“Donald Trump campaigned as an outsider who vowed to ‘drain the swamp’ in Washington, but the president-elect’s transition team is packed with veterans of the GOP establishment, as well as with lobbyists for the fossil fuel, chemical, pharmaceutical and tobacco industries,” Politico reports.

New York Times: “The whereabouts of the president-elect, who has broken with convention and opted to travel without a press pool, at least for the moment, remains something of a mystery. On Thursday afternoon, Hope Hicks, Mr. Trump’s spokeswoman, gave word that he would be spending the night in Washington instead of returning to New York, as planned. But hours later, she sent a terse update: ‘Now heading to NYC.’ Requests for further details on his schedule were met with silence.”

“Steve Bannon, the conservative provocateur and Mr. Trump’s campaign chief, is now a leading candidate to become White House chief of staff, but he’d have to beat out another campaign veteran in the running, Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee,” the New York Times reports.

“Washington began its transition of power Wednesday as the ascendancy of President-elect Donald Trump promised a seismic shift in nearly every facet of the capital city, from military and executive agencies to federal courts and financial and political establishments,” the Washington Post reports.

“Claiming an electoral mandate after maintaining majorities in both chambers of Congress, Trump’s resurgent Republican Party planned an aggressive and sweeping program to systematically dismantle Obama’s policies and to usher in a new era of conservative governance… For the GOP, there were signs of unity after a season of acrimony brought by Trump’s divisive candidacy, which antagonized party leaders.”

President-elect Donald Trump “refused to let a group of journalists travel with him to cover his historic first meeting with President Barack Obama, breaking a long-standing practice intended to ensure the public has a watchful eye on the nation’s leader,” the AP reports.

“Trump flew from New York to Washington on his private jet without that ‘pool’ of reporters, photographers and television cameras that have traveled with presidents and presidents-elect. Trump’s flouting of press access was one of his first public decisions since his election Tuesday.”