Biden taps Susan Rice for domestic policy role

US President-elect Joe Biden is naming Susan Rice as director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, giving her broad sway over his administration’s approach to immigration, health care and racial inequality and elevating the prominence of the position in the West Wing.

The move marks a surprising shift for Rice, a longtime Democratic foreign policy expert who served as President Barack Obama’s national security adviser and UN ambassador. She worked closely with then-Vice President Biden in those roles and was on his short list to become his running mate during the 2020 campaign.

Rice had an often combative relationship with Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a 2015 book from Dennis Ross, an adviser to Obama on Mideast affairs.

In the book, Ross accused Rice of mismanaging the US-Israel relationship, and not keeping Jerusalem up to date on the status of Iran nuclear talks.

“In her view, the Israeli leader did everything but ‘use the N-word in describing the president,’” Ross wrote.

Biden is also nominating Denis McDonough, who was Obama’s White House chief of staff, as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs, a sprawling agency that has presented organizational challenges for both parties over the years.

In selecting Rice and McDonough, Biden is continuing to stockpile his administration with prominent members of the Obama administration. He will make the formal announcements Friday, along with his nominations of Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Katherine Tai as US trade representative and Tom Vilsack as agriculture secretary. Vilsack filled that same role during Obama’s two terms.

— with AP