WASHINGTON –– President-elect Donald Trump is widening his search for a secretary of state as one of the contenders, former General David Petraeus, defended his qualifications for the role.
Petraeus, who resigned from as director of the Central Intelligence Agency for mishandling classified information, has been considered for the job, despite Trump’s lambasting of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for her handling of classified material on a private email server.
“Five years ago, I made a serious mistake,” Petraeus said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.” He said he’s already paid a “very heavy price” for his missteps. “Folks will have to factor that in and determine whether that is indeed disqualifying or not.”
Despite Petraeus’ comments, Vice President -elect Mike Pence and senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said Sunday that Trump was expanding the list of candidates for the job. Previously, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani were on Trump’s list. Neither Pence nor Conway mentioned the names of any new candidates.
Media reports over the weekend suggested that Jon Huntsman, the former Republican governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China in the Obama administration, may be a candidate. Huntsman ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
The New York Times reported Sunday that John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and Rex Tillerson, chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, were also under consideration. Bolton met with Trump on Dec. 2.
Pence, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said Trump has been winnowing the list of contenders to be the top U.S. diplomat, but that the field could also “grow a little bit.”
Pence said Petraeus “is an American hero” who has paid the consequences for his mistakes.
Petraeus’ extramarital affair with his biographer ––- with whom he shared classified documents –– led to his earlier departure from public life and a 2015 plea deal that required him to serve two years on probation on a misdemeanor charge.
But the former four-star general, who was praises for his leadership in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he’s continued in international work as chairman of the KKR Global Institute. In that role, he’s visited nearly 40 countries, he said.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, an ally of Trump, said on Fox News Channel Sunday that filling the secretary of state post has been Trump’s “hardest decision” of the transition. “Each guy has strengths but also has weaknesses,” Gingrich said of the known contenders.
