John F. Kerry, who has served as the U.S. special climate envoy for nearly three years, will leave the Biden administration by the spring, according to three people close to the situation.
Kerry informed President Biden during a Wednesday meeting at the White House, and he told his staff during a virtual meeting today, according to one of the people. Both individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
Kerry is expected to become involved in Biden’s re-election effort, though he is unlikely to have a formal role on the campaign, one person familiar said. He is expected to focus on publicizing the president’s work to combat climate change.
The exact date of Kerry’s departure has not yet been set, although it will probably be between late February and late April, the people said. Kerry is still scheduled to attend the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, and he is traveling to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.
Kerry, who turned 80 during the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Dubai last month, helped clinch a landmark agreement at the summit. For the first time, the deal calls for phasing out fossil fuels, the primary driver of rising temperatures around the globe.
Kerry also played a pivotal role in restarting formal climate talks between the United States and China, the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters. He enjoyed a close relationship with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, who recently stepped down due to health reasons.
Axios first reported Kerry’s plans to leave the administration.
Over the last three years, Kerry has kept up a fast-paced schedule, flying around the world to cajole other countries to curb their planet-warming pollution. He contracted covid-19 at the U.N. climate talks in 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and was sidelined to his hotel room during the final days of negotiations.
It is unclear who would replace Kerry, who previously served as secretary of state during the Obama administration and as a senator from Massachusetts. His two top deputies at the State Department, Sue Biniaz and Rick Duke, would probably face a bruising confirmation process in the Senate, especially if Republicans retake the chamber in the November elections.
A provision in the 2022 defense policy bill requires the Senate to confirm special envoys reporting to the State Department. Kerry was not subject to Senate confirmation before the provision took effect.
(c) 2024, The Washington Post · Maxine Joselow, Tyler Pager
he never did anything useful for America – so GOOD RIDDANCE
This piece of swamp was drained a few years ago bH.
What a waste of money
Now he’ll have to use his own private plane
Excellent observation!!
OH!! BOOO!! HOOO!! HOOOO!! For him that he may now need to use his own money to pay for his private planes; that amount for him is small “pocket change,” like penny’s & nickels are for us.
Again, this is an excellent observation!!
We need to realize that Senator John Kerry and numerous other government officials and other prominent people like them are gigantic hypocrites and total phonies. As the leading “priests” & “priestesses” of this Climate Change religion, they issue numerous “religious” directives to us that we must be “Porush Min HaGashmiyus” – that we must strictly limit & cut off our use of “fossil fuels” & enjoyment of the whole world: We must not drive gasoline cars, we should not even drive any cars but must instead live in narrow apartments in tightly set “15 Minute Cities” where we must remain and not travel out of, we must not have gas stoves & gas heat & gas ovens, we must not eat any meat, we must not have any cows or cattle or chicken or sheep. Instead, we must eat beetles and worms and other insects and be “happy” with it!!
However, THEY most certainly DO travel, almost all the time — all over the country and all over the world — in their own big private planes that use up huge amounts of airplane fossil fuels. When they land on the ground, they are eloquently escorted all around in big private gasoline guzzling limousines to all kinds of big banquets & dinners & other events where they get to feast on fillet minion and other exquisite beef steaks.
Yes, they say to us: “THE RULES ARE FOR THEE BUT NOT FOR ME!!”
Where is Lurch going? Probably back to the cemetery.
The duffus famously said, air conditioners pose a greater threat to the world than ISIS. Mamesh brilliant.
Kerry, for better conditions…, spilled the beans of NASA’s “moon landing” in 1969. He was the one who revealed that the “moon landing” was in the Arizona desert.