*This article has been updated
WASHINGTON — Tennessee Republican Sen. [crscore]Bob Corker[/crscore] told reporters Monday believes presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump will “evolve” on some foreign policy issues. Corker, who is thought to be a on a short-list of VP choices for Trump, met with the New York billionaire at Trump Tower Monday morning.
When asked by The Daily Caller during an early evening press conference in Washington if his conversation with Trump included the topic of speculations about him being on the bottom of Trump’s ticket, the Tennessee Republican responded, “Other than the jesting about the coverage of it, but no. I have no sense whatsoever that I’m being considered for any position. It’s certainly not the topic of why we were there.”
According to Corker, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Trump’s campaign strategist Paul Manafort was also in attendance during the meeting in New York and the discussions focused on Trump’s foreign policy positions. Corker stressed to reporters that other potential positions in a Trump presidency, such as secretary of state, were not brought up, saying he did not think the campaign hs “begun to think about things like that.”
Where do Trump and Corker align politically when it comes to foreign policy?
“I agree that with leaders like we had in Egypt, where you just throw them aside after decades and generations of working with them, it’s not usually in our country’s best interest,” he said. “Spreading nuclear arms in Japan and South Korea I would disagree with. I think, again, as he moves along and continues to seek input from people who have focused on these types of issues all of their lives like Kissinger, like Baker, like my sense is that he will evolve.”
Corker claimed that his and Maryland Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin’s Iran deal legislation showed that he “led the opposition to the Iran deal.” Trump criticized the administration’s agreement with Iran last month saying it allowed the Islamic republic to become a “great power.”
However, although the Corker-Cardin legislation passed overwhelmingly 98-1 in the Senate, some conservatives criticized it, because upper chamber members agreed to not recognize the deal as a treaty. Under the terms of legislation, only 34 votes were needed to uphold a presidential veto, just over half of the 67 needed to ratify a treaty.
The Tennessee Republican defended his decision telling reporters at the time, “First of all, a treaty is something that lives beyond existing presidents. … The next president can come in and undo an executive action like this.”
Corker was also a supporter of the failed 2013 Gang of Eight Senate immigration bill, legislation many anti-amnesty activists were critical of. He told TheDC that Trump would agree with the amendment that he proposed with North Dakota Republican Sen. [crscore]John Hoeven[/crscore].
“I look at the Corker-Hoeven amendment to the immigration bill. I don’t know if anything has ever been put forth that was or is as strong as that. I mean that was an amazing border enforcement portion of the bill and had that become law, we actually wouldn’t be having an immigration debate now, so I was really proud of that amendment,” Corker said.
He added, “In many ways, people thought it was overkill. If you go back and look at that, and by the way, a lot of support in the Senate for that, what it says is people agree that we need to have strong border security and interior security relative to Visa overstays. My guess is, he might agree with that portion of the bill.”
Corker encouraged his Senate colleagues to meet with Trump, like he did. Trump is expected to have more sit downs with members of Congress in the near future.
