Trump Close to Picking Secretary of State

US President-Elect Donald Trump could announce his pick for Secretary of State as early as Tuesday as speculation has come down to two men: the former mayor of New York City and a former United Nations ambassador.

    Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, an ex-prosecutor who was widely expected to be chosen Attorney General by Trump, is leading the race for Secretary of State and could be named later in the day.

    Giuliani, who has no experience in foreign affairs, has already accepted the job. The Trump transition team has made no announcement.

    Giuliani was an assistant district attorney in New York known for prosecuting members of the New York mafia and for otherwise being very tough on crimes. He also held a senior position in the Justice Department in Washington.

    But Giuliani became known nationally and internationally after the attack on New York City on September 11, 2001. As mayor of New York, with just three months to go at the end of eight years in office, Giuliani took charge of the rescue operation at the World Trade Center.

    It was his regular televised press conferences throughout that the day and the following weeks that people around the world depended on to understand what had happened on that fateful day and the nervous days afterward.

    After leaving office, Giuliani made a run for president in 2008 in the Republican Party primary but put almost all of his attention on winning the state of Florida and lost badly to the eventual nominee, Senator John McCain.

    In those debates Giuliani showed a hard line towards extremists and other perceived enemies of the United States.

    After losing that primary, Giuliani retreated into a private consultancy business in which has made him a multi-millionaire advising companies on security and other matters. 

    Giuliani, who like Trump grew up in New York City, has known Trump, a fixture on the city's social scene for more than three decades, for about that long. The two have been friends for decades and when Trump announced his run, Giuliani became one of his closet advisors and advocates and did numerous television interviews defending Trump in the darkest days of his campaign. 

    Giuliani's lack of experience on foreign affairs would make him a surprise choice, but he would be rewarded for his loyalty to Trump. 

    John Bolton, a former assistant secretary of state and United Nations ambassador, is considered as the other candidate for Secretary of State. 

    Bolton is a hardliner, especially on Iran, which he has advocated bombing numerous times, even after the signing of the nuclear accord last year. He has an extremely aggressive outlook on America's place in the world, and was a major critic of the United Nations while serving there. 

    Trump, however, has signaled a less aggressive foreign policy towards Russia and China than Bolton may like, and also does not favor overthrowing President Bashar al-Assad of Syria as Bolton does. 

    In a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Trump is said to have agreed to a future military cooperation with Russia in Syria against ISIS.  That is a policy that may be easier for Giuliani, rather than Bolton, to carry out.

Source: QNA