President-elect Trump continues to drag out the process of selecting someone to nominate for Secretary of State. Whether it’s all part of an effort to humiliate Mitt Romney for his insubordination during the primary or just a difficult decision to make is anyone’s guess. Ambassador John Bolton is considered by many to be the best choice to head up and reform the State Department.
Fox News’ Bret Baier reported that Ambassador Bolton met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence yesterday in Washington to discuss the Secretary of State job and will meet with Trump tomorrow at Trump Tower in New York.
Fox News: John Bolton met w/ @mike_pence in DC 2day to discuss the Sec of State position & will meet w/ @realDonaldTrump in NY Fri.afternoon
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) November 30, 2016
Trump aides are saying that the decision has been narrowed down to four candidates.
While announcing Wednesday that the president-elect has narrowed his search to four candidates, Trump aides also said they do not expect any more announcements on any Cabinet slots the rest of this week.
“There is not a set timetable” for filling the secretary of State position, Trump transition spokesman Jason Miller said.
Miller and other aides would not identify the four finalists, but confirmed that they include 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a prominent Trump surrogate during the campaign.
Trump has interviewed at least two other candidates: Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and retired general and ex-CIA director David Petraeus.
Retired Marine general John Kelly has also been mentioned as a possible secretary of State for Trump.
Ambassador Bolton this week has been publicly calling for a “cultural revolution” in the State Department.
.@AmbJohnBolton: The State Department needs a cultural revolution pic.twitter.com/IcpqXBWgHv
— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) December 1, 2016
HotAir.com’s Ed Morrissey writes:
It Trump wants to play it on the safer side, Mitt Romney would be a good choice. He’ll get a fairly easy confirmation hearing, and Romney has plenty of experience in reorganizations, if not necessarily in foreign policy. If he wants systemic reform and someone whose outlook lines up more closely with his own, then John Bolton would be the obvious choice.
Many conservatives were hoping the 2016 election would bring about serious across the board changes in how Washington works. Cultural revolution is something needed at the State Department as well as many other agencies in the Washington bureaucracy. Some, like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul see Bolton as too hawkish, pointing to his support for the war in Iraq, but many on the right have been eager to see Bolton as Secretary of State.
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