President Joe Biden appears willing to pick a fight over loyalty to Obama administration chief of staff and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a potential ambassador.
"If Rahm gets nominated he will have staunch allies, but he will have critics on the left and the right," a former Biden aide told The Hill.
Progressives balked at Emanuel getting a Cabinet position, but he is now a potential nominee for ambassador to Japan, if not China, according to Hill sources.
Former State Department official Nicholas Burns is more likely to get the China post, per the report.
"The argument for appointing Rahm or any political veteran is they're going to have easier access to the president and senior leaders at the White House," Obama administration director of global engagement Brett Bruen told The Hill. "But Biden has promised that he's going to elevate and trust diplomatic experience. So that shouldn’t be a problem in this administration."
Biden and Emanuel have had a solid relationship during the Obama administration, per the source.
"He was very helpful the whole way through," the adviser told The Hill. "And when he was building out the apparatus, he took extra steps to make sure Biden was included and brought into conversations. He knew better than anyone that Biden has relationships on the Hill and he valued his record."
Before the Obama administration, Emanuel was pivotal in restoring power to House Democrats in the post Newt Gingrich era, but he has since struggled maintaining support of progressive Democrats.
An op-ed last week in The Wall Street Journal, "Why Joe Biden Needs Bipartisanship," did Emanuel no favors with them.
"What is so hard to understand about this? Rahm Emanuel helped cover up the murder of Laquan McDonald. Covering up a murder is disqualifying for public leadership,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. tweeted earlier this winter. "This is not about the 'visibility' of a post. It is shameful and concerning that he is even being considered."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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