The Trump transition team has not yet made public its internal code of conduct, nor did it respond to a request for comment about it.
Nonetheless, Trumps closest aides are meeting with prospective candidates in hopes of announcing nominees for key Cabinet posts in the coming weeks, sources told POLITICO.
Going forward, sources familiar with the team said they expect the operation to have a more top-down structure, with the president-elects closest advisers, such as Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Jeff Sessions, newly named chief of staff Reince Priebus, political strategist Steve Bannon and Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner bulldozing much of the former transition leaders existing work and making Cabinet decisions on their own, in consultation with Trump.
Trumps aides are focused on recruiting allies and loyalists who they have long hoped to install in top Cabinet posts, such as Sessions, or Trump donor and Goldman Sachs veteran, Steven Mnuchin, for Treasury secretary.
One person who has talked to transition officials compared their approach to that of Dick Cheney, who ran George W. Bushs transition team.
Cheney had his own list in his head and he appointed the people he wanted, the person said, adding that there are factions within the Trump transition that are each pushing their preferred candidates from Sessions loyalists, to Heritage Foundation wonks, to Trumps campaign staff, to conservative activists who admire Pence.
The Trump transition team is also working to develop cohesive policies aimed at vetting nominees and protecting against conflicts of interest. Trumps transition website, greatagain.gov, says candidates for jobs in his administration will be subjected to a full FBI background check and they must complete a Personal Data Statement.
The statement includes questions about possible conflicts of interest deriving from your sources of income; all aspects of your personal and professional life, including organizations to which you belong or once belonged; speeches you may have given and books, articles and editorials you may have written; legal, administrative and regulatory proceedings to which you may have been a party, according to the website, which urges candidates to disclose anything that might embarrass the President or you if he should choose you for a position in his administration.