Clinton critic Samantha Power preps State Department for senator

WASHINGTON — An adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaign who was forced to resign after calling Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton a "monster" is working on the transition team for the agency Clinton is expected to lead.

State Department officials said Friday that Samantha Power, a Harvard University professor, is among the foreign-policy experts the president-elect's office selected to help the incoming administration prepare for Clinton's anticipated nomination as secretary of state. The Obama transition team's Web site includes Power's name as one of 14 members of the "Agency Review Team" for the State Department.

Clinton's nomination is expected to be announced soon.

Clinton's office declined to comment, but an official close to the Obama team said Power had "made a gesture to bury the hatchet" with Clinton and it had been well-received.

Power has been given an official State Department e-mail address and has been seen in the building, said State Department officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and noted commentator on genocide, is dealing with global humanitarian issues as part of the team, State Department officials said.

Power resigned March 7 after being quoted in the Scotsman newspaper claiming Clinton would stop at nothing to defeat Obama, saying Clinton "is a monster, too. She is stooping to anything. ... The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive."

The same day the comments were published, Power was forced to resign.

Information from The Washington Post is included in this report.