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Sources tell #morningjoe: ‘Wide open’ field for State candidates, Romney at the top of the list https://t.co/fuXVALiXo4— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) December 6, 2016 The field of candidates for secretary of State in Donald TrumpDonald TrumpTrump's Taiwan phone call distracts from real issues over China Dem urges Biden to run for DNC chair As Congress adjusts to Trump, Iran put under the pressure it deserves MORE's administration is "wide open," according "Morning Joe." ADVERTISEMENT Mitt Romney is at the top of the president-elect's list, sources familiar with Trump's thinking told the show.Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is fading...

Morning Joe spent its opening segment scalding the notion of either Rudy Giuliani or John Bolton as Secretary of State in the Trump administration. Giuliani was described as completely unqualified for the job, and someone who has personally profited off national security matters, a la the Clintons. Bolton was blasted as a “neo-con on steroids” whose views are out of sync with Trump’s, and is “donor-driven,” with Sheldon Adelson’s name being dropped. So who’s Scarborough and company’s pick for SecState? Joe and Mike Barnicle called the selection of Tennessee Senator Bob Corker a “no-brainer.” Maybe so, but not necessarily in...

Rival factions of Republicans are locked in an increasingly caustic and public battle to influence President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice for secretary of state, leaving a prominent hole in an otherwise quickly formed national security team that is unlikely to be filled until next week at the earliest. The debate inside Mr. Trump’s wide circle of formal and informal advisers — pitting supporters of one leading contender, Mitt Romney, against those of another, Rudolph W. Giuliani — has led to the kind of dramatic airing of differences that characterized Mr. Trump’s unconventional and often squabbling campaign team. And it traces...

I have heard the same 4 or 5 names being thrown around. Are we really that lacking in qualified people?! There must be hundreds Trump can consider! Would be better if from outside the beltway anyway. What is the deal?

EMILY SCHULTHEIS CBS NEWS November 20, 2016 Rand Paul Blasts Giuliani, Bolton As Possible Trump Secretary of State Picks As President-elect Donald Trump assembles his cabinet, he’ll have to have many of those top positions approved by the Senate -- and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Mr. Trump might have a hard time getting people like former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani or former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton passed as secretary of state. “You know, it’s a very close vote. I mean, there’s 52 Republicans. Some of the people that have been put forward I think are not guaranteed to...

DONALD Trump's closest politial ally has rubbished Russia's claims of military might as he angles for a top job in the Republican new administration. Former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani said the Kremlin's aggressive rhetoric was all bluster, suggesting Moscow did not pose a threat to the West. Mr Giuliani, who is being lined up for the job of Secretary of State - America's equivalent of foreign secretary - blasted: "Russia thinks it's a military competitor - it really isn't." But the senior Republican also attacked Barack Obama for allowing Vladimir Putin to seize on instability around the world...

Audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grxl0nZqKxQ

Senator Rand Paul reiterated his opposition to both former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former UN ambassador John Bolton as secretary of state in an interview with the Guardian on Tuesday. The interview follows an op-ed in Rare, an online conservative publication, where Paul condemned Bolton as “out of touch”. The Kentucky senator grounded his opposition in the importance that Donald Trump “pick people who agree with his foreign policy”. Trump repeatedly argued on the campaign trail that the Iraq war was a mistake and condemned what he saw as an overly interventionist foreign policy from Democratic rival Hillary...

Rudy Giuliani's paid consulting for foreign governments would present conflicts of interest as the nation's top diplomat that would make the Clinton Foundation look trifling. ....

Why has Rudy Giuliani emerged as President-elect Donald Trump's prospect for State, the most coveted job in the administration? Though Giuliani has little foreign policy experience, Trump insiders say Giuliani had few other options, and that Trump had to reward his most loyal, high-level supporter. Trump transition officials and Giuliani himself has confided to friends there was little chance he could be confirmed by the Senate, which, under cloture rules, would still require Democratic support.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that he would prefer an advisory position to President-elect Donald Trump as opposed to a Cabinet post in the incoming administration. "I want to be the general planner, looking out over the next eight years and trying to design how we fundamentally reshape the federal government.." Gingrich declined to confirm a report that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite to be Trump's secretary of state, but did say that such an appointment would be "fabulous." "He’s already known worldwide, he is a great manager," Gingrich said of Giuliani, "and...

Rudy Giuliani spoke Monday about his foreign policy vision at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, amid the former New York City mayor expressing a preference to become secretary of state in Donald Trump's incoming administration. According to the Wall Street Journal's description, Giuliani "suggested several times that he would be interested in the (Secretary of State) post, going into great detail about how he views foreign policy and how his views overlap with Mr. Trump's." Giuliani's discussed the fight against ISIS and Mideast peace in addition to US relations with Russia and China and seemed to waver on how...

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Monday that President-elect Donald Trump would likely focus much of his initial foreign-policy strategy on destroying Islamic State, setting aside more vexing problems in the Middle East and elsewhere. The comments came shortly after The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Giuliani is one of the leading candidates to become Mr. Trump’s first secretary of state. During an appearance Monday evening at The Wall Street Journal CEO Council gathering, Mr. Giuliani suggested several times that he would be interested in the post, going into great detail about how he views foreign policy and how his views...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani emerged as the favorite to serve as secretary of state in Donald Trump's incoming administration, a senior Trump official said as the president-elect narrowed down his Cabinet picks. The official said there was no real competition for the job and that it was Giuliani's if he wanted it. The official was not authorized to speak on the record and requested anonymity. Giuliani, a top Trump adviser, said Monday night at a Washington event sponsored by the Wall Street Journal that he "won't be attorney general" in Trump's administration - a job...

WASHINGTON — Rudolph W. Giuliani, a top adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump, said on Sunday that it would be “unrealistic” to remove Mr. Trump’s children from their roles in running his business empire and place the assets into a strict blind trust like the ones used by previous presidents.

Longtime Clinton insider Sidney Blumenthal claims that a group of “right-wing agents” in the FBI staged a coup d’etat to prevent Hillary Clinton from behind elected president “It was the result of a cabal of right-wing agents of the FBI in the New York office attached to Rudy Giuliani, who was a member of Trump’s campaign,” said Blumenthal, who emailed frequently with Clinton while she was secretary of state. “I think it’s not unfair to call it a coup,” added Blumenthal, who served in the Bill Clinton White House aide and was said to be an informal adviser to Hillary...

Despite the conciliatory tone struck in President-elect Donald Trump’s victory speech early Wednesday morning, the man who could run his Justice Department left the door wide open to prosecuting Hillary Clinton. Rudy Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor, New York City mayor and a name on Trump's short list for attorney general, said Wednesday on Fox News' “The O’Reilly Factor” that Clinton was a legitimate target to be investigated and disputed that any prosecution would be political “payback.” “There’s one tradition in America, right? Election is over. We forget about it. There is another tradition in America which is ‘equal justice...

Sunday on CNN’s “State Of The Union,”  while discussing the FBI reopening the investigation into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)  said “I think we’ll have hearing and I think we’ll get into the rogue element of the FBI, trying to affect the election.” Franken said, “I think what’s troubling, we’ve heard out of the FBI, I think it was troubling that he put that vague letter out days before the election, even more troubling is what we’ve heard from sort of the rogue elements within the FBI, seemingly tipping off former Mayor Giuliani that something was...

'We've got a couple of surprises left': Rudy Giuliani echoes Donald Trump daughter-in-law's hint that the Republican has something up his sleeve Eric Trump's wife Lara Trump, along with his foundation's vice president Lynne Patton, appeared yesterday morning on 'Fox & Friends' Donald Trump's daughter-in-law hinted that team Trump may have something damaging to drop on Hillary Clinton in the campaign's last days 'Well, there's still a couple days left in October,' she said, floating the idea that the Trump campaign has an 'October surprise' to use on Clinton Today Rudy Giuliani appeared on the same program; asked about Trump's...

On Tuesday, former New York City mayor Giuliani hinted that the Donald Trump campaign still has a few surprises up its sleeve to influence the election. The Hill reported: In an interview with "Fox and Friends," a giggling Giuliani, who's a top Trump adviser, hinted at the prospect of "enormously effective" surprises that the campaign has up its sleeve. "We've got a couple of surprises left," he said. "I'd call them surprises in the way that we're going to campaign to get our message out there — maybe in a little bit of different way." "You'll see and I think...