Biden considers Hillary Clinton for UN ambassador role

The transition team of President-elect Joe Biden has been vetting potential candidates for months and will present him the potential choices in the coming days

Hillary Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in 2016 (Getty Images for Refinery29)

Joe Biden is reported to be considering Hillary Clinton for a role in his administration, with the former secretary of state in the running to become the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Ms Clinton, who lost to Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, is “being discussed” as a potential pick for the role, according to the Washington Post.

The president-elect has already begun assembling his coronavirus taskforce, and in the coming months will need to choose the members of his cabinet. Discussions are underway, even as Mr Trump has refused to concede the election, citing voter fraud without providing evidence.

Mr Biden’s team has been vetting potential candidates for top roles in his administration for months, and a number of options are to be presented to him in the coming days.

On Ms Clinton, sources told the Post that the move “would be a way for Biden to highlight the importance of that position in his administration, and that placing her there would raise the prestige of the UN itself at a time when global cooperation and the US role on the world stage, has ebbed”.

On Wednesday, Mr Biden chose the veteran Democratic operative  Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff. It had been rumoured for months that Mr Klain, a lawyer who also advised Barack Obama, would get the top job.

Mr Klain, 59, served as Mr Obama’s “Ebola tsar” and has been a fierce critic of Mr Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

He worked as a top aide to Mr Biden when he was still a senator for Delaware, and ran his office when he first became vice president.  

Mr Klain reportedly fell out with Mr Biden’s team after he offered to support Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run for the White House. But he now has the most important unelected job in government that does not require Senate confirmation.  

According to various media reports, Mr Biden is likely to return to some familiar faces from the Obama administration as he builds his national security team, while at the same time restoring principles of foreign policy discarded by President Trump.  

The New York Times reported that the expected return of more seasoned hands has already been causing disquiet among younger, more liberal Democrats who consider the party’s pre-Trump national security instincts “badly outdated”.