Rumsfeld dodges question over whether to remain in new Cabinet

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Monday brushed aside a question over whether he intends to remain in the Cabinet during President George W. Bush's second term, saying he had not discussed the matter with the president.

"I've met with him two or three times on totally different subjects since the election, but that's not a subject that's come up," Rumsfeld said at a Pentagon news briefing.

At his first news conference after the re-election Thursday, Bush said changes in the Cabinet would be inevitable, but he had not begun to think about specific adjustments.

Rumsfeld aides have said that the defense secretary had an interest in staying in the job to complete some of the changes he initiated like the troops deployment or to clean up the mess in Iraq, according to local media reports.

Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Monday called reports on the possible resignation of Secretary of State Colin Powell "a pile of crap."

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge were widely expected to relinquish their posts for personal reasons. But the two have made no comments on the issue.

The White House said Monday that Bush had asked his chief of staff Andrew Card to remain in the job and Card agreed. Card joined the president at Camp David at the weekend to discuss possible Cabinet changes.