President Biden will nominate Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator from Arizona, to serve as ambassador to Turkey, the White House announced on Tuesday, placing a prominent, moderate Republican in line to assume a high-profile diplomatic role. Mr. Flake, who became one the most vocal Republican critics of Donald J. Trump during Mr. Trump’s presidency, had been largely absent from the national stage after stepping away from politics in 2019. In 2017, he announced he would not seek re-election the following year, citing the changing face of the G.O.P., which he said had grown too accepting of Mr. Trump’s “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behavior. Since then, Mr. Flake has rotated between academic fellowships at Harvard, Arizona State University and Brigham Young University. Mr. Flake was also one of a number of former Republican members of Congress who endorsed Mr. Biden for president in 2020.

Source: New York Times July 13, 2021 21:11 UTC