Drew Angerer/Getty Images(BEDMINSTER, N.J.) — President-elect Donald Trump is at his estate and golf club in Bedminister, New Jersey, this weekend for a string of appointments with high-profile figures, including the former GOP presidential nominee and governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney.
Romney arrived for his meeting with Trump and members of his transition team at the Trump National Golf Club about 1 p.m. and left shortly before 2:30 p.m.
As he and Trump emerged from the meeting, the president-elect did not approach the press, but, responding to shouted questions, told reporters the meeting “went great.”
Romney made a brief statement to the media, saying the meeting focused on foreign affairs. He said he “looks forward” to a Trump administration, but would not comment on whether he wants to be a part of it.
“We had a far-reaching conversation with regard to the various theaters in the world where there are interests of the United States of real significance. We discussed those areas and exchanged our views on those topics,” Romney said.
Romney did not respond to shouted questions regarding potential cabinet positions and would not answer questions regarding his previous statements calling Trump a “con man” and a “fraud.”
Sources on Trump’s transition team told ABC News on Thursday that Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, is under consideration for secretary of state. One senior-level source directly involved in the transition efforts said that Saturday’s meeting is also about “mending fences,” as Trump and Romney have had a contentious relationship.
Trump also met with well-known education activist Michelle Rhee and her husband, Kevin Johnson, mayor of Sacramento.
Meetings were also set with another education activist, Betsy DeVos; retired Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis; Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts; anti-poverty advocate Bob Woodson; restaurant executive Andy Puzder; Republican National Committee finance chair Lew Eisenberg; and biotechnology billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, according to transition officials.
Mattis is viewed as a possible contender to be nominated for defense secretary. Rhee is a possible contender for nomination as education secretary.
Trump is meeting with people under consideration for cabinet posts and individuals from whom the president-elect is simply seeking advice and counsel, transition officials said.
ABC News was told that senior members of Trump’s transition team will join him in the meetings at the Trump National Golf Club, including Vice President-elect Mike Pence; Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who will be Trump’s chief of staff; Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway; Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer; transition team communications director Jason Miller; and Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.
Transition officials also said there may be an announcement this afternoon on a nomination for a cabinet post in the area of national security.
When Trump and Pence arrived at the golf club at around 11 a.m., a reporter shouted a question asking if the president-elect was looking forward to the meetings Saturday.
Both Trump and Pence answered in the positive. It was the first question from the press that Trump has answered since his interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Nov. 10, two days after the election.
Trump’s meetings are expected to continue Sunday with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, among others, transition officials said.
Kobach, one of the president-elect’s advisers on immigration, is known as an immigration hardliner. He told Reuters recently that Trump’s policy advisers had discussed drafting a proposal for the president-elect’s consideration that would reinstate a national registry for visitors and immigrants from Muslim countries. Kobach also said in the interview that Trump’s immigration team has discussed drafting executive orders “so that Trump and the Department of Homeland Security hit the ground running.”
But on Friday, the spokesman for the transition team on Friday emphasized that Trump is not advocating any kind of broader registry for Muslims.
“President-elect Trump has never advocated for any registry or system that tracks individuals based on their religion, and to imply otherwise is completely false. The national registry of foreign visitors from countries with high terrorism activity that was in place during the Bush and Obama Administrations gave intelligence and law enforcement communities additional tools to keep our country safe, but the president-elect plans on releasing his own vetting policies after he is sworn in,” said Jason Miller, the transition team’s communications director.
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