DONALD TRUMP has named his first senior White House appointees - including a man who previously ran a website accused of publishing racist and inflammatory content.
Steve Bannon, who served as campaign CEO to Trump, will be a senior counsellor to the President from January.
He is currently the chairman of the Breitbart News website, which has been linked to white nationalism and regularly publishes pieces critical of minority communities in the USA.
In the aftermath of a mass killing at a black church in South Carolina last year, for example, the website ran the headline: "Hoist it high and proud: the confederate flag proclaims a glorious heritage."
Bannon has previously described himself as a "Leninist", saying he shared the Soviet leader's goal of wanting "to destroy the state".
"I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment," he told a Daily Beast reporter in 2014.
Bannon's appointment has been confirmed by figures on both sides of the political divide in Washington.
The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant America.
— John Weaver (@JWGOP) November 13, 2016
Nation exhales because white nationalist only gets second most influential job in White House
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) November 13, 2016
The appointment was confirmed shortly before the airing of Trump's first major TV interview since becoming President-elect, with the CBS 60 Minutes show, which aired on Sunday night but which was taped on Friday.
During that interview, Trump said he was unaware of an increase in reported hate crimes against minority communities, saying he was "so sad" to be informed of it.
Addressing the camera directly, he said: "If it helps, I will say this... stop it."
Changing positions in TV interview
Another high profile appointment is Reince Priebus, the current national chairman of the Republican party, who will take over as Trump's chief of staff.
Priebus's appointment is seen as a more conciliatory appointment, and will help Trump to engage with Congress - where, although both houses will now be controlled by Republicans, many members are still cold on Trump's election.
In his TV interview Trump appeared to shift position on several issues - declaring that the border wall with Mexico could be replaced with a fence in some areas, and promising to retain some parts of the 'Obamacare' system.
He also appeared to back down from a previous promise to appoint Supreme Court members who would overturn a recent ruling legalising gay marriage - saying it had been "settled" by the court.
But he maintained his similar policy on abortion, promising his Supreme Court appointees would overturn the ruling in Roe v. Wade and giving individual states enough autonomy to decide if abortion should be legal.
Our political correspondent Gavan Reilly filed this report for Today FM's National Lunchtime News:
