McConnell meets with Trump in New York

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) met with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday in New York ahead of a busy week in the upper chamber.

McConnell met Trump at Trump Tower Monday morning as the Senate prepares to conduct nine confirmation hearings this week for Trump’s Cabinet picks.

Following the meeting, McConnell told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower that the two discussed the upcoming Cabinet hearings as well as the logistics of repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.

“The president-elect and I had a good meeting about the Senate’s agenda, which of course includes confirming the Cabinet appointments, getting further down the road towards repealing and replacing Obamacare,” McConnell said, according to the pool report.

“We simply talked about the Senate agenda and how we’re ready to get going once he gets down there.”

When asked about the financial vetting of Trump’s Cabinet picks, McConnell said they will be “properly vetted” like they have been in past incoming administrations and expressed optimism that six or seven of those nominees could be confirmed by the start of the new administration.

The pool report pointed out that McConnell ignored a question about the recent intelligence report regarding Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

{mosads}Trump will also meet with Randy Falco, president and CEO of Univision, and Isaac Lee, Univision’s chief news, entertainment and digital officer. Trump and Jorge Ramos, anchor for the Spanish-language media network, notably clashed during the presidential campaign.

Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on an call with reporters that Trump had wrapped up a meeting Monday morning with Jack Ma and Michael Evans, the founder and president of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Spicer said the three are discussing “how Alibaba can create 1 million U.S. jobs by enabling 1 million U.S. small businesses to sell goods into China and Asian marketplace.”

As Trump continues his search for a candidate to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs, he will also meet with David Shulkin, the VA’s undersecretary of health.

Updated at 12:02 p.m.