Trump weighs cabinet picks and 'amended' Obamacare

Donald Trump is to huddle Saturday with his White Housetransition team for a second day over cabinet picks as the president-elect sayshe is open to keeping parts of President Barack Obama's signature healthcarelaw.

The billionaire real estate mogul said in interviews that hewould consider an ‘amended’ version of the 2010 health law, a shift in positionafter vowing on the campaign trail to repeal the measure.

The announcement was one of several surprises, as Trumpshook up his transition team by putting running mate Mike Pence in charge andnamed a cohort of Washington insiders -- and three of his children -- to helpwith the process of choosing a new cabinet.

The reshuffle came as anti-Trump protesters spilled onto thestreets for a third straight night, with the Republican facing mounting callsto reassure Americans who fear a xenophobic crackdown under his authority.

Throngs of people -- among them families and children --rallied late Friday in New York'sWashington Squarecarrying banners reading ‘Peace and Love’ and ‘Your wall can't stand in ourway.’ Local media estimated a turnout of some 4,000 protesters.

In Portland,Oregon, a demonstrator was shotand sustained non-life-threatening injuries after what police believe was aconfrontation. The suspect then fled the area.

And more than 1,000 people gathered in Miami, with weekend protests planned in anumber of other cities.

A focal point for New Yorkprotests is TrumpTower, where the realestate tycoon-turned-world-leader has been ensconced in his luxury apartment,mapping out his next steps.

The 70-year-old incoming president has a mammoth task offleshing out his cabinet, as well as steering the complex transition of power,and announced on Friday he was elevating Vice President-elect Pence to lead theprocess.

Trump included three of his children and his son-in-lawJared Kushner on the transition team -- a move likely to raise eyebrows, sincethe tycoon earlier announced that should he win he would place his vastbusiness interests into a blind trust operated by Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trumpand Ivanka Trump.

And in a clear shift from his abrasive campaign, he added tohis transition team a string of insider figures from the very establishmentthat he railed against so strongly, including Republican National Committeechairman Reince Priebus -- now tipped as a possible chief of staff.

 

- Amending Obamacare? -

Trump took his first steps toward engaging with Washington on Thursdaywhen he met with Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the transitionahead of the January 20 inauguration -- a conversation the outgoing presidentcalled ‘excellent.’

The Oval Office meeting appears to have nudged Trump towardsa compromise on his oft-repeated threat to repeal Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal the president asked himto consider preserving parts of the healthcare law -- and that he was open tothe idea.

‘Either Obamacare will be amended, or repealed and replaced,’Trump told the newspaper. ‘I told him I will look at his suggestions, and outof respect, I will do that.’

According to The Journal, Trump said he favored maintaininga prohibition on insurance companies denying coverage because of so-calledpre-existing conditions. Before the law took effect, insurers had been able torefuse to cover people who had previously suffered almost any illness.

Trump also said he was not opposed to requiring insurers toallow children to remain on their parents' insurance policies until the age of26, a key Obamacare tenet.

On the Syrian conflict, however, Trump indicated a possiblesharp shift away from Obama administration policy.

‘I've had an opposite view of many people regarding Syria,’he told the paper, suggesting a closer focus on fighting the Islamic Stategroup -- and arguing that in seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad, ‘we endup fighting Russia,’ the regime's ally.

Trump has already spoken with a string of world leadersincluding British Prime Minister Theresa May and Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu, with whom he reaffirmed Washington's strong relations.

The apparently harmonious meeting between Trump and Obamawas designed to heal divisions and quell fears about the health of the world'sleading democracy.

 

- Hillary's concession -

Meanwhile, in an interview to be aired on Sunday, Trumpshowed a rare softer side, speaking warmly of the election night call hereceived from Hillary Clinton conceding that he had won.

‘It was a lovely call, and it was a tough call for her -- Imean, I can imagine,’ he said in the interview, excerpts of which were airedFriday.

‘I mean, for me, it would have been very, very difficult.She couldn't have been nicer. She just said, 'Congratulations, Donald, welldone.'‘

And I said, ‘I want to thank you very much, you were a greatcompetitor,’ he said, praising his vanquished political foe as ‘very strong andvery smart.’

He also spoke about a call he received from her husband,former president Bill Clinton, who he said ‘couldn't have been more gracious.’

Trump said he wouldn't rule out approaching the former US leader foradvice.