Trump eyes retired general for Pentagon job

General James Mattis testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 27, 2010. File picture: Yuri Gripas

General James Mattis testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 27, 2010. File picture: Yuri Gripas

Published Nov 21, 2016

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Bedminster, New Jersey - President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday assessed several more contenders for top US posts including Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani, as blunt-spoken retired Marine Corps General James Mattis emerged as a leading candidate for defence secretary.

Trump held meetings at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, with candidates for senior administration jobs after he takes office on January 20. On Saturday, he conferred with Mattis and Mitt Romney, formerly a fierce Trump critic now under consideration for secretary of state.

Summing up two days of talks as he said goodbye to retired US Marines Corps General John Kelly on Sunday evening, Trump said: “We really had some great meetings, and you'll be hearing about them soon.”

Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said no decisions would be announced on Sunday night.

The last person Trump escorted out of the clubhouse was Giuliani, a former New York mayor, who shook hands with him and started walking away before returning to Trump and engaging him in conversation. Giuliani then walked to his car, declining to answer questions but telling reporters to go get warm because “the show's over”.

Giuliani was a candidate for secretary of state “and other things”, Trump said earlier.

Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, advised Trump during the presidential campaign, but was dismissed as the head of his transition team. Asked by reporters before the meeting whether there was a place for Christie in his administration, Trump sidestepped the question but called him “a very talented man, great guy”.

Trump met with Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor, who he said was under consideration for commerce secretary. Asked whether he wanted the job, Ross told reporters: “Well, time will tell.” Trump also met with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is known for his hardline position on illegal immigration.

The president-elect has already tapped three senior leaders of his national security and law enforcement teams, choosing US Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general, US Representative Mike Pompeo as CIA director, and retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as national security adviser.

If Mattis is selected as defence secretary, he would be the first former flag officer, the very highest ranks of the military, to hold that post since George Marshall took the job in 1950.

Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday that “General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis, who is being considered for Secretary of Defence, was very impressive yesterday. A true General's General!”

From 2010 to 2013, Mattis headed the US military's Central Command, which oversees operations stretching from the Horn of Africa through the Middle East and into Central Asia including Afghanistan and Pakistan. During that time, he was at odds with the Obama administration on the need to prepare for potential threats from Iran and about resources for Afghanistan.

Mattis, 66, served as an American commander in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was known to be popular among the troops.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Vice-President-elect Mike Pence, who now heads Trump's transition team, said Mattis had “a legendary military career”.

Incoming White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said it was a “very real possibility” Mattis would get the job, telling the ABC programme This Week: “I know that President-elect Trump loves leaders like General Mattis.”

Romney under ‘serious consideration’

Pence said Trump and Romney had a good meeting and “a warm and a substantive exchange”.

“I can say that Governor Romney is under active and serious consideration to serve as secretary of state of the United States,” Pence said on the CBS programme Face the Nation.

Romney, the unsuccessful 2012 Republican presidential nominee, was a leader of the Republican establishment movement that tried to block Trump from becoming the nominee this year. In March, Romney called Trump “a phony”, “a fraud” and “a con man”.

A source close to Romney from his time as Massachusetts governor expressed concern he might be “frozen out” by officials whose thinking appears to be closer to Trump's, such as Flynn, Mattis, White House counsellor Steve Bannon, and members of Trump's family.

“How much influence and latitude he will have will be up to Trump, and they don't appear to be on the same page about much,” the source said.

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who made an unsuccessful bid for the 2012 and 2016 Republican presidential nomination, will meet with Trump on Monday and is being considered for Cabinet posts including defence, energy and veterans affairs, Trump's transition team said.

Conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham confirmed on Sunday she was being considered by Trump to serve as White House press secretary.

Democrats send signal of co-operation

When Trump takes office in January, both chambers of Congress will be controlled by his fellow Republicans. He could, however, face fierce opposition from Democrats to many of his legislative initiatives and some of his appointments.

But incoming Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer, who hails from Trump's home state of New York, held out the possibility that Democrats could work with Trump on legislation to increase spending on US infrastructure.

Schumer said on Fox News Sunday he had talked to Trump about infrastructure and that it was possible “we could get a major infrastructure bill done”, maybe even in the first 100 days of his presidency.

“It has to be large and bold. Trump has talked about a trillion dollars. Good,” Schumer said.

Trump said on Twitter that “I have always had a good relationship with Chuck Schumer” and the senator “has the ability to get things done”.

Trump said he planned to live in the White House, but that his wife, Melania Trump, and the couple's 10-year-old son, Barron, would not move in immediately. He said they would move to the White House “very soon, right after he finishes school”.

Jason Miller, communications director of Trump's transition team, said earlier there was “some sensitivity” to moving the boy out of his current New York school in the middle of a school year.

REUTERS

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