John Kerry told a Palestinian Authority adviser that he is seriously considering running for president of the United States in 2020, according to a published report in Israel.
Kerry also told the Palestinian adviser to tell Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, that he should “hold on in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and will not yield to President Trump’s demands,” according to the report.
Kerry, who served as U.S. Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, met in London with a key adviser of Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, according to The Jerusalem Post, which cited a story in the Hebrew-language Israeli newspaper Maariv.
Officials in Trump’s White House have said they have had no contact with the Palestinian Authority since the president announced December 6 that the United States will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That’s a sticking point with Palestinian Arabs, who like the State of Israel also claim Jerusalem as their capital.
But Kerry offered hope for the Palestinian Authority, telling the adviser that there’s a good chance Donald Trump won’t be president within a year, according to the story.
The Palestinian adviser, Hussein Agha, told senior Palestinian Authority officials that Kerry “appeared to be crazy about things” during their long and varied conversation, according to the story.
The story does not say when the London meeting took place.
Kerry, 74, would be a month shy of 77 in November 2020, which is when the next U.S. presidential election takes place. But he told the Palestinian adviser that he’s not that much older than Trump (about two and a half years) and that age wouldn’t be a factor, according to the report.
Kerry, a Democrat, served as a U.S. senator from Massachusetts from 1985 to 2013. He won the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, but lost to President George W. Bush in the general election.
The Jerusalem Post reported that Agha “preferred not to respond” when asked about the meeting and that Kerry’s response “could not be obtained.”
