Trump has three choices for secretary of state – Politico

The president-elect will reportedly pick from a list of hawks and loyalists

US President-elect Donald Trump has identified three candidates for the position of secretary of state, including his former director of national intelligence and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Politico has reported.

During a meeting three weeks ago, Robert O’Brien, Trump’s former national security adviser, told conservative members of Congress that then-candidate Trump was considering three people for the role of Washington’s top diplomat, Politico reported on Thursday, citing a Republican staffer at the meeting.

Rubio is joined on the list by Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty and former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, the staffer claimed.

Rubio is a foreign policy hawk and was an early proponent of military aid to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. However, he voted against a $95 billion foreign aid bill in April which included around $60 billion for Kiev, and declared on Wednesday that the conflict had reached a “stalemate” and “needs to be brought to a conclusion.”

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Hagerty served as Trump’s ambassador to Japan before his election to the Senate in 2020. Like Rubio, he voted against the aid bill in April, arguing that he would not send money overseas until the US-Mexico border was secured.

Both Rubio and Hagerty are considered hardliners on China, with Hagerty backing sanctions on Chinese communications and electronics firms, and declaring Beijing a “danger” to “the United States and the rest of the world.”

In addition to a brief stint as acting director of national intelligence in 2020, Grenell served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and is considered a close ally of the president-elect. Grenell accompanied Trump to a meeting with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky in September, and according to the Wall Street Journal, would likely support ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict as swiftly as possible, even if doing so means forcing Kiev to make “significant concessions.”

Grenell has also been named as a favorite for the position of national security adviser, the Wall Street Journal noted.

According to Politico, Trump’s transition team began scouring resumes and contacting prospective hires on Wednesday. However, Trump has not yet publicly commented on the potential makeup of his cabinet, and his campaign surrogates stayed quiet when approached by the news site.

The Trump campaign also declined to comment when asked if it had entered into an agreement with the General Services Administration (GSA), a government agency tasked with supplying the incoming administration with funding, IT equipment, and government email addresses.