Donald Trump will keep more than 50 top Obama administration officials involved in various foreign policy initiatives, many of which the president-elect attacked during the campaign.
Among those Trump have asked to remain on the job initially are Adam Szubin and Brett McGurk, incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Szubin played a key role in the Iran nuclear deal as acting undersecretary of Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.
McGurk was President Barack Obama's envoy in the battle with the Islamic State who helped coordinate last year's $1.7 billion cash payment to Iran.
They hold "critical posts" that Trump will maintain "until we can find a successor for this administration," Spicer told the Journal.
Trump has repeatedly blasted the Iran deal and the cash payment to Tehran.
In addition, the president-elect will meet with CIA officials on Saturday, according to the report.
Trump transition officials met Wednesday with Obama's National Security Council staffers, the Journal reports.
A top U.S. official said that Trump team members were not yet sure of how the council would look under the president-elect, though he reportedly plans to drastically scale back the nation's intelligence agencies.
Other Obama appointees expected to remain on board include Robert Work, deputy defense secretary; Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center; and several State Department officials, the Journal reports.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.