Biden secretary of state pick Blinken criticized over Iraq War, consulting work
News of Biden's pick turned the spotlight on Blinken's firm WestExec Advisors
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President-elect Joe Biden's pick for secretary of state received criticism for his recent consulting work and early support for the Iraq War ahead of his Monday announcement for the post.
"Blinken advised Biden to vote for the Iraq War. Also said US failed by not sending more troops to Syria," Ricochet editor-in-chief Jon Gabriel wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
Blinken was Biden's top aide in 2002 when the former senator voted for a resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq, according to progressive magazine The Nation.
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News of Biden's pick turned the spotlight on Blinken's firm WestExec Advisors.
"TONY BLINKEN co-founded a consultancy @WEAdvisors that launched in 2018 to help clients navigate DC. It doesn’t disclose most clients’ identities, but has acknowledged working with an unidentified drug maker [and] a Big Tech firm it helped with US-China trade," New York Times journalist Kenneth P. Vogel wrote on Twitter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Independent journalist Glenn Greenwald called Blinken "Biden's standard-Blob choice."
"'A centrist with a streak of interventionism' -- the [New York Times'] gentle description of Antony Blinken, Biden's standard-Blob choice for Secretary of State. Sounds exciting," Greenwald wrote on Twitter.
U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser Tony Blinken speaks at the White House on Sept. 9, 2013, in Washington, D.C. (REUTERS)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., used the news to blast current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent statement that the U.S. is "committed to countering the Global [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] Campaign as a manifestation of anti-Semitism."
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"So long as [Blinken] doesn't suppress my First Amendment right to speak out against Netanyahu's racist and inhumane policies," Tlaib wrote on Twitter. "The Palestinian people deserve equality and justice."
But Blinken, Biden's top foreign policy adviser during the 2020 campaign, also received praise from political insiders, including those in Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' orbit.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Tony Blinken is one of the finest public servants I’ve ever known. Brilliant, thoughtful, honest and experienced-really a splendid choice," former Obama White House senior adviser and CNN political commentator David Axelrod wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
"Solid choice. Leaders around the world will assume that when Blinken speaks, he speaks for Biden," Sanders' former campaign manager Faiz Shakir wrote on Twitter.
"This is a good choice," wrote Matt Duss, Sanders' foreign policy adviser. "Tony has the strong confidence of the president-elect and the knowledge and experience for the important work of rebuilding US diplomacy. It will also be a new and great thing to have a top diplomat who has regularly engaged with progressive grassroots."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Edmund DeMarche contributed to this report.