We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
DONALD TRUMP DINED last night at one of New York’s swankiest restaurants with Mitt Romney, his former bitter rival who has become a front-runner in the race to become the next Secretary of State.
The dinner came as the president-elect got a shot in the arm by a manufacturing company’s announcement that it will keep nearly 1,000 jobs in the Rust Belt.
The controversial New York property developer is preparing to switch his attentions from job interviews to a post-election victory tour.
“We will keep our companies and jobs in the US. Thanks Carrier,” Trump tweeted last night, referring to the Indiana-based air conditioning company that announced the deal.
The choice of Jean-Georges, a three-starred Michelin restaurant overlooking Central Park run by celebrity French chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and popular with New York high society, was the clearest indication yet that Trump may select Romney as his chief diplomat.
After the dinner, Romney offered words of praise for Trump that contrasted sharply with his past criticisms, saying he had been “impressed” by his acceptance speech and subsequent preparations for office, calling it “a wonderful evening.”
Donald J. Trump / TwitterBig day on Thursday for Indiana and the great workers of that wonderful state.We will keep our companies and jobs in the U.S. Thanks Carrier
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2016
Romney told reporters:
I think you’re going to see America continue to lead the world in this century.
He added that he had “increasing hope that president-elect Trump is the very man who can lead us to that better future.”
In March, Romney said that:
Trump’s bombast is already alarming our allies and fueling the enmity of our enemies.
He also described him as a “phony, a fraud”.
Frog legs
The brash property developer and the 2012 Republican nominee – who lost to Barack Obama – were joined by Trump’s incoming chief of staff Reince Priebus in full view of other diners, who included CNN’s senior White House correspondent.
In a restaurant where dinner starts at $148 (€139) a head, the Trump team said they feasted on garlic soup with thyme, sauteed frog legs and scallops with caramelised cauliflower and a caper raisin emulsion.
For their main course, both the president-elect and Priebus opted for prime sirloin with a citrus glaze and carrots, and Romney for lamb chops with the mushroom bolognese sauce. All three had chocolate cake.
Asked by a reporter briefly allowed to observe the meal whether it was going well, the president-elect flashed a thumbs up.
Mnuchin touted
It was the second face-to-face meeting in 10 days between Trump and the 69-year-old former Massachusetts governor, who savaged him as a “conman” and a “fraud” during the election campaign.
Trump’s secretary of state will be America’s public face to the world who could face the delicate task of reassuring foreign allies alarmed by the president-elect’s rhetoric on the campaign trail.
Other key posts yet to be announced are the secretaries of defence and treasury — for which US media reported that Trump was expected to name former Goldman Sachs banker Steven Mnuchin.
But the search for the right diplomat has proved contentious with some of Trump’s inner circle horrified at the prospect of rewarding a prominent critic with such a plum job.
Distrust of Russia
Romney’s distrust of Russia – at odds with a president-elect who has spoken admiringly of Vladimir Putin – and the respect he generally commands have been touted as qualities by establishment Americans.
It remains unclear how influential the secretary of state would be on crafting foreign policy with Trump loyalist and retired general Michael Flynn already nominated as national security adviser.
Besides Romney, other potential candidates are celebrated general yet scandal-clad former CIA director David Petraeus, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Earlier yesterday, Trump met Corker, 64, who said that he thought Trump had narrowed the choice “to a very small group of people”, and it was important that he selects somebody on the same wavelength.
Petraeus, who met the president-elect on Monday, has by far the most foreign policy experience, but was forced to resign from the CIA after showing classified material to his mistress Paula Broadwell.
In 2015, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified materials, and was put on probation and fined $100,000.
Nevertheless, Trump professed himself “very impressed” following their meeting.
Donald J. Trump / TwitterJust met with General Petraeus--was very impressed!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 28, 2016
Jobs to stay
Helping Trump claim success on his election pledge to save American jobs from going overseas, air-conditioning company Carrier Corp announced it had reached a deal with the president-elect and vice president-elect Mike Pence “to keep close to 1,000 jobs.”
Trump had tweeted on America’s Thanksgiving holiday last week that he was seeking to persuade the company to stay in the United States.
The New York Times reported that Trump and Pence plan to appear at the company’s Indianapolis plant tomorrow to announce they have struck a deal after the company had threatened to move 2,000 jobs to Mexico.
The same day, both Trump and Pence are also scheduled to lead a post-election rally in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The evening event at the home of the Cincinnati Cyclones, with a maximum capacity of more than 17,000, is expected to be similar to those that drew enthusiastic crowds of thousands during the campaign.
The transition team has dubbed it a “thank you tour.”
- © AFP, 2016 with reporting from Darragh Peter Murphy.
I don’t really see why this furniture can’t be moved to their new premises about a mile down the road. Maybe it doesn’t match the new carpets.
@Niall O D: why didn’t they keep the old building as well if your going down that route
@Niall O D: Most of it looks old enough to not really be worth much anyhow, seems to be why they chose an antiques dealer.
@Donal Proctor:The new building has doors that left handed people can use,Money well spent I think.
Wonder if they reformatted the hard drives in those photocopiers. Could make for some interesting reading otherwise.
@Séa Graham: hmmmm… worth a punt or even a Euro! Secret compartments and all perhaps? Personally I’d be afraid I’d catch something off them.
@Normal Josephine: they’ve probably barely been used. The shredders on the other hand…
@Séa Graham: Reformatted? I’d say those things were microwaved and burned. I couldn’t see them just leaving evidence of the largest fraud in history just laying about the place.
@The Guru: it would be funny if it hadn’t cost us all so much!
@The Guru: no shredders are available for sale as all have been burnt out due to excess usagw
Any printing press and plates going? €50 notes preferably.
@Brian Ward: don’t be greedy. I’ll settle for 5 or 10s
@Brian Ward: A press for Printing get out of jail free cards as well lol.
The Microsoft Solitaire burn-in on the computer monitors should see them available at a steep discount at auction.
@alphanautica: Can you imagine using software to undelete what was on those hard drives lol.
I have no doubt considering he knew he was the only one tendering there was a maximum return for the state. State of balance for whoever awarded the tender knowing this country
Should give the money to charity
@Donal Proctor: sure you wouldn’t know where the money was going there either
@Alan Curran: sad but true
@Donal Proctor: Should put the money back into the state pension pot that was raided to prop the banks up…
@Jane Alford: perhaps was more thinking the homeless
Why didn’t they offer all this stuff to the European Central Bank as part payment-in-kind of interest on the Bailout?
@Garreth Byrne:
All was offered to the ECB!
However, since the gas regulators used in the barista bar at the old CB building are a different fitting to that allowed in Germany, the offer was declined.
It was obviously an all or nothing type of deal on those 5,000 items in question. You know yourself…
@Rory J Leonard: Then what about the stockpile of paperclips? Surely the Germans use an international size for them.
Must have been some interesting conversations at those water coolers
The Bank asked Niall Mullen to buy all the contents. Who else did they ask? Was it on etenders?
He agrees and its now going to auction.
You can be sure he bought the contents for a song.
Why didnt the Bank send it straight to auction themselves?
Doesn’t sound right to me.
Excessive amounts of brown manila envelopes are up too
Either the motors on the shredders are burned out or they’re keeping them.
Where can they be viewed?
@Peter McGlynn:
Sean Eacrett Auctions
Ballyshaneduff
Ballybrittas
Co. Laois
Ireland
R32D932
Ireland
For years I’ve overheard Dublin Walking Tour Guides describe the former Central Bank edifice as the most hideous building in Dublin City. One would wonder why it would merit “listed status”. Not the only example of tasteless 70′s design by Mr Stephenson who’s architectural style is officially classified as “Brutalist” in architectural circles or just plain “brutal” in Dublin colloquial speak.
I’d say there was some sneacta snorted from that boardroom table
The creation of double speak employment.
Should it not be free to take away since we own it all ready
Most of the stuff is rubbish
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say