Newt Gingrich blasts critics of Trump's White House staff
Former House speaker fires back on 'The Kelly File'
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that he would prefer an advisory position to President-elect Donald Trump as opposed to a Cabinet post in the incoming administration.
"I want to be the general planner, looking out over the next eight years and trying to design how we fundamentally reshape the federal government," Gingrich told Fox News' Megyn Kelly on "The Kelly File." "That’s a very broad job. The closest analogy probably is [New Deal architect] Harry Hopkins and the work he did for Franklin Delano Roosevelt."
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Gingrich declined to confirm a report that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite to be Trump's secretary of state, but did say that such an appointment would be "fabulous."
"He’s already known worldwide, he is a great manager," Gingrich said of Giuliani, "and he would do a lot both to represent America, which is what we need, and to reform the State Department."
Gingrich also defended Trump amid a report that the president-elect had asked about getting his three adult children -- daughter Ivanka and sons Donald Jr. and Eric -- security clearances. (A Trump transition official denied that the real estate mogul had made the request.)
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"This is a president-elect who is gonna rely very closely on his family, including [real estate scion] Jared Kushner, Ivanka’s husband. The four of them really form his brain trust," Gingrich said. "These are people he trusts, he loves, he feels comfortable with. I think the president of the United States ought to be able to designate the people he wants advice from, and I think these four are going to be tremendous assets to the United States of America."
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