Good morning and welcome to Monday and the start of a new work week. Let’s take a look at the Digest.
1. Donald Trump chose Reince Priebus to be his White House chief of staff. Priebus chairs the Republican National Committee and is close to fellow Wisconsinite House Speaker Paul Ryan. Trump had been said to be considering Steve Bannon, the longtime chairman of Breitbart News for the job, but Bannon will instead be chief strategist and senior counselor in the White House. From this story: “Breitbart News regularly traffics in racially charged accusations about Mr. Obama, provocative comparisons between abortion providers and Holocaust killers, and contempt for feminism.” (New York Times)
2. The appointment of Steve Bannon drew immediate negative reaction from many, including Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League.“It is a sad day when a man who presided over the premier website of the ‘alt-right’ - a loose-knit group of white nationalists and unabashed anti-Semites and racists - is slated to be a senior staff member in the ‘people’s house,'” Greenblatt said. Some former colleagues defended Bannon. (NBC News)
3. In an interview with 60 Minutes broadcast Sunday night Trump said he will move to deport 2 to 3 million people once he takes office. He said he still intends to build a wall on the Mexican border, although he conceded part of it could be a fence. He said immigration, health care and tax cuts are top priorities. He said he would appoint judges who would oppose legal abortion and protect the Second Amendment. He declined to say whether he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into Hillary Clinton’s emails. He said he would take only $1 per year in salary. And Trump said he was surprised to hear of his supporters harassing people over racial and religious differences and looked directly into the camera and told them to stop it. (CBS News)
4. Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison could announce as soon as today whether he wants the top job at the Democratic National Committee. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a host of Democratic leaders have lined up behind Ellison in the past few days. Whoever gets the job is facing a big task after the party lost a lot of ground in last week’s election. Still, Ellison suggested Sunday if he does get the party position he would also keep his seat in Congress. (MPR News)
5.Nine Twin Cities men who were part of the nation’s largest ISIS conspiracy case will learn how much time they will spend in prison as a federal judge begins three days of sentencing on Monday. The hearings cap more than two years of a federal investigation that traced the movement of young Minnesotans to the Middle East to take up arms with the so-called Islamic State. The men who will be sentenced never made it that far, but they still face hard prison time, most likely ranging from 3.5 to 15 years. (MPR News)
