Donald Trump's transition team is in a "Stalinesque purge" as part of Jared Kushner's revenge plot against Chris Christie

As reports indicate his transition team is in shambles, the president-elect takes to Twitter, his safe space

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published November 16, 2016 1:20PM (EST)

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2016, file photo, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, stands with then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he buys cookies during a visit to Eat'n Park restaurant in Moon Township, Pa.  (AP)
FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2016, file photo, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, left, stands with then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as he buys cookies during a visit to Eat'n Park restaurant in Moon Township, Pa. (AP)

President-elect Donald Trump is letting Twitter know just how mad he is at The New York Times.

The Times reported on Tuesday of "disarray" among Trump's transition team, describing the process as "marked by firings, infighting and revelations that American allies were blindly dialing in to Trump Tower to try to reach the soon-to-be-leader of the free world." The campaign has started purging many of the other establishment Republicans who had been considered for positions in the Trump administration, since former transition team leader, New Jersey Governor Christie, had up to that point been one of the main connections between Team Trump and the mainstream Republican Party.

The Republicans purged, in what was being called "Stalinesque," include  Representative Mike Rogers of Michigan and Matthew Freedman, a lobbyist who consults with corporations and foreign governments, both of whom had been considered potential finalists for foreign policy positions.

They may have also been targeted because Trump's increasingly influential son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is suspected of holding a grudge against the New Jersey governor and anyone associated with him, according to the Washington Post. Christie was the federal prosecutor who sent Kushner's father to jail for making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering.

Trump's ability to effectively reach out to foreign leaders has been in shambles, the Times reports.

"At times, they have been patched through to him in his luxury office tower with little warning, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail private conversations," the article said.

Interestingly, Trump's tweets also included a reference to a report that had been published not by The New York Times, but by CBS News.

CBS News reported on Monday that Trump had asked the White House about obtaining top secret security clearances for his children. It remains to be seen whether that story is indeed true and, if so, whether Trump will get his wish.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Disarray Donald Trump Elections 2016 New York Times Transition Team