Former secretary of state John Kerry endorsed Joe Biden’s presidential candidacy, “saying his longtime friend and colleague has the character, experience and leadership skills to restore the nation’s standing abroad and confront urgent problems at home,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Kerry: “I’m not endorsing Joe because I’ve known him a long time. I’m endorsing him because I know him so well.”
President Trump said former secretary of state John Kerry should be prosecuted for discussing the Iran nuclear deal with officials from that country after leaving office, the Washington Post reports.
Said Trump: “I’d like to see — with Iran, I’d like to see them call me. You know, John Kerry speaks to them a lot. John Kerry tells them not to call. That’s a violation of the Logan Act. And frankly, he should be prosecuted on that. But my people don’t want to do anything that’s — only the Democrats do that kind of stuff, you know? If it were the opposite way, they’d prosecute him under the Logan Act.”
Kerry responded on CNN: “Everything President Trump said today is simply wrong, end of story.”
Former Secretary of State John Kerry hinting at another possible campaign for president in 2020 during a talk with Harvard students, the Harvard Crimson reports.
Said Kerry: “I’m not going to take anything off the table. I haven’t been running around to the most obvious states, laying out the groundwork.”
He added: “Am I going to think about it? Yeah, I’m going to think about.”
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted his predecessor, John Kerry, for holding “beyond inappropriate” private meetings with Iranian officials, asserting that Kerry was undermining U.S. foreign policy in an “unprecedented” manner, Politico reports.
Said Pompeo: “What Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented. This is a former secretary of state engaged with the largest state sponsor of terror.”
“I should only be so lucky.”
— President Trump, on Twitter, responding to former Secretary of State John Kerry not ruling out another presidential bid.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry would not rule out a 2020 run for president in an interview with CBS News, and said that he plans to stay politically active during President Trump’s administration, The Hill reports.
Said Kerry: “Talking about 2020 right now is a total distraction and waste of time. What we need to do is focus on 2018. We need to win back the confidence of the country to move in a better direction and to do it in sensible ways.”
He added: “We are in a moment of crisis for our country. The world is in a moment of crisis.”
President Trump ripped into John Kerry after a Globe story detailed the former secretary of state’s behind-the-scenes attempts to salvage the Iran nuclear deal, a signature Kerry accomplishment that Trump may choose to scuttle this week, the Boston Globe reports.
Said Trump: “The United States does not need John Kerry’s possibly illegal Shadow Diplomacy on the very badly negotiated Iran Deal. He was the one that created this MESS in the first place!”
Former Secretary of State John Kerry is considering a second run for president in 2020 to take on President Trump, according to the Israel newspaper Maariv.
Secretary of State John Kerry accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel “of thwarting peace in the Middle East, speaking with a clarity and harshness almost never heard from American diplomats when discussing one of their closest and strongest allies,” the New York Times reports.
“With only 23 days left in his four-year turn as secretary of state, during which he made the search for peace in the Middle East one of his driving missions, Mr. Kerry said the Israeli government was undermining any hope of a two-state solution to its decades-long conflict with the Palestinians.”
Wall Street Journal: “Mr. Kerry’s decision to deliver a broad, hard-hitting speech on the Middle East just three weeks before leaving office reflected the frustration many in the administration say they feel about the failure of peace efforts and the accusation by Israel and some of its Washington allies that President Barack Obama hasn’t been a loyal friend.”
“It’s so easy to make a mistake in this. Choosing Edwards was a mistake because Dick could have helped us in Ohio in a way that Edwards could not, and Dick would have done better in the vice-presidential debate.”
— Robert Shrum, quoted by the New York Times, acknowledging that advising John Kerry to pick John Edwards over Dick Gephardt as his running mate in 2004 was a mistake.
Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the Republican presidential campaign raises awkward questions abroad about the reliability of the United States, Yahoo News reports.
Said Kerry: “They cannot believe it. I think it is fair to say that they’re shocked. They don’t know where it’s taking the United States of America.”
He added: “It upsets people’s sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability, and to some degree I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they’re posed to me, it’s clear to me that what’s happening is an embarrassment to our country.”
“Yeah, yeah, I realize how badly Shrum screwed me.”
— John Kerry, quoted by the New Yorker, on how strategist Robert Shrum had restrained him from hitting back against the Swift boat attacks during the 2004 presidential campaign.
“John Kerry has broken Hillary Clinton’s marks for miles traveled and total flight time as secretary of state… With a year to go, he looks set to smash almost every travel record in U.S. diplomacy,” the AP reports.
Gov. Chris Christie lashed out at Secretary of State John Kerry for suggesting the terrorists who attacked a French satirical newspaper this year had “rationale,” the Newark Star Ledger reports.
Kerry told diplomats “there was a sort of particularized focus and perhaps even a legitimacy in terms of — not a legitimacy, but a rationale that you could attach yourself to somehow and say, ‘okay, they’re really angry because of this and that.'”
Responded Christie: “He needs to get some sleep and shut up. That’s disgraceful.”
Secretary of State John Kerry told CNN he has no interest in running for president again.
Said Kerry: “None. Zero. Absolutely none whatsoever. I have a great job, we have a lot of work to do in the next year and a half and I’m looking forward to it.”
“Secretary of State John Kerry was helicoptered to a Swiss hospital Sunday after a bike crash outside of Geneva, where he had been holding nuclear talks with Iran’s foreign minister,” the AP reports.
“Kerry suffered a likely leg injury, but did not lose consciousness… The top American diplomat was in stable condition.”
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who praised John Kerry’s nomination as Secretary of State and raved about his “exemplary statesmanship” and “indefatigable persistence,” is now one of Kerry’s biggest critics, Politico reports.
In recent months McCain has branded Kerry a “human wrecking ball,” urged him to “recognize reality,” called him “delusional” and said he has “accomplished nothing except mileage as secretary of state.” Last month, for good measure, he suggested that he considers Iran’s Supreme Leader a more believable source on the nuclear talks than Kerry.
“I wish her well in this race and I look forward to being able to stay well away from it.”
— Secretary of State John Kerry, quoted by ABC News, on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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