Jon Huntsman, former governor of Utah and 2012 presidential candidate, is reportedly now on the short list of those Donald Trump is considering for Secretary of State.
And Huntsman may have more to offer…
Here’s more from Newsmax:
President-elect Donald Trump’s sojourn to a costume party was his only expedition on Saturday outside the Manhattan skyscraper that bears his name. He is expected to lay low the remainder of the weekend, before returning to transition meetings in New York on Monday and the next stop of his “thank you” tour in North Carolina on Tuesday.
Trump is also still mulling his choice to lead the State Department, one of the most powerful and prominent Cabinet positions.
According to two people close to the transition, Trump is moving away from two of the front-runners for the job, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee. Giuliani’s international business ties and public campaigning for the job are said to have rankled Trump. And while Trump has met twice with Romney, he’s said to be aware of the risks of angering his supporters by tapping a Republican who was among his fiercest critics.
Former CIA director David Petraeus is still in the mix, though both people close to the transition said Trump’s prolonged decision-making process has left the door open to other options.
One of the sources said Trump was open to expanding his short list of secretary of State prospects. Among the possibilities: Jon Huntsman, a former Republican Utah governor who also served as the ambassador to China and speaks Mandarin.
The people close to the transition insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private process publicly.
Trump also refused to answer questions outside the party about his decision to speak on the phone with Taiwan’s leader, a breach of long-standing tradition that risks enmity from China.
