NEW YORK: President-elect Donald Trump began building out his national security team Thursday, offering retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn the job of national security adviser. The move came as Trump made his most direct foray into foreign policy since the election, meeting with Japan’s prime minister.
Flynn, who served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, has advised Trump on national security issues for months. As national security adviser, he would work in the White House and have frequent access to the president.
A Trump official said Flynn had been offered the job but wouldn’t say whether he had accepted it. The official was not authorized to discuss the offer publicly and insisted on anonymity.
Trump held his first face-to-face meeting with a world leader since winning the presidential election, huddling privately with Japan’s Shinzo Abe.
While Trump made no comments following the private meeting, Abe described the meeting as “really, really cordial” but offered few details of their discussion.
“I do believe that without confidence between the two nations [the] alliance would never function in the future and as an outcome of today’s discussion I am convinced Mr. Trump is a leader with whom I can have great confidence in,” Abe said at a news conference following the meeting, where he took only two questions.
Earlier Thursday, Trump consulted with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and sat down with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a potential contender to lead the State Department.
Trump is a foreign policy novice and his early moves on national security are being closely watched by U.S allies and adversaries alike. He’s said to be considering a range of officials with varying degrees of experience to lead the State Department and Pentagon.
Flynn, who turns 58 in December, built a reputation in the Army as an astute intelligence professional and a straight talker. He retired in 2014 and has been a fierce critic of President Barack Obama’s White House and Pentagon, taking issue with the administration’s approach to global affairs and fighting Islamic State militants.
In Washington, Vice President-elect Mike Pence huddled with Republican leaders in Congress. He then met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the newly elected leader of the Senate Democrats, seeking to convey respect as Democrats prepare for Republican rule of both chambers and the White House for the first time in a decade.
“We look forward to finding ways that we can find common ground and move the country forward,” Pence said outside Schumer’s Senate office.
In a separate gesture of reconciliation with establishment Republicans, Trump planned to meet with 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who lambasted Trump as a “con man” and a “fraud” in a stinging speech last March. Trump responded by repeatedly referring to Romney as a “loser.”
The two began mending fences after Trump’s victory when Romney called with congratulations. They are to meet this weekend, a transition official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss Trump’s schedule publicly. Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said they were still “working on” the meeting.
Associated Press writer Michael Astor contributed to this report.