Sen. Bob Corker, who is rumored to be on Donald Trump’s short list for vice president, said Monday that he had “a good meeting about foreign policy and domestic issues” with the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Corker, who said he’d never met with Trump before, downplayed the VP speculation, adding he had no reason to believe he was being considered for the #2 slot. Instead, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman said he met with Trump at his namesake tower in New York to discuss China, Russia and other foreign and domestic policy issues.
“We had never talked except on the phone,” said Corker after the meeting, who last month commended Trump for challenging the foreign policy establishment. “It was more of a get-to-know-each-other kind of meeting. It was really more of a policy meeting.”
Corker is on Trump’s list for vice president, according to a source close to the campaign.
But he said afterward he’s “not angling for any job.”
“You know there have been conversations about us sitting down and talking and we did that,” Corker told CNN’s Manu Raju. “But certainly I think the best way to not end up in a position like those is to angle for it. But I have no indication whatsoever that I would be considered.”
Corker called Trump’s April foreign policy speech “very thoughtful,” noting he had spoken on the phone to Trump ahead of the address.
“The fact that he challenging some of the status quo, it is causing these countries to think a little bit differently about the U.S.,” Corker said after the meeting. “I say that in a positive way.”
Establishment Republicans have slowly started throwing their support behind Trump. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s fiercest critics, is now calling on the party to support their presumptive nominee.
At the same time, Trump’s campaign has privately given Senate Republicans in tough reelection races their blessing to avoid him if he campaigns in their states.