Obama to nominate John Kerry for Secretary of State, network sources say

Senator John Kerry will be U.S. President Barack Obama’s nomination for Secretary of State, CNN and ABC news are reporting based on tips from unnamed sources. The White House has not confirmed the reports.

The White House issued a statement late in the week to say that Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the UN, had taken herself out of consideration for the role of Secretary of State.

Rice had come under scrutiny recently from everything from her inaccurate explanations of the attacks in Benghazi; to her extensive investments in the oil sector, including a large stake in TransCanada Pipelines.

Senators from both partieshave expressed support for Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But, as Luiza Ch. Savage reported earlier this week, choosing Kerry presents a dilemma for Obama: should he vacate his Senate seat, there is a good chance it would be won by former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown, who narrowly lost a bid for the state’s other senate seat this November. With the Democrats’ narrow lead in the Senate, every seat makes a difference.