Donald Trump meets with Mitt Romney

Bedminster : Moderate US Republican Mitt Romney, known for his harsh criticism of Donald Trump during the campaign, said Saturday he had a "far-reaching" conversation with the president-elect, who is believed to be sounding him out as a candidate for secretary of state.

Trump, who spent his first weekend outside Manhattan since his election, met for roughly 90 minutes with Romney, who emerged from the session saying nothing about whether he was offered the job or interested in it.

"We 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," Romney said.

"We discussed those areas and exchanged our views on those topics."

Meeting at a Trump golf course in New Jersey, the president-elect sat down with Romney a day after naming three polarizing conservatives to fill key national security and judicial posts.

Romney took no questions and ignored a reporter who shouted to ask if he still considered Trump a "con man."

Earlier, as Romney walked toward reporters, Trump cupped his hands around his mouth and said of the meeting, "it went great." Romney was received warmly upon arrival, shaking hands with Trump and VP-elect Mike Pence.

With some 15 senior positions in his cabinet still to fill, the real estate billionaire decamped Friday night to the huge, exclusive Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, a one-and-a-half-hour drive from his Fifth Avenue headquarters at Trump Tower.

He will remain in Bedminster until Sunday night, far from the protesters besieging his New York building.

Trump has not appeared in public since he gave reporters the slip to take his family to dinner in New York on Tuesday. He has not spoken publicly since the broadcast of an interview on CBS's "60 Minutes" on Sunday night, except for communicating through his favorite media, Twitter.