Who Will be the Next U.S. Secretary of State?
Amid reports of Russian interference and voting frauds, President Barack Obama has ordered a full investigation into the election that Trump won by defeating his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
By Rakesh Raman
The U.S. president-elect Donald Trump said today that he is ready to select the Secretary of State for the upcoming Trump administration.
Last week, Trump had excluded his ardent supporter and former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani from the list of probables, saying that Giuliani has taken himself out of consideration for the State post.
Trump also had former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in his short list for the post. Romney has met the businessman-cum-President-elect at least twice.
However, Trump has not yet gone beyond confabulations and dinner with Romney who was expected to tender an apology to Trump for his obnoxious – yet truthful – remarks on Trump’s lies about his business and hateful statements.
I will be making my announcement on the next Secretary of State tomorrow morning.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2016
But with his eyes on the lucrative Secretary of State position, Romney demonstrated a complete volte–face about a week ago when he said the President-elect can lead the country to a “better future.” This was a kind of apology, but it may not be sufficient for him to get appointed.
[ Trump Outlines Presidency Plans. Praised by White Supremacists ]
Of late, Trump was considering Exxon Mobil chief Rex Tillerson for the Secretary of State position. But when he faced strong political opposition because of Tillerson’s ties with Russia and Putin, Trump decided to withhold his decision about Tillerson, as Russian hacking of U.S. election to favor Trump has already become a political hot potato.
Whether I choose him or not for “State”- Rex Tillerson, the Chairman & CEO of ExxonMobil, is a world class player and dealmaker. Stay tuned!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 11, 2016
Russian Hacking
Amid reports of Russian interference and voting frauds, President Barack Obama has ordered a full investigation into the election that Trump won by defeating his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Even Republicans have supported the decision for an inquiry, which is expected to be completed before January 20, 2017 when Trump is supposed to begin his presidency.
[ Election Fraud: Trump May Not be the Next U.S. President ]
Initial U.S. intelligence reports suggest that Russia – mostly praised by Trump in his election speeches – helped Trump win the White House.
But the president-elect has dismissed these reports, saying hacking cannot be proved unless you catch the hackers during the hacking act.
Unless you catch “hackers” in the act, it is very hard to determine who was doing the hacking. Why wasn’t this brought up before election?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2016
It is believed that Russian hackers had intruded the U.S. systems to steal information and pass it on to secret data site WikiLeaks, which selectively released emails related to the Democratic Party to harm Hillary Clinton.
But it is not yet clear that how these cyber attacks or hacking helped Trump win the election.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a government award-winning journalist and runs free school for deserving children under his NGO – RMN Foundation.
