A spokesman for President-elect Donald Trump said he and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law who is part of the presidential transition team, shared a laugh Wednesday over talk of a “knife fight” within the ongoing transition process.
“Jared and I were chuckling about it this morning — this whole description of the knife fight or this internal fighting,” Trump spokesman Jason Miller said on CNN Wednesday. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“Jared is helping to put this together, but ultimately these decisions are being made by the president-elect,” Mr. Miller said. “He’s the one who will have the final say on all this.”
“He’s going to make sure that we have the absolute best people,” Mr. Miller said. “Some won’t be coming from politics.”
One CNN story this week had the headline: ” ’Knife fight’ as Trump builds an unconventional national security Cabinet.”
Mr. Miller also said Mr. Trump has not made a request for security clearance for any of his children.
Asked if that included Mr. Kushner, Mr. Miller said: “Correct — not for any of his family members.”
Three of Mr. Trump’s adult children — Donald Jr., Eric, and Ivanka — are part of the transition team, as is Mr. Kushner. The president-elect has said in the past he would dispatch his kids to run his business empire if he got elected to the White House.
Mr. Miller said the team isn’t going to be knocked off course by distractions.
“Internally, there’s a very calm presence [and] structure,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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