President-elect Donald Trump and Mitt Romney met Saturday at the billionaire\u2019s golf club in New Jersey, putting a year of conflict aside for a smiling handshake \u2014 though they did not indicate what, if any, role the 2012 GOP hopeful might play in the new administration.<\/p>\n
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Trump flashed a thumbs-up and said the sit down \u2018went great.\u2019 Romney said the two had a \u2018far reaching conversation with regards to the various theatres in the world where there are interests of the United States of real significance.\u2019<\/p>\n
The amiable tone was a marked contrast to a rancorous year, in which Romney attacked Trump as a \u2018con man\u2019 and a \u2018phony.\u2019 But the two have started to mend fences since the Trump\u2019s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
Romney was only one of a parade of officials pouring through Trump\u2019s door as the president-elect tries to fill more members of his administration. He met Saturday with education activists Michelle Rhee and Betsy DeVos, as well as retired Gen. James Mattis, considered a contender to lead the Pentagon.<\/p>\n
Emerging from the white-pillared clubhouse on the rolling green golf course late in the day, Trump said: \u2018we\u2019re seeing tremendous talent. People that, like I say, we will \u2018Make America Great Again.\u2019 These are really great people. These are really, really talented people.\u2019<\/p>\n
Asked about appointments, Trump said: \u2018You\u2019ll hear some things tomorrow.\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s Sunday schedule in Bedminster includes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.<\/p>\n
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 US security policy as he begins to form his Cabinet. Trump also named retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.<\/p>\n
Hosting the stream of visitors wasn\u2019t Trump\u2019s first public act of the day. First, there was Twitter.<\/p>\n
He rushed to the defence of Mike Pence on Saturday after \u2018Hamilton\u2019 actor Brandon Victor Dixon challenged the incoming vice president from the Broadway stage after the show Friday night. \u2018Apologize!\u2019 Trump tweeted to the actor. \u2018Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theatre by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing. This should not happen!\u2019<\/p>\n
Dixon tweeted back: \u2018Conversation is not harassment sir. And I appreciate @Mike_Pence for stopping to listen.\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump also bragged on Twitter about agreeing to settle a trio of lawsuits against Trump University, claiming: \u2018The 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!\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump then turned to the meetings, perhaps about posts in his administration.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s announcement on Friday of Sessions, Pompeo and Flynn formed the first outlines of Trump\u2019s 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 US and abroad.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s initial decisions suggest a more aggressive military involvement in counterterror strategy and a greater emphasis on Islam\u2019s 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 \u2018potentially complicit\u2019 in attacks if they do not denounce violence carried out in the name of Islam.<\/p>\n
Pompeo\u2019s nomination to lead the CIA also opens the prospect of the US resuming torture of detainees. Trump has backed harsh interrogation techniques that President Barack Obama and Congress have banned, saying the US \u2018should go tougher than waterboarding,\u2019 which simulates drowning. In 2014, Pompeo criticized Obama for \u2018ending our interrogation program\u2019 and said intelligence officials \u2018are not torturers, they are patriots.\u2019<\/p>\n
Sessions and Pompeo would both require Senate confirmation; Flynn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President-elect Donald Trump and Mitt Romney met Saturday at the billionaire’s golf club in New Jersey, putting a year of conflict aside for a smiling handshake — though they did not indicate what, if any, role the 2012 GOP hopeful might play in the new administration. Advertisement Trump flashed a thumbs-up and said the sit down ‘went great.’ Romney said the two had a ‘far reaching conversation with regards to the various theatres in the world where there are interests of the United States of real significance.’ The amiable tone<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4006,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4005"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4007,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4005\/revisions\/4007"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.banglanewsus.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}