OPERATOR: Please stand by. Good day and welcome to the transition daily briefing call. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Mr. Sean Spicer. Please go ahead, sir.

SPICER: Hey. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining. Thank you for -- for joining us. We were trying to make sure that the vice-president elect could continue to talk, but I -- I didn't want to delay the call any longer. He's wrapping up what appears to be the Q&A on all the cable stations. So, I'd refer you to that to hear some of the -- the discussion that he's having after his meeting with the House Republican Conference.

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We're officially 16 days away from Inauguration Day. The president-elect's transition team continues to work vigorously to ensure that the administration is prepared to get to work enacting an agenda that will improve the life of all Americans on the president- elect's first day in office.

SPICER: We added an additional 13 landing team members to the White House, bringing the total landing team members now to in excess of 300.

The first lady-elect and members of the president-elect's support team has held meeting -- held meetings yesterday, rather, regarding the first family's move to Washington, inaugural events, (inaudible) and decor for the East and West Wings.

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The president-elect today is going to announce very shortly his intent to appoint Jay Clayton as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC. Jay Clayton is C-L-A-Y-T-O-N, is a highly talented expert on many assets of financial regulatory law and he will ensure our financial institutions can thrive and creates jobs while playing by the rules at the same time.

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The -- and the president-elect is -- will be quoted in this release that should go out at any moment now. Quote, "We need to undo many regulations that just stifle (ph) investment American businesses and restore oversight of the financial industry in a way that does not harm workers." The release will have details of Mr. Clayton's bio, and if you want, we will be able to provide additional information.

I do expect some additional staff announcements today, so just stay tuned. They may come in a couple different waves, but I expect at least one -- one staff announcement -- one set of staff announcements before noon today and then another one this afternoon.

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Just to recap yesterday, the president (sic) announced he intends to nominate Robert Lighthizer as the USTR.

For planning purposes only, we are tentatively looking at the president-elect holding the much anticipated press conference in New York City on January 11. We'll have more details coming out as to the time, location and confirming that date. That is -- I just want to be crystal clear, that is the date that we hope works out, but we're trying to coordinate some schedules and locations, so stay tuned. But plan on that. It may slip to the 12th, depending on some venues that we're trying to lock this down. But just -- those would be two good dates to keep in mind if you want to be in New York.

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And let me just -- I want to provide a quick update, an intel update and clarification. There's -- there's two types of briefings that the president- and vice president-elect get. There's the presidential daily briefing, which is -- which he -- the president- elect gets three times a week, I've noted that before. This -- this (inaudible), the PDB is raw data that the intel committee provides to him and it is truly just that, it is raw data.

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He then receives every day a security update from his national security team. That is more of an analysis of that data and intelligence and recommendations on policies that he might want to consider once he assumes office or actions he might want to take or not take.

But again, the NSC brief that he receives everyday is sort of the -- the -- his team's analysis of that data. When he sits down for the PDB, the intel community's goal and responsibility is only to provide raw data and then let NSC team and the president-elect make their -- draw their own conclusions and analysis from that data.

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With respect to updates on Russia specifically, just to be clear as to what -- how this sequencing went down, last week, the president- elect's team asked for an update that would occur early this week with respect to that subject. We were later asked to postpone that briefing because the final report that the intelligence community is going to issue is not going to be finalized until later this week and they asked that we defer that briefing until they had had the report finalized.

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SPICER: We have scheduled that meeting for Friday in New York this week and I can confirm the CIA Director Brennan, FBI Director Comey and Director of National Intelligence Clapper intend to be present for that briefing on that subject.

Today, the president-elect began his day in New York on a phone call with United -- United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Next, he met with Jim Callahan, who -- I'm sorry and the U.N. General Secretary Antonio, A-N-T-O-N-I-O, last name G-U-T-E-R-R-E-S.

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Next, he met with Mr. Jim Callahan, C-A-L-L-A-H-A-N, who is the general president of the International Union of Operating Engineers, and Mr. Vincent Pitta, who is the founding partner in Pitta & Giblin, a law firm that represents labor unions. He then held a joint meeting with Mr. Peter Ward, W-A-R-D, Ms. Jennifer Cunningham, C-U-N-N-I-N-G- H-A-M, and Mr. Vincent Pitta, P-I-T-T-A. Mr. Ward served for (ph) the presidency of the New York Hotel, Motel Trades Council, the union comprised of hotel workers in the greater New York City area and New Jersey.

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Mrs. Cunningham currently acts as the managing director of SKDKnickerbocker of New York City. And I mentioned Mr. Pitta's background before.

Today, the vice president-elect is, as I just referenced, on the cell already. He began his day meeting with the House Republican Conference to discuss the implementation of the agenda that will begin to make America great again as soon as the president-elect takes office. He just held a press conference with House Republican leaders and took questions from the press. I'd refer you to that -- to his comments on that with respect to the legislative update.

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The vice president-elect will then hold meetings with Speaker Paul Ryan, Dr. Tom Price who is the HHS designate, Congressman Mick Mulvaney who is the OMB designate, and then he will attend the GOP -- Senate GOP policy lunch. Following these meetings, the vice president-elect will receive the presidential daily briefing and hold more transition meetings for the remainder of the day.

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With that, be glad to take a few questions.

OPERATOR: At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please signal by pressing star one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please make sure your mute function is turned off to allow your signal to reach our equipment. Again, please press star then the number one to ask a question. We'll pause for just a moment to allow everyone the opportunity to signal for questions.

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We'll take our first question from Philip Brasher with AgriPulse.

QUESTION: Yeah, so I want to ask you about where -- when we're going to get an agriculture secretary nominee. What's the -- what's the current thinking on that? And are you still -- there's been -- there are indications last week that you were looking for -- to fill this position with a Hispanic. Thanks.

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SPICER: Thanks for the question.

I mean, I think the president-elect has shown through the selections that he's made already for his Cabinet that he's looking for the most qualified individuals to help make each one of these departments operate at their highest degree of efficiency and deliver the best results for the American people in each of these areas. He continues to meet with highly qualified people in the Department of Agriculture, and as soon as we have an update, we'll (inaudible).

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But just to be clear, as has been the case in every one of these, it's going to be the person that understands and demonstrates the greatest ability to implement the president's agenda and make America great again in each one of these areas.

OPERATOR: We'll take our next question from Zeke Miller with Time.

QUESTION: Hey, Sean. Good morning. Just a couple questions about the president-elect's tweets regarding the intelligence briefing.

Is he -- he seemed to be expressing skepticism about the conclusions about the -- of the report that he hasn't yet seen.

If he can speak to sort of his -- the way he abused the briefings from Comey, Clapper, and Brennan. I mean because he's skeptical of the information they're going to be providing to him.

And second, the White House has said that they're going to be releasing publicly or declassifying at least portions of their report showing that Russia was behind the hack -- the election-related hacks last year. Would the president-elect commit to declassifying any information that he believes proves the opposite?

SPICER: Well, I -- I think -- I don't want to put the cart before the horse, Zeke. The president-elect is looking forward to the briefing this Friday. And he's looking forward to hearing what the -- those three in particular have to say about the report, the conclusions, and how they came to those conclusions.

Again, I go back to -- to one quick thing about the PBD versus the NSA. And I think (ph) this -- this reflects on this as well.

I think the data is one thing, asking people how they came to the conclusions is quite another. And I think what he wants to hear from them is, how does the raw intelligence justify the conclusions that it is being presented to them.

And again, let's be clear, the report is not final. So, he wants to see that report and then talk to them about how that conclusion. So, I don't want to get ahead of his discussion with those folks.

OPERATOR: We'll take your next question from Anita Kumar with McClatchy Newspapers.

QUESTION: I want to clarify -- on the president-elect's tweet about the press conference next week, he called it a general press conference. When we first heard about this a month or so ago, it was to talk about his businesses. Is it going to be both?

I'm just trying to figure out what -- if this is gonna be talking about his businesses. And then also on Friday after the briefing will he talk to people? Will he say what he's heard? Will he talk about the Russian allegations?

SPICER: Thanks, Anita. I -- I -- I -- again, I don't want to get ahead of the president-elect in terms of what he wants to do with the conclusions that -- or the briefing. So, we'll -- we'll wait and see.

I'm sure if we have an announcement in terms of his desire to come down and talk, we'll -- we'll try and let you know as much ahead of time as possible.

I can -- with respect to the press conference, I -- I think again, he -- he -- he's -- I don't -- I think -- the answer to that is I think he's going to talk about the businesses obviously. But he's not gonna limit the discussion.

You know, you guys are gonna ask the questions you're gonna ask. And he -- he'll be ready to take questions on a whole range of issues on his agenda, and his -- his desire, what his priorities are gonna be. But I think he looks forward to discussing all of those subjects and not just limiting it to -- to the news.

As he has said before, to some degree part of the ability to separate him -- himself from the business is quite simple. So, I think he wants to discuss that, make sure everyone understands the procedures that are gonna be followed and the structure that's gonna be set up. And then I think he's gonna welcome your questions on a variety of subjects.

OPERATOR: We'll take -- take our next question from Ben Kamisar with The Hill Newspaper.

QUESTION: Hey, everyone. Thanks as always. First, two questions.

The first is just a super quick clarification. When the administration talks about issues happening on day one, does that mean you know Saturday or Monday since the inauguration is on a Friday?

And secondly, on Assange, the president-elect has been tweeting sort of Assange's interview from last night. He seemed to be putting a little bit of faith in his assessment of the DNC hack.

I guess you know with that, pitting him against some prominent members of Congress, particularly you know Speaker of the House and people like Tom Cotton who know their way around military intelligence. I guess you know how much faith does the president- elect have in Assange's assessment of the DNC hack?

And is there concern with the president-elect siding with his assessment over that of the intelligence community and sort of allies in Congress right now?

SPICER: Thanks, Ben. Number one, I think day one is day one. It's Friday, January 20th and he is prepared and ready to go. He wants to -- as he said before, enact real change day one. And that will mean, you know, within hours of his being sworn in. He's put his team on notice that he expects nothing less than everyone to get right to work for the American people.

With respect to the (inaudible) tweets, again, I don't want to get ahead of the briefing. But I think he's just stating what Assange has stated publicly and he looks forward to the briefing to discuss all of these matters with the aforementioned individuals.

OPERATOR: We'll take our next question from Fred Lucas with The Daily Signal.

QUESTION: Yes, thank you for the call.

You -- you -- you mentioned that the president-elect's meeting with the U.S. Secretary General. Wanted to ask, would you foresee any changes in U.S. funding for the United Nations?

We've seen that Senator Graham has talked about that, Senator Cruz has talked about that. Sort of pulling back certain -- at least, if it's not the over all budget, certain programs for the U.N.

SPICER: Thanks, Fred.

I -- I think, you know, the president-elect has made it very clear about his position on the U.N. And I think he is going to work with Ambassador-Designate Haley to articulate the -- and -- and obviously Secretary-Designate Tillerson to make sure that the United States, which funds a large portion of the U.N. budget, demands some reform and change.

So that -- that our tax dollars are used the most efficiently and effectively possible. But again, I think there's -- there's gonna be more to be said on that after he becomes president.

OPERATOR: Our next question comes from Steve Holland with Reuters.

QUESTION: Hey, Sean, thank you.

The -- Vice President-elect Pence on the Hill was saying that -- that the president-elect retains a healthy skepticism toward the intelligence community. But could you tell us why Mr. Trump is so skeptical of the intelligence community? Is it because of the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that were never found? What is this based on and does he relate this skepticism to his briefers when he talks to them?

SPICER: Well I -- I -- well, I actually think it's a great question, Steve. Because, again, there's two pieces to -- to the intelligence that comes out. One is the raw data and two is the conclusions that are drawn from that data.

And I think that there's -- that -- that -- there's a big difference when you talk about the skepticism of the intelligence that he gets a briefing. And again, one of the things that's interesting about the PDB is that it's not -- it's not an opportunity to go back and forth on analysis and recommendations.

The briefer gives the president-elect and as it, you know, obviously currently the president-elect, raw data and says, this is -- these -- these are the facts on the ground. This is what's happening. This moved to this place, this added up, this went down, whatever it is.

It -- and then it's the job of -- of the political advisers, if you will -- the NSC staff and others; CIA director, DNI director, to then provide the president-elect and others with the analysis and recommendations. And I think the president-elect is more skeptical of the conclusions that are drawn from the raw data rather than the intelligence in the raw data that's provided.

That's why I think he's looking forward to this Friday's meeting to get a better understanding of how they are taking that raw data and drawing the conclusions and recommendations that they have.

OPERATOR: This concludes today's question-and-answer session.

At this time, I would like to turn the conference back to Mr. Sean Spicer for any additional or closing remarks.

SPICER: I think I'm good. Thank you, guys. I look forward to chatting with you again tomorrow. As I mentioned, I would anticipate very shortly if not -- if it hasn't already occurred yet -- the SEC release has gone out. And then I would assume that within the next hour or so, you should see at least one set of (inaudible) announcements, and then look for another one later this afternoon.

Thanks, and I look forward to talking with you tomorrow.