Another establishment Republican has decided to join Donald Trump's political circle. | AP Photo Domestic policy aide to Vice President Cheney joins Trump transition team

Ado Machida, a top domestic policy aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and former lobbyist, has joined the transition team for Donald Trump, according to two sources familiar with that team's work.

On the transition team, Machida is charged with working on major policies that run across several federal agencies, such as repealing Obamacare, or tackling trade or energy policy questions, according to one source.


It's a big-picture job that brings yet another establishment Republican wonk into the folds of Trump's political circle.

Machida served as the deputy assistant to the vice president and as Director of the Office of Domestic Policy under Vice President Dick Cheney from 2002-2003, according to his LinkedIn profile and also served as a senior economic policy adviser on the Dole-Kemp 1996 presidential campaign.

Both before and after his tenure in the Bush White House, Machida worked as a lobbyist for Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Kaizen Strategy Group; and BAE Systems, where he lobbied for major companies such as American Airlines, Time Warner, Walgreens, AT&T, Honeywell, Lucent Technologies, and several Native American tribes, according to congressional lobbyings filings from 1999 to 2007.

He also lobbied on behalf of a number of pharmaceutical companies and associations including PhRMA, Abbott Laboratories, and Akorn Pharmaceuticals. He's known as an expert on tax, trade, and appropriations, according to a 2003 article on lobbyists known as "rainmakers."

Most recently, he worked as the president of the International Stability Operations Association. Machida did not return an email seeking comment, and the Trump campaign declined to comment via spokesperson, Hope Hicks.

Machida joins an increasing roster of Republican policy experts with strong establishment ties, including Eric Ueland, Republican staff director for the Senate Budget Committee and former chief-of-staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist; Andrew Bremberg, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; and William Hagerty, a former economic adviser to President George H.W. Bush.