Don't call Rep. Jim Clyburn a member of President-elect Joe Biden's inner circle.
Yes, with his pivotal endorsement of Biden in the South Carolina primary, he helped the President-elect secure the Democratic nomination. And yes, every two days or so, Clyburn's phone rings and it's Biden on the line. And, in fact, in one of those calls, Clyburn cautioned Biden against having an inner circle that wasn't diverse enough, an observation that maybe only someone who doesn't care about being in the inner circle could make.
Clyburn, along with other civil rights leaders, has urged Biden to pick an attorney general who understands how critical criminal justice reform is. For the South Carolina Democrat, race is less of an issue for the attorney general pick -- the lineup of finalists includes Judge Merrick Garland, Alabama Sen. Doug Jones and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
"I'm pretty satisfied. In the top four we are at 25% with General Austin," he said of Biden's pick for Secretary of Defense, whom he spoke with a few days before the nomination was rolled out. In the Senate, 16 Democrats voted against granting President Donald Trump's first Defense Department nominee, Ret. Marine Corps Gen. Jim Mattis, a waiver for the position in 2017. In the House, 150 Democrats voted to deny Mattis a waiver and a handful have signaled they find Biden's choice problematic for the same reason.
Clyburn said it was his wife's realism and pragmatism about the country's politics that led her to pick Biden. Five months after his wife, Emily, died, Clyburn endorsed Biden.