President Biden is considering Rahm Emanuel for a top diplomatic post, according to a new report.
Three unidentified sources told NBC News that Biden might choose the former Chicago mayor and top White House aide for an ambassadorship to either Japan or China, two key posts as the president looks to shape his foreign policy agenda during his first term in office.
Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff to former President Obama, has been made aware that Biden is considering him for one of the two spots, the network reported.
Emanuel has remained a prominent figure in Democratic politics since leaving the Chicago mayor's office, fundraising for leading party figures and providing political analysis on Sunday morning talk shows.
"He was an essential part of my team at the White House during some very hard times for America," Obama said of his former aide in 2015 as Emanuel sought a second term as Chicago's mayor. "And I relied on his judgment every day and his smarts every day, his toughness every day."
Emanuel has, at times, clashed with the Democratic Party's more progressive wing and other critics in Chicago.
The former White House chief of staff was also sharply critical of former President Trump in the days following the November presidential election, calling him a "desperate loser" for refusing to concede.
“Donald Trump’s kind of posture his whole life has been, ‘Either I win or it’s been stolen.’ It’s his grievance politics. This is who he is. He plays the grievance card,” Emanuel said on Nov. 6. "The same way he said he had the ‘biggest [inauguration] crowd. Bigger than Obama. Best president that Black America ever had.’ Then he goes on to make a claim like this, which is, he didn’t lose. It was stolen. He gets to walk away with whatever die-hard followers he has saying this was not legit. It’s all about him and nothing to do with the country.”
Biden administration officials have vowed to continue a hard-line policy toward China on trade and other issues.
"China is undercutting American companies by dumping products, erecting trade barriers and giving away subsidies to corporations," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress during her confirmation hearings last month.
