Trump Cabinet Latest Update: Top Obama Administration Officials To Quit Despite Being Asked To Stay, Report Says

As President-elect Donald Trump gets ready to take office Friday, a number of senior Obama administration officials have been asked to stay to aid the transition. At least three of these top officials, however, have decided to leave despite the offer, Reuters reported Thursday.

A senior intelligence officer and two diplomats, whose names figured on the list of “requested political holdovers,” will be leaving their posts. They are: Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Stephanie O'Sullivan, Under Secretary of State Catherine Novelli and Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. Over 50 of Obama’s officials have been asked to stay to “ensure the continuity of government.”

According to the Reuters report, the two diplomats — Novelli and Nuland — have told their co-workers that they will leave while O’Sullivan will continue with her plan to retire.

The list of officials who have been asked to stay on reportedly includes Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL Brett McGurk; Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Adam Szubin; Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Tom Shannon.

However, a U.S. official reportedly said that Nuland was never asked to stay on and Reuters was unclear whether the list with O'Sullivan, Nuland and Novelli’s names was the same as the list of officials the incoming administration wants to stay on.

While reports suggest that Trump’s incoming administration was “much slower” in decision making than the past few administrations, Vice President-elect Mike Pence told reporters Thursday that their transition would be complete ahead of schedule and well under the budget: “We will actually return some 20 percent of taxpayer funding back to the U.S. Treasury.”

“Our job is to be ready on day one. The American people can be confident that we will be,” Pence said.