Sen. Bob Corker and Trump to meet Tuesday in New York
WASHINGTON – Sen. Bob Corker will meet with President-elect Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday as Trump continues to ponder his choices for secretary of state.
Corker’s office confirmed Monday the Tennessee Republican would meet with the president-elect in Trump Tower in New York City. No other details were provided.
Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been advising Trump on foreign policy and is reportedly one of the candidates Trump is considering for secretary of state.
The senator said earlier this month he believes someone else is more likely to get the job – probably someone who was involved in Trump’s campaign.
But Trump’s camp is reportedly battling over whom he should name to the post, with Vice President-elect Mike Pence favoring former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and others backing former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
The squabble went public on Sunday, with Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, warning the president-elect could anger his supporters if he picked Romney, who assailed Trump as a "fraud" and a "phony" in speeches this year. Giuliani’s detractors fear his foreign business ties could make it difficult for him to win Senate confirmation.
The split could create an opening for Corker or another candidate to get the job.
Bob Corker: Trump’s secretary of state pick probably won't be me
Besides Corker, Trump also will meet Tuesday with Romney. Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, who is a member of Trump’s transition team, also is scheduled to meet with Trump on Tuesday.
“It was an honor to be a surrogate for Mr. Trump during his hard-fought campaign and to subsequently be asked to serve on the Executive Committee for his Transition Team," Blackburn said in a statement. "Over the years, I have had the opportunity to visit Trump Tower numerous times, and I look forward to meeting with President-elect Trump in New York City Tuesday to discuss a broad range of policy issues, the transition, and to continue helping him choose the best people for his administration.”
Asked about Corker and Blackburn meeting with Trump and whether he had talked with either of them lately, Gov. Bill Haslam said: "I talk to Senator Corker a lot about a lot of different things. Obviously with the administration change in Washington I’ve talked to both Senator Corker and Senator Alexander a lot, saying what is going to mean for everything from an infrastructure plan to health care. So I’ve talked to him a lot. I haven’t talked to him specifically about that (the meeting with Trump) in the last few days. I will say I can’t imagine anybody that would be better for the president-elect to pick than Bob Corker and whether it be for Secretary of State or Secretary of Treasury he’d be great at either one of those jobs. For the country’s sake I certainly hope he picks Bob.”
Asked if he thinks Corker is in the running for either job, Haslam said: “I do but listen I don’t know anything that anybody else doesn’t. One of my observations about transitions has been there’s a scarcity of news so people tend to run with rumors a little more and you ought to wait for the actual facts before everybody says here’s who the two finalists are.”
Earlier this year, Corker met with Trump and his family at Trump Tower and accompanied him on the campaign trail after his name was floated as a possible contender to become Trump’s vice president. Corker eventually took himself out of the running, saying he felt other people were better suited for that role.
Reporter Joel Ebert contributed information to this story.