*** A second term? Blinken plans to be with kids | THE DAILY TRIBUNE | KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN

A second term? Blinken plans to be with kids

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

Email: editor@newsofbahrain.com

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he hoped to spend more time with his children next year, hinting he would not pursue another term as the top US diplomat.

Blinken, who has two young kids, has pressed on with a punishing travel schedule that has only increased over the past year, with nine tours of the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

“As to my own future, all I’m looking at right now is the balance of this administration in January,” Blinken told reporters in Haiti, where he was the first secretary of state to visit in nearly a decade.

“I can tell you from having spent some time over the last week on a bit of a break with my kids, I will relish having a lot more time with them,” he said.

It is highly unusual for a secretary of state to stay on past an election.

The last to do so was George Shulz, who joined in 1982, halfway through Ronald Reagan’s first term, and remained after the Republican’s reelection.

Blinken is known as a highly trusted aide to Joe Biden, advising him as a senator, vice president and president.