Joe Biden is expected to begin naming his major Cabinet appointments by Thanksgiving, and, assuming he is certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, the Democrat is likely to turn to longtime confidant Tony Blinken as secretary of state.
Sources close to Biden say former Deputy Secretary of State Blinken is the former vice president's first choice for what is considered the premier portfolio in any president's Cabinet.
Blinken, the same sources say, would enjoy the same close relationship with Biden as president that current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo does with President Donald Trump and James Baker did with President George H.W. Bush while serving as his secretary of state.
A graduate of Harvard and Columbia Law School, Blinken, 58, served as both deputy national security adviser and in the No. 2 spot at the State Department under President Barack Obama.
He also served as staff director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002-2008 under then-Chairman Biden. In the campaign this year, he was Biden's top adviser of foreign policy and national security.
Blinken has also been associated with the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, which was founded by the former vice president to pursue his goal, according to its mission statement, of "defending and advancing a liberal international order."
If Blinken does not wind up at the State Department, it is almost taken for granted he will be in a Biden White House as head of the National Security Council.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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