Congressman Mike Pompeo joins President-elect Donald Trump’s list of nominees against outgoing President Barack Obama’s foreign policy • Trump meets with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, fueling rumors of secretary of state nomination.
Yoni Hersch, Reuters and Israel Hayom Staff
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA chief, Congressman Mike Pompeo on Thursday promised to work to cancel the Iran nuclear deal.
A known critic of outgoing U.S. President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, and of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Pompeo tweeted on Thursday: “I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
Pompeo joins General Mike Flynn, national security adviser nominee, on Trump’s list of appointees. Flynn, too, has been overtly critical of Obama’s foreign policy, accusing him of failing to fight an aggressive war against terrorism.
Trump also appointed Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Sessions has faced accusations of racism against an African-American employee.
Meanwhile, Trump and 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney set aside a fierce rivalry on Saturday and held talks likely to feed speculation that Romney could be in line to be the next U.S. secretary of state.
Trump and Romney emerged from their meeting after an hour and 20 minutes, and Trump told reporters their talks “went great.” Romney said the pair “had a far-reaching conversation with regards to the various theaters in the world.”
“We discussed those areas, and exchanged our views on those topics — a very thorough and in-depth discussion in the time we had,” Romney said. “And I appreciate the chance to speak with the president-elect and I look forward to the coming administration and the things that it’s going to be doing.”
Trump’s team said in a statement that Trump and Romney held a “substantive and in-depth conversation about world affairs, national security and the future of America.”
“It was an extremely positive and productive conversation,” the statement said.
Trump is expected to meet with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach on Sunday.
At the same time, newly appointed chief strategist for the Trump administration, Steve Bannon, made headlines again, telling the Hollywood Reporter on Friday, “Darkness is good. Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power.”
He further addressed charges of racism, saying, “I’m not a white nationalist, I’m a nationalist,” going on to say that “if we deliver, we’ll get 60% of the white vote, and 40% of the black and Hispanic vote and we’ll govern for 50 years. … We’re going to build an entirely new political movement. It’s everything related to jobs. The conservatives are going to go crazy. I’m the guy pushing a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan.”
In another interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bannon denied allegations of anti-Semitism, insisting that Breitbart Media, a news site of which he is an executive, is staunchly pro-Israel.
Trump, for his part, is beginning to meet with world leaders, holding a meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday.
On Saturday, the president-elect defended his decision to settle lawsuits over his Trump University real estate seminars for $25 million, saying he does not have time to fight the fraud cases in court now that he is headed to the White House.
“I settled the Trump University lawsuit for a small fraction of the potential award because as President I have to focus on our country,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Saturday morning.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has said over 5,000 students across the country were defrauded out of about $40 million, so Trump’s settlement of $25 million was around 60% of these estimated damages.
“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!” he said in a second tweet.
The deal covers three lawsuits relating to Trump University: two class actions suits in California and a New York case brought by Schneiderman. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego must still approve the settlement.
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