Romney says Clinton urged him to take Secy of State role

Romney says Clinton said she would "very much" like to see him in the role.

ByABC News
June 9, 2017, 7:12 PM
Mitt Romney speaks to members of the media after a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, Nov. 19, 2016.
Mitt Romney speaks to members of the media after a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump in Bedminster, New Jersey, Nov. 19, 2016.
Mike Segar/Reuters

— -- Hillary Clinton urged Mitt Romney to take the secretary of state job when the incoming Trump administration approached him about the role, Romney said on Friday, adding that he would have taken the position had it been offered.

Speaking to attendees of his annual E2 Summit in Park City, Utah, Romney said that when then President-elect Donald Trump said in the weeks following the election he would like to consider him for secretary of state, he “was shocked,” but considered taking the job.

PHOTO: Donald Trump, center, eats dinner with Mitt Romney, right, and Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at Jean-Georges restaurant, Nov. 29, 2016, in New York.
Donald Trump, center, eats dinner with Mitt Romney, right, and Trump Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at Jean-Georges restaurant, Nov. 29, 2016, in New York.

Romney said he spoke with “virtually all” the former secretaries of state while deciding whether he would take the position.

“I spoke with Secretary Clinton, and in each case, each of them said, ‘Please, please take that job,’ if it is offered to you. We would very much like to see you serve in that capacity,” Romney told the crowd, who met his revelation with laughter.

Romney added, however, that he thought the president made the right choice in hiring Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, noting that his own foreign policy differences with the president were probably too numerous to make him the right fit for the job.

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