President Joe Biden is reportedly considering nominating Mark Brzezinski, the brother of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski, to be the U.S. ambassador to Poland, The New York Times reported Wednesday evening.
Brzezinski previously served as the U.S. ambassador to Sweden under President Barack Obama’s administration. He may be among the next highly-anticipated slate of ambassadorial nominees from Biden, whose administration has so far been slow to fill U.S. embassies across the globe, NYT reported.
Biden has not yet announced nominees for ambassadors to Beijing or Mexico City, two flashpoints in his administration’s policy goals.
Biden is reportedly planning to announce nominations to China, India and Israel in the near future. He plans to nominate former NATO ambassador Nicholas Burns to Beijing; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to India, and Obama-era Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides to Israel, according to NYT.
US President Joe Biden speaks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on March 31, 2021. – President Biden will unveil in Pittsburgh a $2 trillion infrastructure plan aimed at modernizing the United States’ crumbling transport network, creating millions of jobs and enabling the country to “out-compete” China. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
The ambassadorships to the United Kingdom, France, Germany and numerous others also remain unfilled, however. Presidents commonly, although controversially, hand out certain ambassadorships to prominent donors and other wealthy allies. The White House has reportedly been debating how many ambassadorships to set aside for that purpose, according to USA Today. (RELATED: Biden Names Nominees For 9 Empty Ambassadorships, But Major Posts Remain Unfilled)
Biden’s choice of ambassador to China is sure to draw attention given how much he has emphasized competition with China in his foreign policy. He has framed the struggle between the U.S. and China as one that will determine whether democracy or autocracy will lead the world into the future.
If Biden fills the post in India it would be a major step toward establishing long-term diplomatic presence across Asia and the Indo-Pacific. The administration previously announced it would nominate former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel as ambassador to Japan.
The first two heads of state Biden chose to host at the White House were Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, further showing his focus on Asia and determination to stand up to Chinese aggression.