United States President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday selected Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus (above right) to be his White House chief of staff. He chose conservative media figure and his campaign manager Stephen K Bannon to be his senior adviser and strategist on taking over the Oval Office.

The two men will “work as equal partners to transform the federal government”, the Republican’s transition team said in a statement on Sunday.

Following the announcement, Bannon said he will continue to have the same “successful partnership” with Trump that they had during his presidential election campaign to “achieve his agenda”. Priebus said he looked forward to working with both Bannon and Trump “to create an economy that works for everyone, secure our borders, repeal and replace Obamacare and destroy radical Islamic terrorism”.

A former banker at Goldman Sachs and later the head of alt-right publication Breitbart news, Bannon is believed to have pushed Trump to centre his campaign around populism and capitalise on the belief. He was appointed to head the campaign last year while the businessman was embroiled in controversies. His appointment to the top White House post was not well-received by many, who called him “one of the foremost peddlers of white supremacist themes and rhetoric”, according to The New York Times.

Selecting Priebus as the White House chief of staff, however, indicates Trump’s willingness to work with the US Congress. He is expected to serve as the key link for the president-elect to politicians, with whom he has few connections. He had worked as the Republican Party’s treasurer in Wisconsin, after which he became president of the state party. After serving as general counsel to former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, Priebus went on to become the committee chief himself.

Moreover, in an interview to CBS news, Trump said he would not accept the $400,000 salary given to the US president. “I think I have to by law take $1, so I’ll take $1 a year,” he said, standing by the promise he had made during his campaign in September.