Pro-Trump California Representative Dana Rohrabacher. Detail from original photograph by Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons.
Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) was offered the Deputy Secretary of State position by President-elect Donald J. Trump’s transition team, but declined because he “could not support a Secretary of State that didn’t have Trump’s policies”, according to a source with intimate knowledge of the process.
The source told GotNews that Rohrabacher, who was being considered for the Secretary of State post, refused to serve under a Secretary who did not align with Donald Trump’s foreign policy views.
Rohrabacher, an “outspoken Trump enthusiast” and long-serving member of the House called “Putin’s favorite congressman” for his pro-peace views, stands out among the other potential picks for head of the State Department, such as Trump-hating failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, gun-grabbing classified info leaker David Petraeus, and neoconservative warmonger John Bolton.
The Deputy Secretary of State position is currently filled by Obama’s Tony Blinken, who was appointed in 2015. The Deputy Secretary of State is the chief assistant to the Secretary and replaces them as Acting Secretary in the case of death or other emergency.
Rohrabacher evidently chose not to take his chances and risk serving under a conventional establishment Secretary of State with pro-war, anti-Trump foreign policy views, such as Mitt Romney, John Bolton, or David Petraeus.
Rudy Giuliani, another contender for the post, was exclusively revealed by GotNews to have failed his own vetting process, likely due to his recent foreign lobbying. Giuliani is no longer in the race.