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This is cnn breaking news. >> all right, this breaking news now into the newsroom. cnn has learned that president-elect donald trump has indeed made a very big decision. he's selected rnc chair reince priebus as his chief of staff. cnn's chief political correspondent dana bash is joining us on the phone. also with us, cnn's chris frates joining us from washington. so first to you, dana. what more are you hearing about why reince priebus and what is the hope as chief of staff? >> reporter: hi, there, fred. first of all, sources tell myself and jim acosta that this is the decision that mr. trump...

The entire team played well together on this team and they'll work well together in an administration. i think it's a huge signal of the intentions of president-elect trump to get things done. he's brought in someone who can get things done. and reince can cross a lot of boundaries in the republican party. i think he'll be called by some people right now an establishment figure, whatever that word means. but reince came up through the grassroots as state party chairman. he's become very skilled at the rnc, when you don't have the white house and you have a lot of different factions going on in...

I'm assuming they hope is that they will work well together, as they did during the campaign. >> and former rnc chief of staff mike shields still with us. what do you believe the next very important appointment would be from president-elect trump now? we have two appointments. what would be third? >> oh, goodness. i mean, you've got a whole administration to fill out. you've got to have press secretaries, you've got to have cabinet officials, you've got to staff the rest of the white house. and really, i think -- look, i want to go back to what was being said about bannon before and echo what ...

Insider like a reince priebus to move things along. legislation is very complicated. the negotiations that happen, the back-room discussions, those are the kinds of things that reince priebus is going to be able to facilitate with his relationships because he's trusted. he's a known quantity. and he also, as you pointed out, fred, helped bridge that gap between the establishment here in washington and the donald trump campaign. he was in a really tough spot for a lot of this campaign as the head of the rnc. he had to support the nominee. the party wasn't completely behind donald trump, and he ...

Priebus? or do you think along the way he's demonstrated loyalty or advocacy of donald trump before the election might potentially lead to some sort of post or an invitation like this if, indeed, trump were to win? >> oh, you know, reince was doing this because he was chairman of the party. he was doing his other job because he's chairman of the party. you always want to win the election. you want to do everything you possibly can. look, reince is leaving the rnc as the most successful chairman in the history of the republican party. and you can go back to the forming of the party. where the r...