NEW YORK -- Donald Trump's transition to power as president kicked into higher gear Thursday as transition officials fanned out across federal agencies and as Trump made his most direct foray into foreign policy since the election, meeting with Japan's prime minister.
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A senior Trump official indicated that aides had begun fleshing out Trump's national security team, offering retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn the job of national security adviser.
Also Thursday, Trump consulted with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and sat down with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has been said to be a contender to lead the State Department.
In Washington, Vice President-elect Mike Pence huddled with Republican leaders in Congress. He then met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the newly elected leader of the Senate Democrats, seeking to convey respect as Democrats prepare for Republican rule of both chambers and the White House for the first time in a decade.
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"We look forward to finding ways that we can find common ground and move the country forward," Pence said outside Schumer's Senate office.
Flynn, who served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has advised Trump on national security issues for months. As national security adviser, he would work in the White House and have frequent access to the president. The post does not require Senate confirmation.
The Trump official wouldn't say whether Flynn had accepted the job, which left open the possibility that the arrangement was not finalized. The official was not authorized to discuss the offer publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Flynn, who turns 58 in December, built a reputation in the Army as an astute intelligence professional and a straight talker. He retired in 2014 and has been a fierce critic of President Barack Obama's White House and Pentagon, taking issue with the administration's approach to global affairs and to fighting Islamic State militants.
In recent public comments, including his fiery address at the Republican National Convention, Flynn has emphasized his view that the threat posed by the Islamic State militant group requires a more aggressive U.S. military, as well as his belief that Washington should work more closely with Moscow.
Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, was also said to be looking into joining the administration. Kushner has consulted with lawyers about such a move, according to two people briefed on his discussions, who requested anonymity to describe the matter.
Trump is urging him to join, according to one of the people briefed, a sentiment shared by Stephen Bannon, Trump's choice for chief strategist at the White House, and Reince Priebus, who was named chief of staff.
Kushner has consulted with at least one lawyer and believes that by forgoing a salary and putting his investment fund, his real estate holdings and his newspaper, The New York Observer, into a blind trust, he would not be bound by federal nepotism rules, according to one of the people briefed.
Also Thursday, Ron Dermer, Israel's ambassador to the United States, visited Trump's skyscraper and called the incoming president "a true friend of Israel." He specifically cited as another "friend" Bannon, whose selection as a top White House adviser has been criticized by Democrats.
"We look forward to working with the Trump administration, with all the members of the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon, in making the U.S.-Israel alliance stronger than ever," Dermer said.
Trump, a reality television star, businessman and political newcomer, also rolled out teams that will interact with the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department and other national security agencies. The move is part of the government transition before Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.
One potential Cabinet member, Eva Moskowitz, said she had taken herself out of the running to become education secretary. Moskowitz, a Democrat and advocate for charter schools, met with Trump this week, stoking speculation that she might inject a bit of bipartisanship into the new administration.
Moskowitz, who voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, suggested that there were "positive signs" that Trump might govern differently than he campaigned, but she wrote in a letter to parents that many of her students, who are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic, would feel that "they are the target of the hatred that drove Trump's campaign."
Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said she expected announcements of Cabinet choices to come "before or right after Thanksgiving," telling reporters that Trump was "loving" the transition. "He's a transactional guy. He's somebody who's used to delivering results and producing."
Key paperwork done
Trump's transition team finally finished key paperwork clearing the way for the White House to start sharing information, officials said. Coordination had been on hold until Trump's team submitted documents, including a list of transition team members who will coordinate with specific federal agencies, plus certification that they meet a code of conduct barring conflicts of interest.
White House spokesman Brandi Hoffine said the minimum paperwork was finished Thursday, meaning agencies could start providing briefings and written materials to Trump's team. The departments of State, Defense and Justice said meetings were being set up.
Trump's calendar has been packed with sit-down meetings.
During his meeting with Kissinger, who led the State Department under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, the two discussed relations with China, Russia, Iran and the European Union. Other meetings have included Haley, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas.
As he left Trump Tower, Hensarling, who leads the House Financial Services Committee, said he and the president-elect had discussed tax and trade policies -- and he left open the possibility of joining the administration.
"I stand ready to help the president in any capacity possible," he said. In a separate gesture of reconciliation with establishment Republicans, Trump planned to meet with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who lambasted Trump as a "con man" and a "fraud" in a stinging speech in March. Trump responded by repeatedly referring to Romney as a "loser."
The two began mending fences after Trump's victory when Romney called to offer his congratulations. They are to meet this weekend, a transition official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss Trump's schedule publicly. Conway said they were still "working on" the meeting.
Late Wednesday, Trump aides announced that his transition teams would not include lobbyists and that members of Trump's administration would be barred from lobbying for five years after they leave government service.
Trump promised while campaigning that he would "drain the swamp" in Washington. Members of his transition team drew criticism because some of his original transition team members were lobbyists for interests they were being assigned to oversee.
Under the rules, announced by transition spokesman Sean Spicer, lobbyists joining the Trump team will have to terminate their formal registration to lobby. Aides to Trump said several of the firings in recent days were part of an effort to enforce the new rules, although the aides declined to reveal any names.
Trump meets with Abe
Trump huddled privately Thursday evening with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. While Trump made no comments after the meeting, Abe said the president-elect was "a leader in whom I can have great confidence."
Since his victory over Clinton last week, Trump has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Theresa May and nearly three dozen other world leaders by telephone. But Abe's visit to Trump's midtown Manhattan high-rise was Trump's first in-person meeting with a foreign leader since the end of the campaign.
Trump's campaign rhetoric caused consternation in many world capitals, including Tokyo. He has said he would demand that allies such as Japan and South Korea contribute more to the cost of basing U.S. troops in their countries.
Such comments have worried Japan at a time when the threat from North Korea is growing, and China is challenging the U.S.-led security status quo in the Pacific.
Japan and South Korea already pay considerable sums to support the U.S. bases and note that it's also in America's strategic interest to deploy troops in the region.
Trump has suggested that Japan and South Korea could obtain their own nuclear weapons, rather than rely on U.S. deterrence, which risks triggering an atomic arms race in Northeast Asia.
South Korea currently pays more than $800 million a year -- about 50 percent of nonpersonnel costs of the U.S. military deployment on its soil -- and is paying $9.7 billion more for relocating U.S. military bases, according to the Congressional Research Service. Japan pays about $2 billion a year, about half the cost of stationing U.S. forces there.
Information for this article was contributed by Ken Thomas, Catherine Lucey, Jill Colvin, Erica Werner, Jonathan Lemire, Michael Astor and Matthew Pennington of The Associated Press; and by Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Maggie Haberman, Michael D. Shear and Eric Lipton of The New York Times.
A Section on 11/18/2016