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Speculation that John Bolton is being considered as Deputy Secretary of State is causing some consternation among Republican Senators. Senator Rand Paul has already publicly stated his opposition. And now, according to the New York Times Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Corker is also expressing misgivings. Behind the scenes, Condoleezza Rice, Stephen Hadley and Robert Gates (three Bush administration veterans) are reportedly lobbying Senators against his confirmation. Meanwhile, those same three bigwigs are publicly endorsing Trump’s pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.So what’s their issue with John Bolton? He is, of course, a well known hawk. He’s consistently...

Donald Trump’s selection of ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson as secretary of state threatens to touch off a confirmation fight, but the man in the running to be Tillerson’s deputy could spark an all-out war in the Senate. John Bolton, the mustache-sporting, Iraq War-cheering former United Nations ambassador, is possibly one of the least diplomatic diplomats ever to serve in the U.S. government. He has argued the U.S. should bomb Iran to stop its nuclear program, dismissed the idea of a Palestinian state and called the United Nations a "twilight zone." Trump has shown a contrarian streak in his appointments so...

Ever since the election John Bolton’s name has been kicked around for some position at the State Department. This would have been even more of a f***-y** than nominated Scott Pruitt to EPA. If you recall, Bolton was vigorously opposed when Bush nominated him to be UN Ambassador because he was accused of being mean to people. I am really not making that up. The Democrats filibustered him and Bush ended up giving him a recess appointment that eventually lapsed due to lack of GOP support in Congress and to losing the control of the Senate in 2006.He’s been rumored...

Headline of the Day Poll Is Rex Tillerson a good pick for Secretary of State? No, he is too close to Russia's Vladimir Putin Yes, he has tremendous experience in international trade

Donald Trump met with ExxonMobil's CEO Rex Tillerson for the second time this week amid reports that the longtime oil executive is the president-elect's top choice for U.S. secretary of State. Here are five things you should know about the businessman from Texas. (Photo: Reuters/Daniel Kramer/File Photo)ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson speaks during the IHS CERAWeek 2015 energy conference in Houston, Texas April 21, 2015.While Tillerson, who heads the petroleum giant which earned $16.1 billion last year, has no diplomatic experience, he has long been doing business with foreign governments. Trump met him Saturday morning, his second meeting in...

Former Republican presidential candidate and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has a strong opinion on John Bolton's candidacy to serve in Donald Trump's State Department. The former UN ambassador is being considered for the No. 2 spot in the agency, yet Paul argues that Bolton's endorsement of the Iraq War disqualifies him from working in the administration. “John Bolton doesn’t get it. He still believes in regime change. He’s still a big cheerleader for the Iraq War,” Paul said. “John Bolton is so far out of it and has such a naive understanding of the world.” Bolton should get "nowhere close" to the State...

McCain’s attitude doesn’t surprise me. He’s the Senate’s most ardent Russia hawk, he’s 80 years old, and he was just reelected. He’s got nothing to lose in standing up to Trump. Rubio’s attitude does surprise me a little. He’s hawkish and freshly reelected too, but he’s all of 45 years old and is surely planning another presidential run eventually. He backed off his apocalyptic criticism of Trump after the primaries this year, even before he’d decided to run for Senate again, seemingly fearing that any further anti-Trumpism on his part might jeopardize his national prospects down the line. Now...

Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief Executive Rex Tillerson has emerged as the leading candidate to become President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, according to two transition officials, marking the latest twist in a multiweek search for a top diplomat. Mr. Tillerson moved ahead of other candidates, including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who have had multiple conversations with Mr. Trump about the job. Mr. Tillerson is viewed by some of Mr. Trump’s advisers as a mold-breaking pick who would bring an executive’s experience to the diplomatic role, said a person involved in the process. Messrs. Trump and Tillerson...

Donald Trump is expected to nominate ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson as his secretary of state, two sources close to the transition process told NBC News on Saturday. The 64-year-old veteran oil executive has no government or diplomatic experience, although he has ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The pick would put to rest weeks-long speculation of who would earn the post as the U.S.'s top diplomat, and would place Tillerson fourth in line to the presidency.

Exxon Mobil Corp Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson emerged on Friday as President-elect Donald Trump's leading candidate for U.S. secretary of state, a senior transition official said. Trump met Tillerson on Tuesday and may talk to him again over the weekend, the official said. Trump appears to be in the final days of deliberations over his top diplomat with an announcement possible next week. Tillerson's favored status was revealed as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani formally withdrew from consideration for secretary of state. The transition official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tillerson, 64, had moved ahead in...

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...

Barack Obama’s first ambassador to Chy-nah is going to be Trump’s top diplomat, huh?If you’re inclined to believe that Trump’s interest in Romney has always been a ploy to humiliate him (which I don’t believe), leaking that Mitt might be passed over for Huntsman is all part of the game. Each from influential Utah families, the two have been rivals for years, starting with Huntsman endorsing McCain over Romney in 2008 and continuing through Romney’s victory over Huntsman in New Hampshire in 2012. The feud has reportedly turned even more bitter ever since. Trump vetoing Romney at State for...

President-elect Trump continues to drag out the process of selecting someone to nominate for Secretary of State. Whether it’s all part of an effort to humiliate Mitt Romney for his insubordination during the primary or just a difficult decision to make is anyone’s guess. Ambassador John Bolton is considered by many to be the best choice to head up and reform the State Department.Fox News’ Bret Baier reported that Ambassador Bolton met with Vice President-elect Mike Pence yesterday in Washington to discuss the Secretary of State job and will meet with Trump tomorrow at Trump Tower in New York. Fox...

EXCLUSIVE: Black Congressmen Refuse To Condemn Ellison’s Past Proposal For A ‘Black State’ Alex Pfeiffer WASHINGTON — Several Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus Tuesday refused to denounce Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison’s call for a black state. One congressman stated, “I don’t see anything really objectionable.” The Daily Caller News Foundation recently reported on columns Minnesota Rep. Ellison wrote under a pen name while in law school. In one of them he called for a black state in southeastern American states. Under the name Keith E. Hakim, Ellison wrote: “Finally, blacks would have the option of choosing their own...

pdate: courtesy of NBC's Tom Winter, we have the alleged Somali refugee suspect's name, which is Abdul Razak Ali Artan. NBC News: Suspect in Ohio State attack is Abdul Razak Ali Artan multiple law enforcement sources tell Pete Williams and @anblanx — Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) November 28, 2016

Former Georgia congressman Newt Gingrich is sitting pretty today, a likely choice for a top position in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration. U.S. Secretary of State Gingrich, anybody? “I fully expect that Newt will get some type of very prominent position in the Trump administration,” Peake said Wednesday morning. “Who knows? There’s probably a handful of people who can name what they want and Newt would be on that short list. Larry Sabato, who runs the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Gingrich as secretary of state wouldn’t allow for many dull moments. “If I owned a China...

Voters in the District of Columbia passed a measure on Tuesday in favor of petitioning Congress to become a state in the union. 79 percent of voters cast votes in favor of the ballot measure, which splits the district into a residential state with a small federal district in the middle of it for government buildings and monuments, as we have reported.

There is another government concealed behind the one that is visible at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a hybrid entity of public and private institutions ruling the country according to consistent patterns in season and out, connected to, but only intermittently controlled by, the visible state whose leaders we choose. My analysis of this phenomenon is not an exposé of a secret, conspiratorial cabal; the state within a state is hiding mostly in plain sight, and its operators mainly act in the light of day. Nor can this other government be accurately termed an "establishment." The Deep State does not...

One revelation in the documents came from an interview with an unidentified person who suggested that Freedom of Information Act requests related to Clinton went through a group sometimes called "the Shadow Government." "There was a powerful group of very high-ranking STATE officials that some referred to as 'The 7th Floor Group' or 'The Shadow Government.' This group met every Wednesday afternoon to discuss the FOIA process, Congressional records, and everything CLINTON-related to FOIA/Congressional inquiries," the FBI's interview summary said. That group, according to the summary, argued for a Clinton document release to be conducted all at once "for coordination...

The current news, reported in the Journal and elsewhere, is that her server contained information at the highest level of classification, known as SAP, or Special Access Program. This is a level so high that even the inspector general for the intelligence community who reported the discovery did not initially have clearance to examine it. The server also contained messages showing her contempt for classification procedures. This was bred at least in part by obvious familiarity with exactly "how it works"--such as when, an email shows, she directed a staff member simply to erase the heading on a classified document,...