Intelligence Expert Mike Rogers Leaves Trump Transition Team Amid Shake-up

[EarlG]

Source: Wall Street Journal

WASHINGTON—Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers has left President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team amid a major shuffle and power consolidation that has pushed out multiple key figures.

Mr. Rogers, a Republican who represented Michigan until last year, held a central role overseeing the national-security transition process for Mr. Trump’s team since before last week’s election. But he is considered a close ally of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and multiple people close to Mr. Christie were removed from the transition team in recent days amid a major shake-up.

Ben Carson has declined an offer to become the next secretary of Heath and Human Services, a spokesman said in a statement Tuesday. Dr. Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, was among the first of Mr. Trump’s Republican primary rivals to endorse him and he served as one of the president-elect’s primary surrogates during the campaign.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/intelligence-expert-mike-rogers-leaves-trump-transition-team-amid-shake-up-1479221847

[briv1016]

1. He's reported as saying "There's nothing here."

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Part of a purge by Kushner?

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-11-15/trump-transition-stalls-as-kushner-said-to-oust-christie-allies

[BlueStateBlue]

6. I wonder why Christie was ever allowed into the innermost circle in the first place

Kushner knew who Christie was from the get-go.

[teach1st]

3. From the New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/trump-transition.html

Even as the president-elect worked to fill pivotal roles in his administration, the disarray caught the attention of some senior Republicans who criticized Mr. Trump during his campaign but said after he won that they would not necessarily rule out joining his administration or advising him.

Eliot A. Cohen, a former State Department official, said on Twitter that after having spoken to Mr. Trump’s team, he had “changed my recommendation: stay away. They’re angry, arrogant, screaming ‘you LOST!’ Will be ugly.”

[hedda_foil]

4. The tighter the circle grows the more easily influenced will Trump be.

[Maeve]

5. No intelligence allowed on the team--got it! eom

[Grey Lemercier]

7. Ben Carson has declined an offer to become the next secretary of Heath and Human Services

wow, I am surprised there