Former US state secretary Kissinger praises Trump's presidency

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger praised President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday as a "phenomenon" who could be a "considerable president."

In an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," he said the power vacuum left by America's withdrawal from the international stage under President Barack Obama gives Trump the chance to craft a lasting foreign policy that breaks significantly from the status quo.

"Donald Trump is a phenomenon that foreign countries haven't seen. So, it is a shocking experience to them that he came into office. At the same time, (an) extraordinary opportunity and I believe he has the possibility of going down in history as a very considerable president," the 93-year-old statesman said.

"Here is a new president who is asking a lot of unfamiliar questions, and because of the combination of the partial vacuum and the new questions, one could imagine that something remarkable and new emerges out of it," he said. "I'm not saying it will; I'm saying it's an extraordinary opportunity."

Kissinger also talked to The Atlantic reporter Jeffrey Goldberg last week and he said that he was not expecting Donald Trump to be the next president of the U.S. He added that he considered the election results as a shock but he thinks people should give him chance to show himself and develop his philosophy.

Kissinger, who served as secretary of state and national security adviser to former Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, criticized President Obama as someone whose foreign policy "basically withdrew" the U.S. from conflicts and influence around the world, presenting Trump with a new opening. "I will not reach out to him, but that has been my approach to every president since I left office. If he asks me to come see him, I will," Kissinger said.