Gov. Charlie Baker says he’s spoken with Donald Trump and doesn’t believe the president-elect will try to punish Massachusetts for supporting rival Hillary Clinton during the presidential election.
Baker said Monday during his monthly segment on WGBH-FM that he called Trump ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I did reach out to him,” Baker said. “I wished him and his family a happy Thanksgiving. I congratulated him on his victory, and we talked for about four or five minutes.”
The Republican governor described his conversation with the incoming Republican president as a social call and said it lasted about four or five minutes.
“It was polite and it was cordial, and that was kind of that,” Baker added. “I did think it was important for me to reach out and to say congratulations and to offer our assistance if appropriate.”
Baker said Trump responded in kind, saying “thanks for the call and thanks for the good wishes.”
During the campaign Baker repeatedly said he didn’t believe Trump had the temperament to serve as president. Baker said he didn’t vote for Trump or Clinton on Election Day.
Despite his public rejection of Trump — and the state’s overwhelming support for Democrat Clinton, who garnered more than 58 percent of the Massachusetts vote compared with Trump’s 32 percent — Baker says he doesn’t think the state will suffer with Trump in the White House.
Baker specifically said he wasn’t worried that Trump might try to pull $1 billion in federal support for the long-delayed 4.5-mile plan to extend the MBTA’s Green Line to Somerville and Medford.
“Everybody’s worried about all kinds of things, and I understand that on some level, but on the other level we should remember that it’s a big complicated federal government,” Baker said.
He noted that the money for the Green Line extension was part of a federal appropriation.
“You would have to go back and de-appropriate it,” he said.
Baker also says he won’t accept a job in the Trump administration if offered, saying he is committed to the job that voters elected him to fulfill in 2014.
In another portion of the radio show, Baker declined to say whether he would seek re-election in 2018, although he’s given no indication that he doesn’t want a second term. Baker has continued to pull in campaign donations during the past two year and had more than $4.4 million in his campaign account as of mid-November.
Baker said he and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito have agreed not to make an official announcement until 2017.
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