This is the January 12th Trump transition press update reported through TRUNEWS Correspondent Edward Szall

(VERO BEACH, FL) Donald Trump’s White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer delivered comments today during the daily briefing, addressing yesterdays press conference, new cabinet nominations and the confirmation hearings, and the President-elect’s packed schedule leading toward his inauguration.

There were nine confirmation hearings scheduled for this week, here are the remaining sessions:

Thursday, January 12th 

• 10:00 – Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross, CIA nominee Mike Pompeo, and HUD nominee Ben Carson.
• 10:00 – Defense nominee James ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis will go before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Tuesday, January 17th 

• 09:30 – Education nominee Betsy DeVos

SCHEDULE

We are 8 days out from the inauguration of Donald J. Trump.

White House Secretary Spokesman detailed what has been a busy two days for the President-elect. In addition to yesterday’s press conference at Trump Tower, which TRUNEWS correspondent Edward Szall was in attendance for, there were a plethora of meetings with CEO’s and former government officials.

Yesterday’s meetings:

• Michael Kramer, CEO of Ducera Partners
• Wermer Baumann, CEO of Bayer AG
• Arthur Schwartz, Axiom Auditors
• Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto
• Robert Fraley, CTO & EDP of Monsanto

Mr. Grant and Mr. Fraley shared their views on the future of the agriculture industry, information the President-elect may have requested in order to appoint the final cabinet position of Secretary of Agriculture.

• Peter Thiel, PayPal and Palantir founder, Trump transition team member
• Dr. Francis Collins, Director of NIH
• Congressmen Andy Harris (R-MD) 1st District
• Former Senator Joe Lieberman, (I/D-CT)
• Former Congressman Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
• Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, owner of Israel Hayom, and the Las Vegas Review- Journal.

Vice President-elect Mike Pence traveled to Washington, D.C. to conduct bipartisan individual meetings on Capitol Hill with Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), Senator Lisa Mccloskey (R-AK), Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).

After his meetings he met with transition team officials and stayed over night in Washington DC before heading to New York City early Wednesday for the Trump Tower press conference.

Today, the President-elect began the morning with his Presidential Daily Briefing rom intelligence community officials.

Today’s meetings:

• Executive Chairman of Alphabet, Inc. Eric Schmidt
• Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Portugal President, congratulated Trump on election victory, discussed importance of maintaining strong relations.
• Randall L. Stephenson, Chairmen and CEO of AT&T
• Former U.S. ambassador to Uruguay Martin J. Silverstein, senior counsel with Greenberg Traurig (same law firm as Giuliani), and a Trump transition team member
• Former U.S. ambassador to Tanzania Mark Green, President of the International Republican Institute (IRI)

Both Mr. Silverstein and Mr. Green are being considered for positions in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

• Balaji Srinivasan, CEO and Cofounder of 21, Board Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
• Jim O’Neill , Mithril Capital Management, former associate deputy at Department of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush

Both Mr. Srinibasan and Mr. O’Neill are being considered for positions in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

This evening Donald Trump will receive his daily internal intelligence briefing from National Security Advisor Ret. Army General Michael Flynn. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will also be in attendance.

Marine Le Pen, President of the National Front Marine Le Pen, was sighted inside Trump Tower at the cafe meeting with George Lombardi, the co-founder of the group Citizens for Trump. When asked by the Trump press pool she declined to say whether she was there to see President-elect Donald Trump but the Trump team has said there would be “no meetings”.

Marine Le Pen, who is the leading presidential candidate in France according to recent polls, has previously called Trump’s election “an additional stone in the building of a new world”.

APPOINTMENTS

Dr. David J. Shulkin – Secretary of Veterans Affairs

As the current Undersecretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Shulkin leads the nation’s largest integrated healthcare system, currently serving 8.76 million veterans every year at over 1,700 locations. Dr. Shulkin has exemplified strong leadership in this position and in various other roles throughout his career, including as a chief executive and a doctor in academia and leader in entrepreneurial roles.

President-elect Donald J. Trump: “I have no doubt Dr. Shulkin will be able to lead the turnaround our Department of Veterans Affairs needs. His sole mandate will be to serve our veterans and restore the level of care we owe to our brave men and women in the military. Sadly our great veterans have not gotten the level of care they deserve, but Dr. Shulkin has the experience and the vision to ensure we will meet the healthcare needs of every veteran. Dr. Shulkin is an incredibly gifted doctor who is using his elite talents for medicine to care for our heroes, and Americans can have faith he will get the job done right.”

Dr. David Shulkin: “It is my honor to serve as President-elect Trump’s Secretary of Veterans Affairs. President-elect Trump’s commitment to caring for our veterans is unquestionable, and he is eager to support the best practices for care and provide our Veterans Affairs’ teams with the resources they need to improve health outcomes. We are both eager to begin reforming the areas in our Veterans Affairs system that need critical attention, and do it in a swift, thoughtful and responsible way.”

Dr. Shulkin is a board-certified internist, a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, his internship at Yale University School of Medicine and residency and Fellowship in General Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Medical Center. He received advanced training in outcomes research and economics as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani – unofficial White House Cyber Security Advisor

Mr. Giuliani was asked to initiate a process to help improve the governments cyber security because of his long and very successful government career in law enforcement and his now sixteen years of work providing security solutions in the private sector.

In addition, President-elect Trump will be hosting a series of meetings with senior corporate executives from companies which have faced or are facing challenges similar to those facing the government and public entities today, such as hacking, intrusions, disruptions, manipulations, theft of data and identities, and securing information technology infrastructure.

Mr. Giuliani is the chairman of the global cyber security practice at Greenberg Traurig and the Chairman and CEO of Giuliani Partners, an international security consulting firm.

Dina Habib Powell – Assistant to the President and Senior Counselor for Economic Initiatives

Powell currently serves as Global Head of Impact Investing at Goldman Sachs and President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation and over the past ten years has built the most successful programs focused on global growth and job creation. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Powell had a longstanding career working in government in the White House as Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel and the State Department as Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs and Deputy Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs.

President-Elect Trump: “Dina Powell is a tremendous talent and has a stellar record of public service as well as a great career in the private sector. She has been recognized for her strategic oversight of key programs and initiatives and is a leader in both economic growth and the crucial empowerment of women in various aspects of business development and entrepreneurial endeavors. I am proud to have her serve as a senior counselor in my administration, where I know she will produce great results working with the highly respected team of experts we have assembled.”

Dina Habib Powell: “The Trump administration has a unique opportunity to unleash the untapped potential of small business owners and female entrepreneurs and by working together with the public and private sectors we can ensure they continue to be a critical part of growing the economy and creating jobs.”