Donald Trump to meet with Sen. Bob Corker Monday in NY
Sen. Bob Corker, who's thought to be a potential running mate for Donald Trump, will meet with the presumptive GOP nominee Monday, CBS News' Major Garrett confirmed.
However, two senior Trump sources told Garrett this meeting is not a veep-vetting interview. Nor is it a meeting related to the selection of a running mate. The sources characterized it as a general meeting -- and one Corker and Trump have been trying to coordinate for several days.
Of course, no meeting between these two can be said to entirely preclude conversation at least tangential to putting Corker on the ticket -- but this meeting was described to Garrett as no different than conversations the two have previously had on a variety of foreign policy topics.
Corker will be going to meet Trump in New York at Trump Tower, as first reported by the Washington Post. The Tennessee senator is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and according to the Post, Trump told friends that he appreciated the fact that Corker praised his foreign affairs address in April, at a time when more Republicans were openly critical of Trump.
Trump has maintained that he's likely to pick a political insider to be his running mate, and Corker is well-liked by his colleagues in the Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike.
Longtime Republican insider A.B. Culvahouse is helping the Trump campaign with its vetting process. He was also involved in the vetting of Sarah Palin in 2008 for John McCain's campaign, and has helped Republican nominees in five elections with their vice presidential searches.