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Trump election: Priebus and Bannon given key roles
Foreign

Trump election: Priebus and Bannon given key roles 

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US President-elect Donald Trump has awarded key roles in his incoming team to a top Republican party official and a right-wing media chief.

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), will be his chief of staff.

In this role, he will set the tone for the new White House and act as a conduit to Congress and the government.

Stephen Bannon, from the Breitbart News Network, will serve as Mr Trump’s chief strategist.

Mr Bannon stepped aside as executive chairman of Breitbart – a combative conservative site with an anti-establishment agenda that critics accuse of xenophobia and misogyny – to act as Mr Trump’s campaign chief.

Meanwhile in the president-elect’s first interview, with US broadcaster CBS, Mr Trump said:

He would deport or jail up to three million illegal migrants with criminal links
Future Supreme Court nominees would be “pro-life” – meaning they oppose abortion – and defend the constitutional right to bear arms
He will not seek to overturn the legalisation of same-sex marriage
He will forgo the president’s $400,000 salary, taking $1 a year instead

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‘Truly an honour’

In a statement released by his campaign, Mr Trump described Mr Priebus and Mr Bannon as “highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory”.

Mr Priebus, 44, acted as a bridge between Mr Trump and the Republican party establishment during the campaign.

He is close to House Speaker Paul Ryan, a fellow Wisconsinite, who could be instrumental in steering the new administration’s legislative agenda.
Breitbart man

During the election race, Mr Bannon, 62, saw it as his aim to “bolster the business-like approach of Mr Trump’s campaign”.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Mr Bannon stepped down from the helm of Breitbart to become Donald Trump’s campaign CEO

A former naval officer, investment banker and Hollywood producer, Mr Bannon took over at Breitbart in 2012, when he promised to make it the “Huffington Post of the right”.

Breitbart is linked to the alternative right movement – or alt-right – which tends to reject both left-wing ideology and mainstream conservatism.

The movement often emphasises free speech and the right to offend. Opponents call it racist, anti-Semitic and sexist.
Who is Stephen Bannon?

Executive Chairman of Breitbart news, the most widely-read conservative news and opinion site in America. The website is denounced by critics as a hate-speech site
A graduate of Georgetown University and Harvard Business School, former US Navy officer and investment banker at Goldman Sachs
Conservative documentary film-maker who produced films celebrating Reagan, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party
Seen as in conflict with the traditional Republican establishment and has been called a racist and right-wing extremist by some members of his own party

“I want to thank President-elect Trump for the opportunity to work with Reince in driving the agenda of the Trump administration,” Mr Bannon said on Sunday.

“We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory. We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”

Democrat Congressman Adam Schiff called Mr Bannon’s appointment “unsurprising but alarming”. “His alt-right, anti-Semitic & misogynistic views don’t belong in WH,” he tweeted.

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