THE NOT-READY FOR PRIME-TIME PLAYERS:

The transition team has yet to publicly release a code of ethics for itself or for nominees. And an aide to a person being considered for a top Cabinet position said the person had not yet been asked to complete a detailed questionnaire to suss out red flags. [...]

"Obviously, Inauguration Day is not getting further away," transition spokesman Jason Miller told reporters waiting in Trump Tower Monday night. "And people need to get going. This is an absolute top priority understood by the president-elect and the vice president-elect."

By comparison, President-elect Barack Obama's transition team was deep into the vetting process by early November 2008 -- not just meeting with prospective nominees but also compiling fat dossiers on them, according to emails made public through WikiLeaks. The Obama team also released a code of ethics for transition team members just a few days after the election to limit the influence of special interests. The Trump transition team, meanwhile, is full of lobbyists and has not released such a code.

"It's a lot of new people coming in the door. I'm sure their heads are spinning, with security clearances and background checks," said one transition team source. "They're going from the footloose and fancy-free world of the campaign into the process of setting up a government. It's a little different."

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