Flynn said to be lead contender for Trump’s security adviser

Former Defense Intelligence Agency Director Michael T. Flynn is the leading contender to be President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday.

Billionaire Wilbur Ross is under very serious consideration for Commerce secretary, with others in the mix, said the people, who requested anonymity because the selections haven’t been finalized. Ross is chairman of WL Ross & Co., the New York investment firm, and has been an economic adviser to the Trump campaign, calling for stronger trade enforcement.

The news about key contenders for Cabinet positions in the future Trump administration came after the transition team gave its first detailed update on Wednesday night amid reports of infighting and disorganization.

In a conference call with reporters, aides named more than a dozen people who are either candidates for jobs in the Trump administration or were meeting with Trump to provide advice. The list includes South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who once said Trump represented “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president” but more recently has said she looks forward to working with a Republican president and Congress.

Trump spokesmen Sean Spicer and Jason Miller didn’t specify to reporters on the call which people were under consideration for administration posts as they named those who met with Trump in New York on Wednesday and were scheduled to visit on Thursday. They said they intend to start giving reporters daily briefings about the transition’s progress and the president-elect’s schedule.

The transition team has been the subject of news reports about shakeups that have slowed the progress of building the new administration. Trump last week replaced the head of his transition team, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, with Vice President-elect Mike Pence and ousted several other transition members. There was said to be friction between Christie and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, whose father Christie prosecuted as a U.S. attorney more than a decade ago.

Trump and top aides and allies have said publicly that the process is going smoothly, considering the steep task of filling thousands of administration jobs when Trump takes office in January.

Miller said Trump’s schedule on Wednesday included meetings with Georgia Representative Tom Price, who is in the mix for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, a possible Defense secretary or attorney general pick; Flynn; Eva Moskowitz, chief executive officer of New York’s largest charter school network; Kansas Representative Mike Pompeo; and hedge-fund manager Steve Feinberg.

Spicer said those scheduled to meet with Trump Thursday include Haley; Texas Representative Jeb Hensarling, whose name has been floated for Treasury secretary; FedEx Corp. CEO Fred Smith; Oracle Corp. co-CEO Safra Catz; former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; Florida Governor Rick Scott; retired General Jack Keane; Navy Admiral Mike Rogers; and former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell.

Spicer said appointees will be required to sign paperwork banning them from lobbying for five years after they leave government. Trump is seeking to prevent people from using service in government to “enrich themselves,” Spicer said.

Miller also said the first wave of transition landing team representatives will be announced Thursday to meet with the State Department, Justice Department, Department of Defense and National Security Council. Teams for economic policy, domestic policy and independent agencies will be announced next week.

Another person in the mix: Texas Senator Ted Cruz, formerly a bitter Trump rival, who was said to be under consideration for attorney general. Cruz said Thursday on Fox News that he’s “eager to work with the new president in whatever capacity I can have the greatest impact defending the principles that I was elected to defend.”