U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday it would be valuable for President Donald Trump's transition team to seek State Department recommendations before contacting foreign leaders, but there have been no requests for such talking points.
"We have not been contacted before any of these conversations," Kerry told a think tank conference. "I do think there is a value, obviously on having at least the recommendations, whether you choose to follow them or not is a different issue, but I think it’s valuable to ask people who work the desk ... their input on what’s the current state, is there some particular issue at the moment, I think that’s valuable, and I would certainly recommend it, but, obviously, that hasn’t happened."
(Corrects quote in second paragraph to read: "I do think there is a value, obviously on having at least the recommendations, whether you choose to follow them or not is a different issue, but I think it’s valuable to ask people who work the desk ... their input on what’s the current state, is there some particular issue at the moment,")
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)