Trump Allies Raise Doubts About Mitt Romney Leading State Department - Wall Street Journal
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An internal debate over President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary-of-state appointment has spilled into the open, with some prominent Republicans close to Mr. Trump arguing for a loyal supporter to fill the post rather than longtime critic Mitt Romney.
Trump adviser and former Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway issued a series of tweets Thursday morning in which she appeared to question the former Massachusetts governor’s suitability for a role working alongside Mr. Trump.
Ms. Conway said she had received a “deluge” of social-media and private communications about Mr. Romney. In a second tweet, she added that previous secretaries of state such as Henry Kissinger and George Shultz “flew around the world less, counseled POTUS [president of the United States] close to home more. And were loyal. Good checklist.”
The debate over the State Department job has been marked by an internal tug of war in the Trump camp between supporters of Mr. Romney, those favoring former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani—a longtime Trump ally favored by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich—and others who believe Mr. Trump should keep searching for candidates.
Two people in Mr. Trump’s camp this week said he was leaning toward Mr. Romney, but Ms. Conway’s tweets suggest the issue hasn’t been settled. Representatives for Mr. Trump didn’t return requests for comment, nor did Mr. Romney’s representative. Mr. Trump has said he is the only one who knows who the finalists are for his picks.
Mr. Trump has reached out to onetime critics to assemble his administration and bring diversity to his team. On Wednesday, he named South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Ms. Haley, the daughter of Indian Sikh immigrants, had clashed with Mr. Trump over his comments about Mexicans and Muslims and endorsed both Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz during the Republican primary. She said Wednesday she was honored to be chosen.
Mr. Trump also picked Betsy DeVos, a school-choice advocate whose family is heir to the Amway Corp. fortune, as his secretary of education. Ms. DeVos, who was a delegate for Ohio Gov. John Kasich at the Republican National Convention, and Ms. Haley are the first women to be offered posts in the Trump administration. Both the U.N. and Education posts require Senate confirmation.
Further picks are due soon. Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross Jr. is expected to be named to head the Commerce Department, people familiar with the discussions said. He declined to comment.
Mr. Trump is in Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday and is expected to return to New York this weekend. He tweeted in the morning that he was “working hard, even on Thanksgiving,” trying to persuade Carrier Corp. to change its plans to close an Indiana plant and move production to Mexico. Carrier, which makes air conditioners and heating equipment, confirmed Thursday that it has had discussions with the incoming administration.
Among prominent Trump loyalists, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Mr. Gingrich both aired their concerns this week about a Romney appointment, in interviews with Fox News. Mr. Gingrich, who has openly supported Mr. Giuliani for the State Department post, said he questioned Mr. Romney’s ability to be loyal to Mr. Trump because he was the president-elect’s “most vicious and most explicit opponent all through the campaign on the Republican side.”
At the same time, Mr. Gingrich praised Ms. Haley’s selection for the U.N. post, arguing that she became supportive of Mr. Trump during the general election. “You don’t want to narrow your base only to people who were loyal from day one.”
Mr. Gingrich said his other concern with Mr. Romney is the fact that he himself ran for president in 2008 and 2012.
“Gov. Romney wanted to be president, not secretary of state, and you have to ask the question: When he goes overseas, is he gonna be the secretary of state for President Trump or is he gonna be Mitt Romney’s own secretary of state?” Mr. Gingrich said.
Mr. Huckabee said the only way Mr. Romney “could even be considered” for the secretary-of-state post is if he publicly takes back all his criticisms of Mr. Trump. “He attacked him on a personal level about his character, integrity, his honor,” said Mr. Huckabee.
During the campaign, Mr. Romney said Mr. Trump posed a fundamental threat to American democracy. “If we, Republicans, choose Donald Trump as our nominee, the prospects for a safe and prosperous future are greatly diminished,” Mr. Romney said in a March speech in Utah.
“Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud,” Mr. Romney said then. “His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He’s playing the members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat.”
More recently, Messrs. Trump and Romney have appeared to be attempting to put the dispute behind them. Vice President-elect Mike Pence greeted Mr. Romney personally outside the Bedminster, N.J., golf club where Mr. Trump was interviewing prospective appointees over the weekend. On Sunday, Mr. Pence said the session between Messrs. Trump and Romney was “a very substantive meeting.”
Like Mr. Romney, Mr. Giuliani, the other secretary-of-state front-runner, ran for president in 2008, but the former mayor actively supported Mr. Trump’s campaign.
In two recent interviews,Mr. Giuliani said his work at Giuliani Partners, a firm he founded in 2001 that advises companies and foreign governments on policing, security and counterterrorism, makes him uniquely suited for the secretary-of-state job. But it is that work, in which Mr. Giuliani’s firm sought business throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, that has made some U.S. diplomats and ethics experts wary of his role in a Trump administration. Mr. Giuliani said those concerns were unfounded and that 90% of his firm’s work is done on behalf of companies, not governments.
Mr. Giuliani is also being considered for director of national intelligence, the country’s most senior spy post, according to people familiar with deliberations.
—Michael C. Bender, Damian Paletta, Mara Gay, Ted Mann and Nick Timiraos contributed to this article.
Write to Kate O’Keeffe at kathryn.okeeffe@wsj.com
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