U.S. President-elect Donald Trump (L) and Vice President-elect Mike Pence (R) greet retired Marine General James Mattis
© Mike Segar / Reuters
President Donald Trump's staff started arriving at the White House less than two hours after their boss took the oath of office.

Raj Shah, a new deputy communications director, showed reporters his teal-blue badge (in contrast to the Obama administration's royal blue hard passes) and said he was on hand "literally to hit 'send' on things." Indeed, the prepared text of Trump's inaugural speech and the first White House pool report landed in inboxes from a White House press address labeled "OCIO."

It's unclear how many others will make it onto the White House campus on Friday, Shah said. Vans have been carrying staffers over from the transition offices, "a bunch of NSC staff, primarily," he said, referring to the National Security Council.

Asked whether Trump would make more executive moves during his first hours in office beyond those he signed at the Capitol, Shah said, "Stay tuned for that."

He added: "Don't start drinking yet."

Shah, a former research director for the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee, said much of the communications staff will be in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

It's unclear whether Trump will house all of his communications team — which is distinct from the press shop that talks regularly and directly with reporters — in the EEOB, or if some will be in the West Wing. In the Obama White House, some senior communications aides were based in "Upper Press," a part of the West Wing to which reporters had access and where the press secretary's office is located, with others in the EEOB. (Reporters do not have access to the EEOB without an appointment.)

Reporters also traditionally have free access to "Lower Press," a set of offices for the deputy and assistant press secretaries just off the Brady Briefing Room. Some time after Obama and Trump departed the White House, the door to "Lower Press" was locked. Zeke Miller, a Time correspondent and board member of the White House Correspondents' Association, asked Shah to have the door unlocked. Shah was unfamiliar with the setup — but the sliding door was unlocked within 15 minutes of the conversation.