US president-elect Donald Trump is welcoming a parade of officials at the white-pillared clubhouse of his New Jersey golf club this weekend as he weighs who will be in line for roles in the new administration.
Trump’s schedule yesterday in Bedminster included New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.
Setting a rancorous year aside, the pugnacious billionaire on Saturday put on a smiling show of goodwill with former rival and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, but he did not reveal or indicate whether the 2012 Republican presidential nominee could be in line for a Cabinet post.
He also met with education activists Michelle Rhee and Betsy DeVos, as well as retired Marine General James Mattis, considered a contender to lead the Pentagon.
Trump said he might announce some of his picks later in the day.
“We’re seeing tremendous talent,” Trump said on Saturday. “People that, like I say, we will ‘Make America Great Again.’”
Romney and Trump were positive about their sit-down, a marked shift in tone after a year in which Romney attacked Trump as a “con man” and Trump labeled him a “loser.” The two have started to mend fences since Trump’s victory over Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Before turning to his visitors, Trump took to Twitter, where he rushed to the defense of Indiana Governor Mike Pence on Saturday after Hamilton actor Brandon Victor Dixon challenged the incoming vice president from the Broadway stage after the show on Friday night.
“Apologize!” Trump tweeted to the actor. “Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen!”
Dixon tweeted back: “Conversation is not harassment sir. And I appreciate (at)Mike_Pence for stopping to listen.”
Trump posted a similar Tweet on Saturday evening, only to later delete it. Staffers did not immediately respond to an email asking why.
Trump also 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!”
It was announced on Friday that Trump had agreed to a US$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 US$35,000.
Trump has denied the allegations and had said repeatedly he would not settle.
Trump started filling key administration positions on Friday, picking US Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general and US Representative Mike Pompeo to head the CIA, signaling a sharp rightward shift in security policy as he begins to form his Cabinet.
Trump also named retired Lieutenant General Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.
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, who is best known for his hard line immigration views, has questioned whether terrorist suspects should benefit from the rights available in US 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 US resuming torture of detainees. Trump has backed harsh interrogation techniques that US President Barack Obama and Congress have banned, saying the US “should go tougher than waterboarding,” which simulates drowning.
In 2014, Pompeo criticized Obama for “ending our interrogation program” and said intelligence officials “are not torturers, they are patriots.”
Sessions and Pompeo would both require Senate confirmation; Flynn would not.
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