Murdoch suggests John Kerry as ‘replacement’ Dem candidate

Kerry, currently President Obama’s secretary of state, ran an unsuccessful Democratic campaign for president in 2004. He took over the Cabinet post following the departure of Clinton.

The former senator could face legal trouble after the State Department determined emails she sent and received on a homebrew server during her time as secretary of state to be classified. Clinton said Thursday that she is “100 percent confident” an investigation won’t find wrongdoing.

Critics of Clinton say the email debacle should disqualify her for the presidency, and argue the ongoing investigation has had an impact on her poll numbers.

Long considered the inevitable Democratic nominee, Clinton has seen her lead in the polls against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders shrink. According to a Quinnipiac poll released on Friday, she leads Sanders by only two percentage points nationally, well within the margin of error. In the Iowa caucuses on Monday, she beat Sanders by only .3 percent.

This isn’t the first time Murdoch, whose New Corps media empire includes Fox News, has made speculations on the 2016 race, though he has not proved prescient.

In January he said that if former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ran for president as a third-party candidate, which Bloomberg was reportedly considering, it “may hurt Clinton more than [Republican candidate Donald] Trump.”

“Seems 2016 the year for populists,” Murdoch added.

Murdoch also said in September that if Vice President Joe Biden were to join the race, that is “[v]ery likely he wins nomination and be hard to beat.” Biden confirmed in October that he would not run for president.