(CNSNews.com) - Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as Secretary of State? Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton as Secretary of State?



Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he would have problems with either choice: "I mean, really, you want to have a diplomat in charge of diplomacy. You don't want a bomb thrower," Paul told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday.





Both Giuliani and Bolton are rumored to be in the running for the job of America's top diplomat. According to the Associated Press, the Trump transition team is now reviewing Giuliani's paid consulting work for foreign governments.

In a tweet posted around 7 p.m. Tuesday, President-elect Donald Trump dismissed reports of turmoil in his transition team: "Very organized process taking place as I decide on Cabinet and many other positions. I am the only one who knows who the finalists are!" he wrote.



Sen. Paul called Giuliani's ties to foreign governments "worrisome," noting that Republicans made similiar complaints about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who -- through the Clinton foundation -- received millions of dollars from foreign governments.



Sen. Paul said Trump should pick a secretary of state who agrees with Trump's foreign policy: "And the thing thing Donald Trump said over and over again was that he was opposed to the Iraq War, and he learned that lesson that regime change in the Middle East was not a good idea. And yet I don't see Giuliani coming out with statements like that. I certainly don't see John Bolton. I think both of them have been big cheerleaders for the Iraq War and for more intervention in the Middle East.



"So I hope Donald Trump will pick somebody consistent with what he said on the campaign trail. Iraq War was a mistake. Regime change in the Middle East is a mistake."

Paul said he could not vote to confirm Bolton as secretary of state "unless he repudiated his support for the Iraq War and repudiated his support for regime change throughout the Middle East, repudiated his call for immediately bombing Iran.



"I mean really, you want to have a diplomat in charge of diplomacy. You don't want a bomb thrower.



"And so, no, John...Bolton is totally unfit to be secretary of State, and I hope that the Trump administration will say you know what, he does not represent what Donald Trump represents, which is change and which is the understanding the Iraq War was a mistake and that regime change in the Middle East has been a mistake."



Paul said his stance on Giuliani is "less clear." "I'd say it's a stiff uphill climb for me with Giuliani, because he would have to convince me that he understands now the Iraq War was a mistake. And I've never heard anything like that coming from him.



"So, really, I think Giuliani and Bolton are very similar. Bolton just has a more extensive cheerleading background with regard to war in the Middle East."



Paul said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haas and Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) would all be "better" choices than Giuliani and Bolton.



"I know Bob Corker well," Paul told CNN. "He's not in exactly the same place as I am on foreign policy, but I would call him a realist. I would call him a reasonable person. I would call him a person who would seek peace as a first option rather than war, a steady hand, somebody who has, you know, is thoughtful.



"And so, yes, Corker would be way better than either Giuliani or Bolton. And if they feel like they have to give Giuliani a position, give him a position that doesn't put him in direct conflict with everything that Trump has said. He could be somewhere, but just don't put him in a position that would be in direct conflict to Donald Trump saying 1,000 times on the campaign trail that he was against the Iraq War."