Trump acts to bury hatchet with Romney, a harsh critic
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — U.S. presidentelect Donald Trump met Saturday with Mitt Romney, one of his sharpest Republican critics, to discuss naming the 2012 presidential candidate as secretary of state. However, it was not clear whether Trump had offered the State department post to Romney or whether Romney would accept it.
During the campaign, Romney called Trump a “con man” and a “fraud,” while Trump repeatedly called Romney a “loser.”
Trump was holding a series of discussions at his golf club in New Jersey with potential advisers.
He was expected to meet today with two leading supporters, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
On Friday, Trump picked Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA, signalling a sharp rightward shift in U.S. security policy as he begins to form his cabinet.
Trump also named retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.
The selections form the first outlines of Trump’s cabinet and national security teams. Given his lack of governing experience and vague policy proposals during the campaign, his selection of advisers is being scrutinized both in the U.S. and abroad.
Trump’s initial decisions suggest a more aggressive military involvement in counterterror strategy and a greater emphasis on Islam’s role in stoking extremism.
Sessions, best known for his hardline immigration views, has questioned whether terrorist suspects should benefit from the rights available in U.S. courts. Pompeo has said Muslim leaders are “potentially complicit” in attacks if they do not denounce violence carried out in the name of Islam.
Pompeo’s nomination to lead the CIA also opens the prospect of the U.S. resuming torture of detainees. Trump has backed harsh interrogation techniques that President Barack Obama and Congress have banned.
In another matter, Trump bragged on Twitter about agreeing to settle a trio of lawsuits against Trump University, claiming: “The ONLY bad thing about winning the presidency is that I did not have the time to go through a long but winning trial on Trump U. Too bad!”
Trump had agreed to a $25-million settlement to resolve three lawsuits over Trump University, his former school for real estate investors.
The lawsuits alleged the school misled students and failed to deliver on its promises in programs that cost up to $35,000.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who announced the settlement, called it “a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university.”
Trump tweeted that he settled to better focus on leading the U.S.