Washington:
Taking a U-turn on earlier announcements, US president-elect Donald Trump has decided to keep more than 50 officials from the outgoing Obama administration to stay in office after his inauguration on Saturday.
"In the addition to the appointments that we've announced and will announce, the president-elect has asked over 50 individuals to stay in critical posts throughout the government," Trump's incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters.
The Trump Transition Team had earlier said that it would not give extension to any of the political appointees including ambassadors.
The officials who will continue their service are deputy secretary of defense Robert Work, Chuck Rosenberg the DEA administrator, Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counter-terrorism Center, and Tom Shannon, the under secretary of state for political affairs.
Other prominent officials are Susan Coppedge in Department of State, which is the office to monitor and combat trafficking of persons, Brett McGurk, special envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State, assistant secretary of Management of Department of Treasury Kody Kinsley and Adam Szubin, who is the acting under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence in the Department of the Treasury.
These officials will be staying aboard through the time being, until a replacement can be named, Spicer said.
