Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) further distanced himself from foreign policy adviser James Baker on Thursday during a closed-door meeting hosted by the Manhattan Republican Party.
Bush had previously said it was a mistake for Baker, an adviser and former secretary of state, to speak at the left-leaning Israel policy group J Street. In that appearance, Baker criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over seeming to change his position on a two-state solution.
On Thursday, according to CNN citing two sources in the room, Bush light-heartedly noted Baker and former secretary of state George Shultz are over 85 years old. Bush then said he planned to bring in more foreign policy advisers who from hail from a different generation than Shultz or Baker.
Bush did add that he considers Baker a friend and he didn’t think the former secretary of state’s remarks at J Street were anti-Israel, according to CNN.
Queens Republican Party chairman Bob Turner told CNN that Bush was just trying to emphasize that some aspects of foreign policy are different than 25 years ago.
“The point he was making is that some of the complexities of the modern world are different from the mindset they were dealing with 25 years ago,” Turner said.
As he’s laid the groundwork for running for president, Bush has stressed that he’s not trying to be a carbon copy of his brother, former President George W. Bush, or his father, former President George H.W. Bush. However, the former Florida governor, as other media outlets have noted, has brought on foreign policy officials that served in previous Bush administrations.