CLEVELAND, Ohio – Donald Trump is planning to use the Republican National Convention to make the unusual move of announcing names of potential cabinet members, Trump’s longtime confident Roger Stone has confirmed.
Stone was speaking in an interview set to air Sunday night on this reporter’s talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio,” broadcast on New York’s AM 970 The Answer and NewsTalk 990 AM.
Stone stated:
I think that Trump is going to name a prospective cabinet and there is of course a way to do this in a way that is perfectly legal. Because technically of course to promise someone a federal job is a crime so Trump could theoretically say, ‘For CIA Director I would appoint General Mike Flynn or someone like him.’ ‘For Secretary of State, I would appoint, who knows, you know, Aaron Klein or someone like him.’
I asked, “This is breaking news, actually. Are you saying that you heard from within the campaign this is in the works? That is planned? This is what’s happening at the convention?”
“I think you could take that to the bank,” Stone replied.
Listen to the full interview with Stone below:
Yesterday, the Huffington Post cited an unnamed source who spoke to Trump as saying the Republican candidate wanted to drop the names of prospective cabinet picks.
Stone told me Ronald Reagan considered announcing cabinet picks during the 1980 election. Stone was recruited by Republican political strategist John Sears to work on Reagan’s presidential campaign in 1979–80.
This is something that when I worked for Ronald Reagan in 1980 we seriously considered. It was the brainchild of John P. Sears, one of the most brilliant Republican strategists and minds in the Republican party.
It was vetoed by the Reagan lawyers at the time. Although the legal flaw could have easily been fixed by pointing out that this wasn’t a hard offer but an example of the kind of person that I would ask. That doesn’t imply they would accept but I don’t know anybody who a president elect has asked to be in the cabinet who has declined. That is a very rare thing.
Stone said he doesn’t expect Trump to name establishment Republicans.
So this will give the people some idea of how Trump will govern. Some idea of the caliber of people that he would bring to government. And I can tell you this. You are not going to be looking at a collection of political hacks. You are not going to be looking at the people responsible for the phony Iraq war. You are not going to be looking at people who have been part of the last 30 years of policy failures across the board, whether it’s immigration or trade or our fiscal situation. It is time for fresh thinking.
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.
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