I said this when this all came up a couple of weeks ago. I have no reason whatsoever to believe that I'm being considered for a position like that. I'll say that until I'm blue in my face.
FILE - In this photo taken May 7, 2016, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Spokane, Wash. Donald Trump faces a struggle proving himself to white, suburban women, who could be crucial in the November general election. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) NASHVILLE - Amid speculation he's under consideration by Donald Trump to be his running mate, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker sought to downplay his Monday meeting with the presumed GOP presidential nominee in New York, telling reporters, "I have no reason to believe I'm being considered."
The Tennessee Republican and former Chattanooga mayor met with Trump inside the billionaire businessman's Trump Tower.
"I certainly think it's worthwhile to sit down and get to know the nominee in a little bit different way, and we did that today," Corker said in an MSNBC video when confronted by New York reporters after his meeting with Trump.
He said the conversation focused largely on policy.
"I said this when this all came up a couple of weeks ago," Corker began. "I have no reason whatsoever to believe that I'm being considered for a position like that. I'll say that until I'm blue in my face."
The Washington Post recently reported that Corker, who is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is among those being vetted by the Trump organization as his running mate.
The senator called it "just a meeting between two people who didn't know each other, except over phone calls, getting to know each other. And that's it."
Corker spoke with Trump after the senator's public praise last month of portions of Trump's first foreign policy address. He has offered to help Trump flesh out his foreign policy platform.
"We talked bigger picture really relative to foreign policy, domestic issues that matter a great deal to our country," Corker said.
"This was more of a sort of getting-to-know-each-other kind of meeting," he added.
A New York Daily News video showed Corker saying, "We talked more about China, Russia." He then attempted to lecture reporters about coverage of his being considered as Trump's running mate, saying, "But again, even to offer conjecture around something I have no reason to believe is even being considered is not even a responsible thing for people to be "
"You haven't even ruled it out," interjected one reporter. "Some candidates have ruled it out. You haven't even been asked."
Corker said he met with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in New York just last week.
While in Tennessee Sunday night, U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who was the first member of Congress to endorse Trump, said he was pleased Trump and Corker are getting together.
"Good to see Corker going," Sessions said in an interview after an address to Rutherford County, Tenn., Republicans in which he urged them to get solidly behind Trump.
"Corker said some nice things about Donald Trump. I called it very valuable at the time. He's the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and everybody knows he takes that responsibility seriously.
"And I think Trump appreciated it and I'm glad they're getting together."
As for recent reports by the Washington Post that Corker is getting vetted among others by the Trump campaign as a potential running mate, Sessions said, "I think he should be considered. Everybody's got different opinions. Bob is one of those who definitely should be on the list."
Earlier, Sessions told Murfreesboro-area Republicans that while some people may have reservations about some Trump positions and his occasional language, the brash New Yorker's positions on issues such as immigration, foreign trade deals, gun rights and who should sit on the U.S. Supreme Court fit squarely into many GOP concerns.
Sessions, a former federal prosecutor, helped lead the charge against an immigration reform bill championed by then-President George W. Bush.
The senator noted that Trump reached out to the Heritage Foundation, Federalist Society and to himself for advice on the list of potential nominees Trump would consider appointing to the nation's highest court if he is elected over Democrat Hillary Clinton in November. Trump later released a list of potential nominees, and Sessions said he was pleased with the names.
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., who is serving as a liaison between the Trump campaign and the House GOP's ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, said that while he has "no inside information" on Trump's thinking on the No. 2 spot, he believes Trump may consider Corker not for vice president, but for the top foreign policy post in U.S. government.
"I'll put my money on secretary of state for Corker," DesJarlais told the Times Free Press on Saturday night.
Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow him on Twitter @AndySher1.