Two of the candidates on Donald Trump’s list of potential running mates has crossed themselves off – one of them just a day after hitting the campaign trail with the presumptive Republican nominee.
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Corker said he was “very positive” about Trump as a person.
Senator Joni Ernst today said her recent private meeting with Donald Trump revealed a side of the candidate not many have seen in public.
Also Wednesday, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, seemed to similarly remove herself from the veep conversation.
Along with Ernst’s exit, his announcement leaves three reported possibilities: Chris Christie, Newt Gingrich, and Gov. Mike Pence – not counting a surprise pick.
Corker said his day with Trump, his family and work associates gave him a better appreciation of the billionaire real-estate mogul.
“I think sometime prior, just prior, to the convention”, Trump told TIME in an interview in his NY office on Wednesday.
“Really, we’re looking to go more the political route in terms of getting legislation passed, which is what they do, and I think, frankly, we don’t want to do the executive orders like Obama’s been doing”, he said.
“So, I’m going to move on”, Corker said.
Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor and Tennessee’s junior senator, has seen his own stature grow considerably on the national and worldwide stage in the year and a half since he took over the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Ernst, for her part, told Politico that she favors Pence, calling him “so well rounded” and “a great conservative”.
In a statement released after the meeting with Trump, Marc Lotter, a spokesman for Pence’s campaign, stressed that the governor was still focused on re-election and that nothing had been offered by Trump or accepted yet.
Trump spent part of his July 4 with Iowa Sen. She told Politico in an interview Wednesday that she plans to help Trump’s campaign but wants to continue as a senator. Additionally, Trump and the RNC raised $25 million during 22 events in June and the final week of May, the campaign release said. I think most people who know me agree with that.
Pressed on whether she has discussed being Trump’s running mate with the candidate himself, Ernst deflected, saying they discussed Iowa’s importance in the upcoming election.
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Trump reiterated that his list is down to “about” 10 people, including “some names that haven’t surface yet who have actually called me”.
