POSITION: Deputy Secretary of State
Nominee: Wendy Ruth Sherman
Born: June 7, 1949, Baltimore, Md
Family: Spouse, Bruce Stokes. One child
Occupation: (2011-2015) Undersecretary of State for Public Affairs where she was “instrumental” in the questionable negotiations related to North Korea’s nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs (August 1997 to 2001) Counselor of the Department of State (April 1996 to July 1997) President and CEO of the scandal-ridden Fannie Mae Foundation; (1993 to 1996) Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs; (1991 to 1993) partner in the political and media consulting firm of Doak, Shrum, Harris and Sherman; (1988-1991) Director of EMILY’s List, the largest political action committee for pro-abortion Democratic women candidates.
She has been a Vice Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, Albright’s international strategic consulting firm, since the group’s formation in 2009. She advised Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign, and she has served with Thomas Donilon as an agency review lead for the State Department in the Obama presidential transition. She also sits on the Atlantic Council’s Board of Directors.
On the issues:
On Abortion:
From Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla):
Sherman served as one of the first directors of EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest pro-abortion political action committee. Her time in leadership saw the organization grow significantly and expand abortion advocacy in national politics. . . Sherman’s abortion advocacy has extended well beyond our own borders. While serving in the Clinton administration’s State Department, she helped to advance efforts to advocate abortion access around the world. . . . Referring to a United Nations program on women, she wrote, “Our intent… was to support reproductive choice. As a matter of principle, we believe that abortion should be safe, legal and rare. We believe that women should be provided the means to prevent unwanted pregnancies.”
Her work in leftwing politics continued into the Obama administration. Afterward, Sherman beat the pro-abortion drum as a senior advisor for an international consulting company run by Democrats.
In a USA Today op-ed about the 2017 Women’s March – published a day before President Trump even took office – she made clear that there was no negotiating when it came to issues such as “reproductive rights,” warning, “[W]e are here; we will not relent; we will not give up.”
On Promoting Abortion as Foreign Policy:
Under President Obama, a State Department ‘action cable’ from Wendy Sherman to all overseas posts urged top officials to push the U.S. position. “The priority issues for the U.S. include assuring family planning and reproductive health services, improving the status of women, resource mobilization and access to safe abortion.”
In November 2020, publicly supported overturning Poland’s pro-life laws.
Scandal connections:
After her tenure at Fannie Mae, Senior executives at Fannie Mae manipulated accounting to collect millions of dollars in undeserved bonuses and to deceive investors, a federal report charged. The government-sponsored mortgage company was fined $400 million. Because of regulations the report only went back three years so it is unknown how long the practice was occurring.
Wendy Sherman is considered “instrumental” in the Iran Nuclear deal under President Barack Obama which was criticized by both the left and the right. An op-ed in The Atlantic called it “less an arms-control agreement than cover for American inaction” which gae a clear path for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.