President-elect Donald Trump, despite "campaign rhetoric," is a lot more strategic and thoughtful than he has been portrayed, former CIA Director and Gen. David Petraeus surmised from their meeting earlier this week.
"He's actually quite pragmatic," Gen. Petraeus told "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. "In our conversation, what I enjoyed most frankly was the discussion of issues — or say campaign rhetoric if you will — and then placing that in a strategic context."
Trump's positions might be a bit exaggerated, Petraeus told host Stephanopoulos.
"As an example, [Trump is] not anti-trade," Petraeus said. "He's against — he's anti-unfair trade."
". . . But, again, we talked about all of those kinds of issues, these are issues in which I have concern, needless to say, and it was good to discuss the strategic context in which each of those would be placed."
Petraeus was asked directly about the promise of a wall on the U.S-Mexican border — which "Mexico will pay for," and how he might fulfill this Trump campaign promise if he was selected as secretary of state.
"I'm not sure what the scheme would be there for that," Petraeus admitted to Stephanopoulos. "Again, the issue with Mexico would be to determine together how we could improve the status of the security wall, while not impeding the flow of commerce back and forth that is so important to both of our countries."
Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" the selection of secretary of state will be announced in the next two weeks, according to The Hill.
AP reported earlier front-runners New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP nominee, are falling out of favor, while Gen. Petraeus, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and now former Gov. Jon Huntsman, R-Utah, are in the mix.
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