Former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) confirmed on CNN Tuesday night that several allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), including himself, were asked to leave Donald Trump’s transition effort, and that there has been “confusion” among members of the team.
“Sometimes in politics … there are people who are in and people who are out. And the people who have been asked to move on have some relationship with Chris Christie,” Rogers told CNN. “And so there’s a whole series of about five of them that fit that criteria that were asked to leave in the last few days. And you know what? That’s absolutely the campaign’s prerogative. I hope they all stay engaged.”
Rogers said that the transition team “clearly wanted to make a change” and “go in a different direction.”
“It was easy for me to hand it off to Mike Pence and his capable hands coming in,” he added.
The former congressman also said that there has been “confusion” on the Trump transition team, confirming reports of infighting.
“I think there is some confusion going on about a chain of command coming out of New York. Hopefully they’ll get that settled pretty soon. I think they’re going to need to do it because as this clock ticks, all of these decisions become more important and you have to make them sooner, with a little more authority and a little more forward thinking to make sure that they don’t bump into anything in the future,” he told CNN. “I think they’re going to get there and I’m an optimist about that.”
Rogers said that confusion was in part due to the fact that there are “a lot of folks who don’t have any experience” on the team.
“But that’s what the problem is. There’s a little bit of a vacuum in clear chains of command. That will get fixed. I think this is just growing pains,” he said, adding that the Trump transition team is not “collapsing.”
Watch part of Rogers’ interview via CNN:
