SAN DIEGO — A federal judge on Friday will consider arguments on President-elect Donald Trump's latest request to delay a civil fraud trial involving his now-defunct Trump University until after his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Trump's attorneys said in a court filing last week that preparations for the White House were "critical and all-consuming." Six months ago, when they unsuccessfully sought a delay until after Inauguration Day, lead attorney Daniel Petrocelli said the period between the election and swearing-in is extremely hectic for a president-elect but that it was preferable to a trial during the campaign.

"The task is momentous, exceedingly complex, and requires careful coordination involving the respective staffs and teams of both President (Barack) Obama and President-Elect Trump," Trump's attorneys wrote. "In fewer than three months, the President-Elect must be prepared to manage 15 executive departments, more than 100 federal agencies, 2 million civilian employees, and a budget of almost $4 trillion."

Trump's attorneys also raised the prospect of having the president-elect testify by video recording before the trial begins in the class-action lawsuit on Nov. 28.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is eager to get the 6½-year-old case to trial and gave no sign that he was inclined to grant a delay during a hearing last week in which Petrocelli argued that demands of the transition justified putting it off until early next year.

The former students allege that Trump University failed to deliver on its promise to teach success in real estate through programs that cost up to $35,000, misleading them by calling it a university when it wasn't an accredited school and by saying that Trump "hand-picked" instructors. Trump has strongly denied the claims.

Plaintiff attorneys oppose a delay, saying that one of three lead plaintiffs, Sonny Low, has medical issues and will be 75 years old when the trial begins. The say a delay would be "a slippery slope" because Trump's schedule will become more complicated and unpredictable.

"This trial, like so many Trump University student-victims' credit-card bills, is past due," they wrote in a court filing.

Trump faces two similar complaints over the venture, one in New York and the other a class-action lawsuit in San Diego.</s>In October this year, Zeeshan-ul- hassan Usmani, a Pakistani-American computer scientist from North Carolina, posted a sarcastic message on his Facebook page with his seven-year old son’s photo.

 “Welcome to the United States of America of Donald Trump. Meet my son Abdul Aziz. He is in grade 1, bullied and beaten up by his own classmates in school bus for being a Muslim,” Usmani wrote Oct. 8. So traumatized was little Abdul Aziz, born and raised in the U.S., that Usmani sent him, his two other children and his wife back to Pakistan within days of the incident.

 At that time Usmani, twice a Fulbright scholar and an award-winning computer scientist, told newspapers this was not the America he knew and would decide on the family’s return to the U.S. only after checking on their safety and security, in case Donald Trump was elected president.

 While Usmani’ss decision is not known, for many Muslims, Sikhs and people from other religious and ethnic minorities living in the U.S., fear and anxiety are rising, generated by reports of alleged bias attacks and intimidation around the country.

 In less than two weeks since Trump’s victory, there have been numerous reports of violent incidents, involving threat, intimidation and bullying of South Asian and other minorities across America. Shortly after Trump was declared President-elect, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a legal advocacy nonprofit

 in Alabama, received about 250 reports of potential hate crimes within 24 hours – more than in last six months. The center noted a “big uptick in incidents of vandalism, threats, intimidation spurred by the rhetoric surrounding Trump’s election.”

 Kshama Sawant, councilwoman in Seattle, Washington state, who called on protesters to “shut down” Trump’s inauguration, claimed she has since received hundreds of angry emails and phone calls, some telling her to kill herself. A spokesperson for Sawant, told Q13 News that one person called her office to

 tell one of her staffers that he will come and tattoo “a swastika on her head and on that b..ch’s head.”

 The office was also inundated with hate emails, one of which asked “the Indian b..ch” to go back to India. One email to Sawant read: “I am tired of being shamed because I’m a white male. You automatically think I’m a racist. How about you go the (expletive) back to India or wherever you came from?”

 A new Federal Bureau of Investigation report published last week that contains hate crime data for 2015 notes that in that year there were 5,818 single-bias incidents involving 7,121 victims. And of those victims, 59.2 percent were targeted because of a race/ethnicity/ancestry bias; 19.7 percent because of a religious bias and 17.7 percent because of a sexual orientation bias.

 The report, however, did not establish any correlation between the hate crime incidents and Trump’scampaign statements which called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.Of the 5,493 known offenders, the FBI said, 48.4 percent were white, 24.3 percent were black or African-American, and race was unknown for 16.2 percent of the offenders. A new feature of the 2015 Hate Crime Statistics report is the inclusion of seven additional religious anti-bias categories including anti-Buddhist, anti-Hindu, and anti-Sikh as well as an anti-Arab bias motivation.

 Community leaders say in the current climate, there is an urgent need for the president-elect to honor his pledge that he will be the President “for all Americans.”

 The Hindu American Foundation, an advocacy group, noted last week that Nazi symbols have been spray-painted in dorms, on walls, and the ground in attempts to intimidate non-whites and there have been numerous incidents of verbal abuse of non-whites across the country, as well as incidents of Muslim women having their hijab pulled, while being verbally harassed.

 “While feelings surrounding the election may understandably be running high, incidents of hate and violence are unacceptable in a pluralistic, democratic nation operating under the rule of law,” said Suhag Shukla, the foundation’s executive director in a statement.

 Although the vast majority of anti-Trump protests have been peaceful, there have been some incidents of destruction of property as well as assaults on Trump supporters. But such incidents compared to the ones on those believed to be anti-Trump, are far smaller in number.

 “In his 18-month- long presidential campaign Trump persisted with very aggravating hate comments against Hispanics, Muslims and African-Americans, and in his many rallies he continually exhorted the audience to not consider them as equal-level Americans,” noted Kaleem Kawaja, executive director of Washington-based Association of Indian Muslims of America. “Now that Trump is president-elect, it will be difficult for him to suddenly make an U- turn on that attitude. But the fact is that if he does not do that quickly, it may lead to much rioting and even violence of the type that we saw in the late 1960s,” Kawaja, an aerospace engineer, told News India Times.

 Rajinder Singh Mago of the Sikh Religious Society of Palatine, Ill., also felt the 2015 hate crime trend will likely continue, and may even worsen this year and the next after Trump takes over. It would be very difficult for the president-elect to rein in supporters who had been encouraged during his campaign to dismiss minorities and people who look different as not equal Americans, Mago said. “Only divine intervention gives me hope that Trump will be the President for all Americans. The kind of people he is

 associating himself with, casts doubts about the outlook of the United States,” Mago told this correspondent, alluding to Steve Bannon of ultra-right news outlet Breitbart News, appointed by Trump as his chief strategist.

 “As president-elect most of the people he is nominating for senior government positions are people who have racist attitudes. The signs are very bad that this division of the American society may become worst,” Kawaja said. But not everyone agreed.

 Gopal Khanna, a long time Republican activist and founder and chair of the Indian-American affiliate of the Minnesota Republican Party, did not agree that Trump might be sending a wrong message to the minority communities by appointing Bannon. White supremacist groups like KKK, with which Bannon is said to have a long association, are irrelevant in 21st century America, Khanna contended. But Khanna parried a direct reply to a question as to why then the President-elect would appoint him.

 In an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Trump said he was "so saddened" to hear about vitriol hurled by some of his supporters against minorities. "If it helps, I will say this, and I will say right to the cameras: “Stop it,” Trump said.

 But that did not assuage his critics. “He needs to make forceful speeches, strongly condemning such behavior and make strong appeals to his mostly-White followers to treat all minorities with equal respect and to respect the U.S. Constitution,” Khawaja said.

 Khanna’s take on that was that Trump will become the president for all Americans. “As both President Obama and Hillary Clinton said that, ‘we all need to give the president-elect a chance to do what he needs to do,” Khanna said.

 Dr. Sampat Shivangi of Mississippi, a longtime Republican activist and delegate to several Republican conventions, had a slightly different take. “I am not sure it is only Trump supporters that are causing street eruptions. It takes two hands to clap,

 he said. “Unless Democratic Party group joins to oppose,

 there will be no clash,” he said. But he conceded “wrong elements in the society” may have possibly taken an upper hand.

 “I know that Trump went overboard but that is a way of mustering support of working White folks, and that energized his troupe and they made him the President,” Shivangi said, adding, “Trump has

 mellowed now and is not a candidate but the President-elect. I know he is against radical Islamists and the whole nation supports Trump on this. So also his views on ISIS are supported by the country. No Muslim citizen has to worry as long as he doesn't have radical leanings,” Shivangi contended.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump, a foreign policy novice, was deepening his focus on national security Thursday, meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as well as a former secretary of state and a possible contender to be his top diplomat.

Trump also rolled out new teams that will interact with the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department and other national security agencies. The move is a crucial part of the government transition before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

In Washington, Vice President-elect Mike Pence huddled with House Republicans on Capitol Hill and also planned to meet with Democratic leaders. Lawmakers said part of Pence’s mission was to tell fellow Republicans that the transition effort was proceeding smoothly, despite reports of chaos and infighting.

“He just wanted to reassure that the team is working hard and they’re working toward an agenda to do what’s right for the American people,” said Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio.

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said she expected initial announcements of Cabinet choices to come “either before or after Thanksgiving” and told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, “It’s Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone who makes the ultimate decisions.”

Trump planned to meet Thursday in New York with Abe, his first get-together with a world leader as president-elect. He was also meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is said to be among Trump’s potential picks to lead the State Department.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling were also scheduled to meet with Trump.

Trump’s team was essentially starting its transition planning from scratch after scrapping much of the preliminary work New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie conducted during the campaign. After winning the election, Trump demoted Christie and put Vice President-elect Mike Pence in charge.

The result has been a series of new additions to the transition team and several departures, mainly among those aligned with Christie.

Trump aides and allies suggested some of the commotion within the transition team was to be expected given the enormous task at hand.

“The beginning of any transition like this has turmoil because it’s just the nature of the process,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said as he left Trump’s transition headquarters in Washington. He said the picture of Trump’s administration would become clearer over the next two or three weeks.

Former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who has informally advised members of Trump’s national security team, blamed Trump’s detractors for the reports of drama.

“When you’re doing a transition that is trying to push the kind of change that Mr. Trump wants to be doing, it’s going to be even harder,” Hoekstra, a former House Intelligence Committee chairman, said.

But others close to the transition process described advisers “fighting for power.” Trump has long stoked internal rivalries among his staff — both in his businesses and his campaign — and has created ambiguity in his transition about who has authority to make key decisions.

Aides noted that President Barack Obama waited until a few weeks after the 2008 election to announce many of his Cabinet appointments.

Trump appeared to be weighing an eclectic mix of individuals for top Cabinet posts, including longtime loyalists, former rivals and even a Democrat. Transition officials said Trump met Wednesday with Eva Moskowitz, a former New York councilwoman and charter school founder who is being considered for education secretary.

Other meetings included Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a potential pick for Health and Human Services, Ray Washburne, a Dallas businessman and top GOP fundraiser in the mix for Commerce secretary, and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan. New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson were also spotted near the lobby’s gilded elevators on Wednesday.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been a regular presence at Trump Tower, has been angling for secretary of state, though his consulting work for foreign governments has emerged as a potential roadblock. Trump is also said to be seriously considering John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for the top diplomatic job.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who tangled ferociously with Trump during the Republican primary but ultimately endorsed the businessman, could get a top job such as attorney general. An official said, however, he is not viewed as a top contender. The official, like others, wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the transition talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump aides have released few details about the president-elect’s schedule or phone calls since the election. They tried to play catch-up Wednesday, releasing a list of 29 world leaders who have spoken with Trump or Pence in recent days. Most of the calls had previously only been confirmed by those leaders’ governments.

Pace reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Ken Thom, Jill Colvin, Jon Lemire and Matthew Pennington contributed to this report.

Follow Julie Pace and Catherine Lucey on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jpacedc and http://twitter.com/catherine_lucey</s>NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump, a foreign policy novice, was deepening his focus on national security Thursday, meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as well as a former secretary of state and a possible contender to be his top diplomat.

Trump also rolled out new teams that will interact with the State Department, Pentagon, Justice Department and other national security agencies. The move is a crucial part of the government transition before Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.

In Washington, Vice President-elect Mike Pence huddled with House Republicans on Capitol Hill and also planned to meet with Democratic leaders. Lawmakers said part of Pence’s mission was to tell fellow Republicans that the transition effort was proceeding smoothly, despite reports of chaos and infighting.

“He just wanted to reassure that the team is working hard and they’re working toward an agenda to do what’s right for the American people,” said Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Ohio.

Campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said she expected initial announcements of Cabinet choices to come “either before or after Thanksgiving” and told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program, “It’s Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone who makes the ultimate decisions.”

Trump planned to meet Thursday in New York with Abe, his first get-together with a world leader as president-elect. He was also meeting with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who is said to be among Trump’s potential picks to lead the State Department.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling were also scheduled to meet with Trump.

Trump’s team was essentially starting its transition planning from scratch after scrapping much of the preliminary work New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie conducted during the campaign. After winning the election, Trump demoted Christie and put Vice President-elect Mike Pence in charge.

The result has been a series of new additions to the transition team and several departures, mainly among those aligned with Christie.

Trump aides and allies suggested some of the commotion within the transition team was to be expected given the enormous task at hand.

“The beginning of any transition like this has turmoil because it’s just the nature of the process,” former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said as he left Trump’s transition headquarters in Washington. He said the picture of Trump’s administration would become clearer over the next two or three weeks.

Former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, who has informally advised members of Trump’s national security team, blamed Trump’s detractors for the reports of drama.

“When you’re doing a transition that is trying to push the kind of change that Mr. Trump wants to be doing, it’s going to be even harder,” Hoekstra, a former House Intelligence Committee chairman, said.

But others close to the transition process described advisers “fighting for power.” Trump has long stoked internal rivalries among his staff — both in his businesses and his campaign — and has created ambiguity in his transition about who has authority to make key decisions.

Aides noted that President Barack Obama waited until a few weeks after the 2008 election to announce many of his Cabinet appointments.

Trump appeared to be weighing an eclectic mix of individuals for top Cabinet posts, including longtime loyalists, former rivals and even a Democrat. Transition officials said Trump met Wednesday with Eva Moskowitz, a former New York councilwoman and charter school founder who is being considered for education secretary.

Moskowitz took herself out of the running Thursday, declaring, “At this time I will not be entertaining any prospective opportunities.”

Other meetings included Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., a potential pick for Health and Human Services, Ray Washburne, a Dallas businessman and top GOP fundraiser in the mix for Commerce secretary, and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan. New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft and New York Jets owner Woody Johnson were also spotted near the lobby’s gilded elevators on Wednesday.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has been a regular presence at Trump Tower, has been angling for secretary of state, though his consulting work for foreign governments has emerged as a potential roadblock. Trump is also said to be seriously considering John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, for the top diplomatic job.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who tangled ferociously with Trump during the Republican primary but ultimately endorsed the businessman, could get a top job such as attorney general. An official said, however, he is not viewed as a top contender. The official, like others, wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the transition talks and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Trump aides said Thursday that Trump had spoken with the leaders of Azerbaijan, The Netherlands and Poland, part of 32 world leaders who have spoken with Trump or Pence in recent days. Most of the calls had previously only been confirmed by those leaders’ governments.

Pace reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Erica Werner, Ken Thom, Jill Colvin, Jon Lemire and Matthew Pennington contributed to this report.

Follow Julie Pace and Catherine Lucey on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jpacedc and http://twitter.com/catherine_lucey</s>President-elect Donald Trump and Mitt Romney met Saturday at the billionaire's golf club in New Jersey, putting a year of conflict aside for a smiling handshake - though they did not indicate what, if any, role the 2012 GOP hopeful might play in the new administration.

Trump flashed a thumbs-up and said the sit down "went great." Romney said the two had a "far reaching conversation with regards to the various theaters in the world where there are interests of the United States of real significance."

The amiable tone was a marked contrast to a rancorous year, in which Romney attacked Trump as a "con man" and a "phony." But the two have started to mend fences since the Trump's victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Romney was only one of a parade of officials pouring through Trump's door as the president-elect tries to fill more members of his administration. He met Saturday with education activists Michelle Rhee and Betsy DeVos, as well as retired Gen. James Mattis, considered a contender to lead the Pentagon.

Emerging from the white-pillared clubhouse on the rolling green golf course late in the day, Trump said: "we're seeing tremendous talent. People that, like I say, we will 'Make America Great Again.' These are really great people. These are really, really talented people."

Asked about appointments, Trump said: "You'll hear some things tomorrow."

Trump's Sunday schedule in Bedminster includes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach.

On Friday, Trump picked Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general and Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo to head the CIA, signaling a sharp rightward shift in U.S. security policy as he begins to form his Cabinet. Trump also named retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn as his national security adviser.

Trump's announcement on Friday of Sessions, Pompeo and Flynn formed the first outlines of Trump's Cabinet and national security teams. Given his lack of governing experience and vague policy proposals during the campaign, his selection of advisers is being scrutinized both in the U.S. and abroad.

Trump's initial decisions suggest a more aggressive military involvement in counterterror strategy and a greater emphasis on Islam's role in stoking extremism. Sessions, who is best known for his hard line immigration views, has questioned whether terrorist suspects should benefit from the rights available in U.S. courts. Pompeo has said Muslim leaders are "potentially complicit" in attacks if they do not denounce violence carried out in the name of Islam.

Pompeo's nomination to lead the CIA also opens the prospect of the U.S. resuming torture of detainees. Trump has backed harsh interrogation techniques that President Barack Obama and Congress have banned, saying the U.S. "should go tougher than waterboarding," which simulates drowning. In 2014, Pompeo criticized Obama for "ending our interrogation program" and said intelligence officials "are not torturers, they are patriots."

Sessions and Pompeo would both require Senate confirmation; Flynn would not.

In a separate matter Friday, it was announced that Trump had agreed to a $25 million settlement to resolve three lawsuits over Trump University, his former school for real estate investors. The lawsuits alleged the school misled students and failed to deliver on its promises in programs that cost up to $35,000.

Trump has denied the allegations and had said repeatedly he would not settle. New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who announced the settlement, called it "a stunning reversal by Donald Trump and a major victory for the over 6,000 victims of his fraudulent university."

Trump tweeted to his 15 million followers Saturday that he only settled to better focus on leading the U.S.</s>Michael D'Antonio, the author of " The Truth About Trump ," is writing Trump Watch, a series of columns on President-elect Donald Trump for CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) Before his election, the closest Donald Trump got to the presidency was on an episode of "The Simpsons " television show, which forecast a dystopian future when he would occupy the Oval Office.

Now, he is the president-elect, due to occupy the most powerful job in the world beginning January 20. Trump may be the most unconventional and perhaps the most controversial man ever elected to the White House. Since he's someone whose policy positions and style are completely different from the presidents of recent decades and is known for his unpredictability, his election presents the nearly seven billion people who share the planet with him with a most difficult question: How do you deal with Donald Trump?

Trump has long vexed those who would work with him, compete against him or even seek to understand him. On a personal level, his first wife Ivana, who has known him for forty years, told me that even after raising three children with Trump she doesn't "get him" at all. His critics in business and politics have complained that Trump changes direction so often it's hard to get a reliable fix on him. He nevertheless made a success of his third marriage and despite bankruptcies, he's always found new partners for his ventures.

Confronted with a president who has the thinnest resume in history -- no record in government, the military, or any other form of public service -- world leaders are already straining to adapt to Trump's improvisational style. The president elect hasn't waited for briefings from the State Department, which typically helps incoming presidents. And he hasn't shown much interest in diplomatic tradition. Instead he has made a flurry of calls to other heads of state and received incoming contacts like a short order cook -- first come, first served.

A lifelong salesman who values the personal touch, Trump is unafraid to negotiate on an impromptu basis and prefers to meet with people face-to-face or speak to them on the phone (He does not enjoy reading long memos or proposals). If Abe pointed out that he has already increased (modestly) Japan's defense spending and that his country can be a counterweight against China, Trump will be impressed.

Whether he was acting on the basis of intuition, or research into Trump's modus operandi, Abe was right to use the idea that he was in the neighborhood, well, at least the hemisphere, to justify popping-in at Trump Tower. Always partial to the person who hustles ahead of others, Trump also believes that he is a great judge of human beings and that he can determine in an instant whether he's dealing with someone he can trust.

In my conversations with Trump, he criticized Barack Obama for failing to operate in the same way. He thought his predecessor should have met more frequently with members of Congress in order to cultivate productive relationships with them.

He can be co-opted

It is the flexible, some would say equivocating, side of Trump that members of the House and Senate might seek out during the transition and when he assumes power. No one knows this better than New York Senator Charles "Chuck" Schumer, a Democrat who will be take the role of minority leader after Senator Harry Reid of Nevada retires.

If they can make common cause with Trump on issues that matter to their own supporters, and, in their mind, to the United States as a whole, Democrats might be able to triangulate the Tea Party members of the GOP and others who are rigidly anti-spending and consider everything that Obama touched to be anathema.

For his part, Trump has always appreciated the value of leverage, in the form of the heavy debt he has sometimes placed on his companies. He won't be afraid of adding to the national debt if he believes the spending is an investment that will pay dividends in the form of eventual higher tax returns that one day can stanch the red ink.

In the meantime, he would be able to goose the economy, especially if he slashes taxes, and create at least the impression that he's doing a good job for Middle America. Long a man who appreciates the appearance of success almost as much as success itself, Trump will gladly team with Democrats against hardliners in his party if the rewards are right.

Fight when you must

However Bannon's appointment may indicate otherwise. Should Trump light a match and turn toward the most divisive policy proposals of the campaign, either because he believes they are right for the country or that they make for good politics, opponents must consider themselves to be swimmers confronted by a menacing shark. If all else fails, punch him in the nose.

A good example is the story he tells about how he negotiated the deal for his TV show "The Apprentice." As he explained to me, the entire arrangement was worked out in a single face-to-face meeting with producer Mark Burnett. The result was a lucrative arrangement for both men, which endured for more than a decade and brought Trump into millions of American living rooms.

For members of Congress, foreign diplomats and other leaders who must deal with Trump, face-to-face negotiation concluded with a look-him-in-the-eye handshake will be essential. Trump revels in duels that involve cagey lawyers and complex contracts, and always looks for escape clauses that let him do whatever he wants. However, he also fancies himself a man who keeps the promises he makes.</s>Trump already has a lengthy list of potential candidates for the post of top U.S. diplomat, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who met Trump on Thursday.

Trump, a former reality TV star, has shown a flair for the dramatic in his deliberations over his Cabinet, saying only he knows who "the finalists" are.

Corker told CNN on Wednesday he was "in the mix" for the position but that Trump might pick someone who was closer to him during the presidential campaign. He met on Thursday in Washington with Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

Trump's expected meeting with Romney amounts to an olive branch of sorts to one of his sharpest critics. Romney, who in a speech in March called Trump "a phony, a fraud," urged Republicans to vote for anyone but the New York real estate magnate while the party was picking its presidential nominee.

Trump, in turn, used harsh rhetoric at times during his campaign to dismiss Romney as a failure who blew a chance in 2012 to defeat Democratic President Barack Obama, whom Trump felt was a weak opponent.

The source told Reuters that a broad discussion was expected during the meeting and that discussion about the secretary of state position was possible. The source had said earlier his understanding was that the meeting would occur on Sunday.

Asked about the meeting, Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway suggested it was still being arranged. "We're working on it," she said.

"I think it's good that the president-elect is meeting with people like Mr. Romney," U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, one of Trump's closest confidants and a potential nominee for defense secretary, told reporters at Manhattan's Trump Tower.

Sessions sounded far from certain Romney would be offered a job.

”There are a lot of talented people that he (Trump) needs good relationships with. And I think Mr. Romney would be quite capable of doing a number of things. But he will be one of those, I am sure, that's reviewed. Donald Trump will make that decision," Sessions said.

When Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, opted out of running for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, people close to him suggested that serving as secretary of state might be appealing to him if a Republican won the presidency.

A steady stream of potential Trump administration hires made their way through the lobby of Trump Tower to meet with either Trump or officials close to him.

All indicated a willingness to serve, such as Jeb Hensarling, a Texas Republican who is chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. He is a potential treasury secretary in the Trump administration.

"I stand ready to help the president in any capacity possible. I’ve got a great position in public policy today, if he wants to talk to me obviously, about serving somewhere else, we’ll look at serving somewhere else," he told reporters.</s>Donald Trump, played by Alec Baldwin on Saturday Night Live, right, was easily the most parodied candidate in US election history and he still won</s>The agreement came 10 days before jury selection was scheduled to begin in one of three cases.

President-elect Donald Trump agreed Friday to pay $25 million to settle lawsuits against his now-defunct Trump University for real estate investors, averting a trial in a potentially embarrassing case that he had vowed during the campaign to keep fighting.

The agreement came 10 days before jury selection was scheduled to begin in one of three cases. The complaints accused Trump University, which wasn’t an accredited school, of defrauding students who paid up to $35,000 a year to enroll in programs that promised to share Mr. Trump’s real estate secrets.

About 7,000 students would be eligible for refunds if U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel approves the proposed settlement. Under the terms, Trump admitted no wrongdoing in two class—action lawsuits in San Diego and a civil suit brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The settlement lifts what would probably have been a major headache for Trump as he works to fill key executive branch positions and get acquainted with foreign leaders. The San Diego trial, on a case filed in 2010, was expected to last several weeks, guaranteeing daily news coverage of a controversy that dogged him during the campaign.

Mr. Trump’s political rivals seized on the lawsuits to try to portray him as dishonest and deceitful. Trump brought more attention to them by repeatedly assailing Curiel, who oversaw the San Diego cases. Trump suggested the Indiana-born judge’s Mexican heritage exposed a bias.

The thousands of former students covered by the San Diego lawsuits will be eligible to receive at least half and possibly all their money back, as much as $35,000, said Jason Forge, an attorney for the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs’ attorneys waived their fees.

Mr. Trump has denied the allegations and said during the campaign that he would not settle. He told supporters at a May rally that he would come to San Diego to testify after winning the presidency.

“I could have settled this case numerous times but I don’t want to settle cases when we’re right. I don’t believe in it. And when you start settling cases, you know what happens? Everybody sues you because you get known as a settler. One thing about me, I am not known as a settler,” Trump said at the time.

Two days after the election, Mr. Trump’s lead attorney in the San Diego cases, Daniel Petrocelli, said he was “all ears” to settlement talks and accepted an offer to have U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller of San Diego broker negotiations.

Forge said the agreement was reached an hour before a hearing for Curiel to weigh Trump’s latest request to delay the trial until after the Jan. 20 inauguration. The plaintiffs’ attorney said he “definitely detected a change of tone and change of approach” from Trump’s camp after the election.

“We were at each other’s throat for 6 years and were able to find the common ground with them and do something good there,” Forge told reporters.

Schneiderman called the agreement a “stunning reversal” for the president-elect, saying Mr. Trump “fought us every step of the way, filing baseless charges and fruitless appeals and refusing to settle for even modest amounts of compensation for the victims of his phony university. Today, that all changes.”

Mr. Trump’s attorneys said the settlement allows the president—elect to focus full attention on his transition to the White House.

“He was willing to sacrifice his personal interests, put this behind him, and move forward,” Petrocelli said.

Alan Garten, the Trump Organization’s general counsel, said he had “no doubt” Trump would have prevailed at trial.

The lawsuits allege that Trump University gave nationwide seminars that were like infomercials, constantly pressuring people to spend more and, in the end, failing to deliver on its promises. The San Diego trial would have been pinned on whether a nine—member jury believed Trump misled customers by calling the business a university and by advertising that he hand—picked instructors.

Court documents unsealed in May revealed strategies for enticing people to enroll even if they couldn’t afford it. The documents outlined how employees should guide people through “the roller coaster of emotions” after they express interest and tells employees to be “very aggressive during these conversations to in order to push them out of their comfort zones.”

Transcripts of about 10 hours of Trump depositions provided additional material to rivals, though Curiel denied a request to release video of Trump’s testimony that would have likely been used in campaign attack ads. Trump acknowledged in the depositions that he played on people’s fantasies, and he could not recall names of his employees despite his advertising pitch that he “hand—picked” them.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed a 98 percent customer satisfaction rate on internal surveys. Plaintiffs countered that students were asked to rate the product when they believed they still had more instruction to come and were reluctant to openly criticize their teachers on surveys that were not anonymous.

The settlement comes a day after watchdog groups and ethics experts who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations sent a letter to Trump urging him to make a clean break from his business to avoid “embroiling the presidency in litigation.”

One of the authors, Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer at the White House under President George W. Bush, said the Trump University settlement might backfire if lawyers think Trump is eager to settle to avoid court cases while president.

“The plaintiffs’ lawyers,” he said, “are going to smell blood in the water.”</s>SAN DIEGO (AP) — A federal judge on Friday will consider arguments on President-elect Donald Trump’s latest request to delay a civil fraud trial involving his now-defunct Trump University until after his inauguration on Jan. 20.

Trump’s attorneys said in a court filing last week that preparations for the White House were “critical and all-consuming.” Six months ago, when they unsuccessfully sought a delay until after Inauguration Day, lead attorney Daniel Petrocelli said the period between the election and swearing-in is extremely hectic for a president-elect but that it was preferable to a trial during the campaign.

“The task is momentous, exceedingly complex, and requires careful coordination involving the respective staffs and teams of both President (Barack) Obama and President-Elect Trump,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “In fewer than three months, the President-Elect must be prepared to manage 15 executive departments, more than 100 federal agencies, 2 million civilian employees, and a budget of almost $4 trillion.”

Trump’s attorneys also raised the prospect of having the president-elect testify by video recording before the trial begins in the class-action lawsuit on Nov. 28.

U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel is eager to get the 6½-year-old case to trial and gave no sign that he was inclined to grant a delay during a hearing last week in which Petrocelli argued that demands of the transition justified putting it off until early next year.

The former students allege that Trump University failed to deliver on its promise to teach success in real estate through programs that cost up to $35,000, misleading them by calling it a university when it wasn’t an accredited school and by saying that Trump “hand-picked” instructors. Trump has strongly denied the claims.

Plaintiff attorneys oppose a delay, saying that one of three lead plaintiffs, Sonny Low, has medical issues and will be 75 years old when the trial begins. The say a delay would be “a slippery slope” because Trump’s schedule will become more complicated and unpredictable.

“This trial, like so many Trump University student-victims’ credit-card bills, is past due,” they wrote in a court filing.

Trump faces two similar complaints over the venture, one in New York and the other a class-action lawsuit in San Diego.
The New York Attorney General announces that Donald Trump has settled three lawsuits by former students of Trump University for $25 million.