you just explain the purging of maybe purging is too soviet a term, but what happened to chris christie? why was he essentially demoted from running this transition team? and why would anybody who he appointed be asked to leave as well? is it a lack of loyalty? because he was an he turned around to support trump. is it the bridgegate stuff or is it the relationship between him and kushner and what happened with kushner s father long ago? well, as always, it s who you talk to, right? who explains to you what the motivation would be for purging
the transition. when will we see cabinet positions? i know you have spent time on pennsylvania avenue at the transition offices. when are we going to see one of the top level folks named? well, look. let me say they let me out because they know generally speaking former mayors are generally speaking. you are not going to get specificity from me. i have signed a nondisclosure agreement. i planned to follow it. have they all signed a similar agreement? i would tell you that when you look at the process, you look at organization coming together after the historic election. this is the fact. we have been in business since right before labor day. laying the groundwork for this transition. hillary clinton had a transition team that was operating out of the same building as we were operating out of.