Trump meets with Tenn. Sen. Corker, adds Virgin Islands delegates

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with Bob Corker in New York on Monday, intensifying speculation that the U.S. senator from Tennessee may be on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Corker described the get-together at Trump Tower in Manhattan as “a meeting between two people who didn’t know each other except over phone calls getting to know each other.”

He said he has no reason to believe he’s being vetted as a potential Trump running mate or for a Cabinet position should Trump win the general election.

“I have no reason whatsoever to believe I am being considered for a position like that,” Corker told reporters who pressed him about various possible positions.

Corker is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He also serves on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Also Monday, Trump added eight delegates from the U.S. Virgin Islands, pulling him within 68 delegates of clinching the Republican nomination for president.

John Canegata is a Trump delegate. He also is chairman of the U.S. territory’s Republican Party.

Canegata says eight of the territory’s nine delegates have pledged to support Trump. The last one is uncommitted.

There is a dispute over which Republican delegates from the Virgin Islands will be sent to the national convention. Six delegates elected at the territorial convention in March were disqualified.

If the disqualified delegates press their case, the matter ultimately could be decided by the credentials committee at the national convention.