Antony Blinken: Biden to nominate former Obama official as secretary of state

President-elect Biden expected to make initial cabinet announcements on Tuesday

Blinken is the leading contender to become President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for secretary of state (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Veteran diplomat Antony Blinken is the favourite to be nominated as Joe Biden’s secretary of state this week, as the president-elect forges ahead with assembling his cabinet week even though Donald Trump still refuses to concede.

According to multiple people familiar with the Biden team’s planning, the appointment of the 58-year-old longterm ally of Mr Biden is most likely to be made on Tuesday as part of the first tranche of cabinet postings.

Mr Blinken has served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration and enjoys close ties with the president-elect, according to the Associated Press.

If nominated and confirmed, Mr Blinken would be a leading force in the incoming administration’s bid to reframe the US relationship with the rest of the world after four years in which President Trump questioned longtime alliances.

In nominating Mr Blinken, the president-elect would sidestep potentially thorny issues that could have affected Senate confirmation for two other candidates on his shortlist to be America’s top diplomat: Susan Rice and Chris Coons.

Mr Biden is likely to name his cabinet picks in tranches, with groups of nominees focused on a specific top area, like the economy, national security or public health, being announced at once.

If Mr Biden focuses on national security in the first announcement, then Michèle Flournoy, a veteran of Pentagon policy jobs, is a top choice to lead the Defense Department. Jake Sullivan, a longtime adviser to Mr Biden and Hillary Clinton, is also in the mix for a top job, including White House national security adviser.

For his part, Mr Blinken recently participated in a national security briefing with President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and has weighed in publicly on notable foreign policy issues in Egypt and Ethiopia.

Apart from Mr Blinken, Mr Biden is also likely to name Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman who served as the assistant secretary of state for Africa under former President Obama, as his ambassador to the UN. 

The president-elect has pledged to build the most diverse government in modern history, and he and his team often speak about their desire for his administration to reflect America.

Mr Blinken’s appointment made another longtime Biden aide and foreign policy veteran, Jake Sullivan, the top candidate to be US national security adviser, a source told Reuters.

After Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election to Mr Trump, Mr Blinken became one of the founders of WestExec Advisors, a Washington consultancy advising corporations on geopolitical risks.

The New York City-born, Harvard-educated Mr Blinken practised law briefly and entered politics in the late 1980s helping Michael Dukakis' presidential campaign raise money.

He joined Democratic President Bill Clinton's White House as a speechwriter and became one of his national security aides.

Additional reporting by agencies