Donald Trump on Thursday said his cabinet picks were the smartest in US history.

“We have a lot of smart people. I tell you what. One thing we’ve learned. We have, by far, the highest IQ of any cabinet ever,” the president-elect told a crowd of GOP bigs gathered for a luncheon at his Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.

Trump called out many Republican supporters by name as the crowd cheered, including Sen. Jeff Sessions, his pick for attorney general, and UN ambassador nominee Nikki Haley.

Trump also dined at the hotel Wednesday night, a decision which his spokesman Sean Spicer defended earlier Thursday.

“He’s going to his own hotel? I think that’s pretty smart,” said Spicer, who was asked about Trump’s business interests colliding with his coming governmental duties.

“It’s a stunning hotel. I encourage you to go there if you haven’t been,” he said.

In discussing the new administration, Spicer disclosed that roughly 50 senior Obama administration appointees will stay on the job following the inauguration to maintain continuity and help the government run smoothly.

Those asked to stay include high-ranking career officials at key national security agencies such as the Pentagon and the State Department.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon will remain as acting chiefs until their successors are confirmed by the Senate. Work will stay at Defense only until retired Gen. James Mattis is confirmed, which is expected to happen Friday.

At State, Shannon will stay on the job at least until next week, when the Senate is expected to vote on Trump’s pick for secretary of state, former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.

Others sticking around include Brett McGurk, the Obama administration’s point man for fighting the ISIS group; Nicholas Rasmussen, the National Counterterrorism Center director; and Adam Szubin, the Treasury Department’s top official for terrorism and financial intelligence, ABC reported.

Spicer also said Chuck Rosenberg, the Drug Enforcement Agency administrator, and Susan Coppedge, the State Department’s ambassador-at-large to combat human trafficking, would remain.

When President Obama took office in 2009, the Senate confirmed seven cabinet members on Inauguration Day.

Republicans and Democrats are still negotiating over Trump’s picks, and Mattis and Kelly may be the only ones to make it through Friday.

Spicer blasted Senate Democrats, particularly Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), for holding up cabinet appointees on Capitol Hill.

Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence were attending a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia on Thursday afternoon.

Afterward, they were to celebrate at a “Make America Great Again” concert at the Lincoln Memorial featuring Toby Keith, Lee Greenwood, 3 Doors Down and others.

Military bands will also perform and there will be fireworks by New York’s Grucci during the concert.

Presidential Inaugural Committee chairman Tom Barrack said Thursday’s events and Friday’s inauguration “will serve as tribute to one of our greatest attributes, the peaceful transition of partisan power.”