Tag Archives: Biden Administration

NBC News reports: Alabama Sen. Doug Jones is the leading contender to be nominated for attorney general by President-elect Joe Biden, three sources familiar with the discussions tell NBC News. Biden is also considering Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, who was denied a seat on the Supreme Court in 2016 by …

NPR reports: President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced the team he wants to have lead his response to the nation’s greatest public health crisis in a century after he takes office in January. Biden said he would nominate Dr. Rochelle Walensky as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Walensky is chief of infectious diseases at Massachusetts …

The New York Times reports: President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has selected Xavier Becerra, a former congressman who is now the Democratic attorney general of California, as his nominee for secretary of health and human services, ending a politically delicate search that brought complaints from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus about a lack of Latinos in the incoming cabinet. Mr. Becerra …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump may soon be able to boast about the relative size of his inauguration crowd, albeit on a technicality, after President-elect Joe Biden said Friday his swearing-in will likely be a scaled-down affair due to the ongoing pandemic. Biden sketched out his plans for Jan. 20, saying they are likely to mirror the 2020 Democratic National …

CNN reports: The Trump administration prevented President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team from meeting with its counterparts at Pentagon intelligence agencies this week, according to a former senior intelligence official familiar with intelligence transition discussions. The slowdown means the Biden team has not yet been able to meet with officials from the military intelligence agencies within the Defense Department — including …

Axios reports: The government’s top infectious-disease expert Anthony Fauci said Friday that he “absolutely” will accept the offer from President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his chief medical officer, telling NBC’s “Today” that he said yes “right on the spot.” President Trump had a contentious relationship with Fauci, who has been forced during the pandemic to correct many of the …

CNBC reports: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Disease, will meet with members of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus pandemic response team for the first time Thursday, a transition official told CNBC. The virtual meeting marks a significant step towards full coordination between the Biden transition’s Covid “landing team” and the top officials directing …

Reuters reports: President-elect Joseph Biden reportedly plans to keep Christopher Wray as his FBI chief if Wray is still in the top post by the time the Biden administration begins. A senior Biden official told The New York Times that Biden’s team was “not removing the F.B.I. director unless Trump fired him.” Such a decision by Biden would be a …

Politico reports: Concerned about Republicans slow-walking confirmation hearings for Cabinet appointees and hollowed-out federal agencies, Biden and his aides are eager to place mid- to lower-level officials across the federal government, particularly in national security roles, to ensure his administration can begin to enact his agenda immediately, according to three people familiar with the situation. By quickly selecting candidates for …

The Washington Post reports: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that there will be a new administration in January, going further than he previously has in acknowledging Trump’s election loss. “I think we all know that after the first of the year there’s likely to be a discussion about additional — some additional package of some size next …

The Washington Post reports: Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris on Monday are scheduled to receive their national intelligence briefing, known as the Presidential Daily Brief, as they push forward with formally announcing key members of the administration, including an economic team. The briefings are among the activities that were delayed by the refusal of the Trump administration to …

The Associated Press reports: As vice president in 2012, Joe Biden endeared himself to many LGBTQ Americans by endorsing same-sex marriage even before his boss, President Barack Obama. Now, as president-elect, Biden is making sweeping promises to LGBTQ activists, proposing to carry out virtually every major proposal on their wish lists. Among them: Lifting the Trump administration’s near-total ban on …

The Independent reports: President-elect Joe Biden is reportedly expected to name Cindy McCain as his ambassador to the UK. The widow of the late Republican Senator John McCain has been a fierce critic of Donald Trump and crossed party lines to endorse Mr Biden. Ms McCain, 66, is a known Anglophile and thought to be a frontrunner for the job …

The Guardian reports: President-elect Joe Biden has taken the podium in Wilmington, Delaware, to announce some of the leading figures of his incoming administration. “It’s a team that will keep our country and our people safe and secure,” he said. In a prompt and clear rejection of Donald Trump’s retreat from cooperation on the world stage, with his nationalist “America …

Via press release from the Defense Department: The Department has received notice that pursuant to the Presidential Transition Act, the GSA Administrator is making certain post-election resources and services available to the Biden-Harris Transition Team. This evening, DOD has been contacted by the Biden-Harris team and their designated lead for the DOD Agency Review Team and, based on the ascertainment …

CNN reports: The General Services Administration has informed President-elect Joe Biden that the Trump administration is ready to begin the formal transition process, according to a letter from Administrator Emily Murphy sent Monday afternoon and obtained by CNN. The letter is the first step the administration has taken to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s defeat, more than two weeks after Biden …

CNBC reports: President-elect Joe Biden has chosen former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, a historic decision that could result in the nation’s first woman to lead the department, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Yellen, 74, is widely seen as a politically “safe” pick for the role, likely to garner support …

The New York Times reports: President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. plans to name several top national security picks on Tuesday, his transition office said, including the first Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security, the first woman to head the intelligence community and a former secretary of state, John Kerry, to be his climate czar. At an event in …

CBS News reports: President-elect Biden is expected to announce that he’s chosen longtime diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, two sources confirm to CBS News. The announcement could come Tuesday. Thomas-Greenfield is part of Mr. Biden’s transition team and is expected to focus on helping to restore trust and professionalism to the State Department, with …

The New York Times reports: Antony J. Blinken, a defender of global alliances and one of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s closest foreign policy advisers, is expected to be nominated for secretary of state, a job in which he will attempt to coalesce skeptical international partners into a new competition with China, according to people close to the process. Mr. …