Trump will seek new law to sack Obama appointees if he wins presidency: New Jersey governor Chris Christie

A delegate holds signs during the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Cleveland, Ohio, US, on July 19. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

CLEVELAND, Ohio (REUTERS) - If he wins the presidency, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would seek to purge the federal government of officials appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and could ask Congress to pass legislation making it easier to fire public workers, Mr Trump's ally Chris Christie said on Tuesday (July 19).

Mr Christie, who is governor of New Jersey and leads Mr Trump's White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire if Mr Trump defeats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov 8 presidential election.

"As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people," Mr Christie told a closed-door meeting with dozens of donors at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, according to an audio recording obtained by Reuters and two participants in the meeting.

He was referring to Mr Trump's starring role in the long-running television show "The Apprentice," where his catch-phrase was "You're fired!" The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

Mr Trump's transition advisers fear that Mr Obama may convert these appointees to civil servants, who have more job security than officials who have been politically appointed. This would allow officials to keep their jobs in a new, possibly Republican, administration, Mr Christie said.

"It's called burrowing," he said. "You take them from the political appointee side into the civil service side, in order to try to set up ... roadblocks for your successor, kind of like when all the Clinton people took all the Ws off the keyboard when George Bush was coming into the White House."

Mr Christie was referring to pranks committed during the presidential transition from Mr Bill Clinton to Mr George W. Bush in 2001. During that period, some White House staffers removed the W key on computer keyboards and left derogatory signs and stickers in offices, according to a report by the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress.

"One of the things I have suggested to Donald is that we have to immediately ask the Republican Congress to change the civil service laws. Because if they do, it will make it a lot easier to fire those people," Christie said.

He said firing civil servants was "cumbersome" and"time-consuming." There was no immediate comment from the American Federation of Government Employees, which is the largest federal employee union in the United States.

Mr Christie also told the gathering that changing the leadership of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), long a target of Republicans concerned about over regulation, would be a top priority for Mr Trump should he win in November.

Mr Trump has previously vowed to eliminate the EPA and roll back some of America's most ambitious environmental policies, actions that he says would revive the US oil and coal industries and bolster national security.

Mr Christie added that the Trump team wants to let businesspeople serve in government part time without having to give up their jobs in the private sector. Mr Trump frequently says he is better equipped to be president because of his business experience.

Although Mr Christie was repeatedly asked during the meeting, he declined to name any potential Cabinet picks. He said Mr Trump was not ready to do that yet.

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.