Former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker, one of the leading Republican figures in foreign policy in the past few decades, cautioned U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday against acting as "Israel's lawyer," and reiterated his longstanding objections to Israeli settlement construction.

"That would be really great. That would be big-time. If he could get that done, it would be huge. But, but. You can't get that done if you are in effect going to act as Israel's lawyer,"  Baker said.

As secretary of state in the administration of George H.W. Bush, Baker clashed frequently over the settlement issue with the Israeli government then headed by the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.