Intense lobbying for Trump cabinet posts
US SPECIAL
People will be excited when they see the type of leaders the president-elect brings into this administration
new york — Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has emerged as a “serious” contender to become the next United States secretary of state, a top aide to President-elect Donald Trump said on Tuesday, amid reports of intense infighting over key posts in the new administration.
Trump — the 70-year-old Republican billionaire who takes office in just nine weeks — was to meet Vice President-elect Mike Pence later on Tuesday in New York to discuss the next round of cabinet appointments.
Giuliani, a member of Trump’s inner circle, had been considered a leading candidate for attorney general, but at a public forum in Washington on Monday, he said he would not be heading the Justice Department.
“His name has been mentioned in a serious way in connection with secretary of state, a job that he’s qualified for and a job that he would do exceedingly well,” Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, said on Tuesday on Fox News.
Former United Nations ambassador John Bolton, a neo-conservative hawk and former undersecretary of state, also was reported to be in the running for the top diplomatic post. “John would be a very good choice,” Giuliani said at the forum sponsored by The WSJ.
Asked if there were anybody better, Giuliani said: “Maybe me, I don’t know.”
Bolton made no mention of his chances in an interview Tuesday with Fox News but seemed like he was auditioning for it, weighing in heavily on United States relations with Moscow the day after Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I think one of the reasons that Putin is very casual about expanding Russian influence, taking advantage of America in Eastern Europe and the Middle East is that he sees, quite correctly, Barack Obama as an exceedingly weak leader,” he said.
Also in the mix for a top job is Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, an early Trump supporter who is reported to be under consideration possibly for attorney general, secretary of defense or head of the Department of Homeland Security.
Sessions has been a fierce advocate for restrictions on immigration, but was once rejected for a federal judgeship after officials testified he made racist remarks,
The New York Times reported. Trump and Pence will “be reviewing a number of names” for cabinet positions, Jason Miller, a transition communications adviser, told reporters gathered at Trump Tower.
“You can’t believe everything you read. I don’t want to play the speculation game as far as names,” Miller said.
He added: “There will be nontraditional names, a number of people who have had wide-ranging success in a number of different fields... People will be excited when they see the type of leaders the president-elect brings into this administration.”
Trump appears to be torn between a campaign promise to shake up Washington and the need to build a cabinet with political experience.