Top diplomat role an unlikely fit for Giuliani
new york — Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani is now the leading candidate to become President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state, but even some Republicans say his tough-guy personality and global business ties may be at odds with international diplomacy.
Giuliani, 72, has been one of Trump’s most vocal and high-profile supporters, and according to sources close to him and Trump, he is eager to become the top US diplomat and expects a decision by Trump as early as next week. The other top candidate, the sources said, is former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, a foreign policy hawk.
New York mayor at the time of the September 11, 2001, attacks by Al Qaeda militants, Giuliani is also considered a hard-liner on national security matters, but he has little diplomatic experience.
Still, some prominent Republicans said he is qualified to take command of US diplomacy at a time of chaos in the Middle East, rising nationalism in much of Europe, and growing challenges from Russia and China.
Senator Lindsey Graham, a respected conservative voice on defence and foreign policy who serves on the senate armed services committee and who made a rather short-lived bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, on Tuesday called Giuliani “competent and capable” of being secretary of state.
“Rudy is an internationallyknown figure. He’s a personal friend. He has dealt with the unimaginable, which was 9/11. He’s a loyal supporter of President Trump. He should be rewarded in my view,” Graham told reporters.
Giuliani himself extolled his foreign policy credentials in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Tuesday.
“I’ve been in 80 countries, 150 different foreign trips,” Giuliani said. “A lot of it for different reasons. Speeches. Security consulting, where I helped bring down crime.”