the-latest-on-biden’s-transition

The latest on Biden’s transition

Politics
2 min ago

Pompeo’s meeting tomorrow with Biden’s secretary of state nominee will not happen in person

From CNN’s Kylie Atwood

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will no longer be meeting in person with Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to be Secretary of State at the department tomorrow, sources familiar with the meeting tell CNN.

It is not clear if the meeting will happen virtually, or if Blinken will still come to the State Department to meet with other officials from Pompeo’s staff.

The State Department said Wednesday that Pompeo is in quarantine, due to close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19.

More on the meeting: The meeting between Blinken and Pompeo was to mark the first formal recognition by President Trump’s top diplomat that he is preparing to hand over the reins of American foreign policy to his successor.

CNN reported earlier this week the meeting was scheduled to last for only 15 minutes, but State Department officials viewed it as a positive step.

In addition, Pompeo’s office has canceled two holiday gathering for foreign ambassadors in Washington that were scheduled to take place at the department today and where Pompeo was scheduled to give remarks, according to an internal schedule reviewed by CNN.

Yesterday Pompeo and his wife did not attend a separate holiday party hosted at the State Department yesterday, says a source familiar with the event.

Instead, Deputy Secretary of State, Steve Biegun, attended the event and gave remarks to the family members of US diplomats who serve in dangerous locations where they cannot being their family along, the source said. At the time, no reason was given for Pompeo skipping the event.

It remains unclear when Pompeo came into contact with the person who tested positive for Covid-19 and how long he will quarantine for. It’s also unclear when Pompeo will get the Covid-19 vaccine. Yesterday the department said in a memo that certain groups of US diplomats had been prioritized to get the doses in the first tranche, but would not say if Pompeo fell into any of the prioritized categorizes.

Last week Pompeo visited the White House on Friday and also spent time with his son and his new fiancé in Washignton, DC according to photos on his personal Twitter.

43 min ago

GOP senator acknowledges Biden as President-elect and says he won’t dispute election results on floor

From CNN’s Ali Zaslav, Jeremy Herb and Ali Main

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) delivers opening remarks during a hearing on Capitol Hill on December 3, in Washington, DC. 
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-WI) delivers opening remarks during a hearing on Capitol Hill on December 3, in Washington, DC.  Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Senate Homeland Security Chairman Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, told reporters Wednesday that he does not plan to object to election results when Congress meets for a joint session on Jan. 6, while defending holding today’s hearing probing the 2020 election.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen I’m surely not going to do it,” Johnson said.

Some context: Under the rules, any House member can join a senator to raise objection to a state’s electoral college results. Doing so would spark debate and votes. The expectation isn’t that anyone could overturn the results of the election, but it would be a political spectacle.

The Wisconsin Republican also explicitly acknowledged Joe Biden as the President-elect.

When asked if he considers Biden the president elect, he replied: “Yes, the electoral college has voted, and so now he’s the President-elect.

He continued, “The process has played out. Many lawsuits filed, many settled or dismissed. The collective judgment of that entire process the certification of the electors by the states and electoral college now has shown …Vice President Biden beat the president elect.”

Sen. Ron Johnson also said Wednesday he’s hoping a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden’s taxes is “not necessary, but it might be.”

He made the comments when asked about reports that President Trump is asking about appointing a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden’s taxes.

Speaking about the US attorney in Delaware, Johnson said, “I’m hoping he’s a person of integrity and that we can rely on him. Hopefully we can also rely on Vice President Biden not replacing that individual, but again if we don’t have that assurance.. don’t have that confidence, we just might need a special counsel.”

Asked how he anticipates working with Biden in the years ahead, he said “I’m happy to work in good faith because I think being President of United States is almost an impossible task.”

1 hr 32 min ago

Pete Buttigieg would make history if confirmed in the Senate to serve in Biden’s Cabinet

From CNN’s Dan Merica

Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg waves as he arrived for the tenth Democratic primary debate at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25, 2020.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg waves as he arrived for the tenth Democratic primary debate at the Gaillard Center in Charleston, South Carolina, on February 25, 2020. Logan Cyrus/AFP/Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden will formally introduce former Democratic 2020 presidential candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg this morning as his nominee for transportation secretary in an event in Wilmington, Delaware.

Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber.

“Mayor Pete Buttigieg is a patriot and a problem-solver who speaks to the best of who we are as a nation,” Biden said. “I am nominating him for Secretary of Transportation because this position stands at the nexus of so many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities ahead of us.”

Biden added that he sees the Department of Transportation as the “site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better” and that he trusts “Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision.”

The choice — which represents the first time the President-elect has called on one of his former Democratic presidential opponents to join his administration as a Cabinet secretary — vaults a candidate Biden spoke glowingly of after the primary into a top job in his incoming administration and could earn Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is needed experience should he run for president again.

The role of transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure package.

2 hr 12 min ago

Immigrant advocates are urging Biden to quickly rectify trauma of Trump’s family separation policies

From CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez

Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during President- elect Joe Biden introduction of his cabinet member nominees at the Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 24.
Alejandro Mayorkas speaks during President- elect Joe Biden introduction of his cabinet member nominees at the Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 24. Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Immigrant advocacy groups, that for years scrambled to identify and reunite families separated at the US-Mexico border, are now preparing for the incoming administration and steps to rectify the trauma experienced by parents and children.

Last week, immigrant advocacy groups met with President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team on family separation and next steps as part of a series of ongoing listening sessions, according to a source familiar with the meeting. Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, has also met with immigration leaders, among other groups, according to another source familiar with the discussions.

Immigrant advocacy groups hope Biden’s administration can work toward restoring trust with the families who’ve grown increasingly skeptical of the US since having their kids taken from them.

“It’s going to take a long time for families to trust the government if they’re not seeing action,” said Cathleen Caron, executive director at Justice in Motion, which is leading the on-the-ground efforts to locate the deported parents who were separated from their children.

Advocates have been putting together a list of recommendations on how the government can work to rectify the consequences of family separation and address the situation in a thoughtful and holistic manner, according to Conchita Cruz, a co-executive director of the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, which represents separated families.

Some background: The so-called “zero tolerance” policy — which called for the criminal prosecutions of every adult illegally crossing the border and, as a result, the separation of thousands of families — became a flashpoint during the Trump administration.

The policy came to encapsulate the lengths President Trump was willing to go to in order to deter migrants from coming to the US, regardless of their circumstances, and it revealed the disarray that ensues when agencies are unprepared.

Biden has condemned the policy, calling it “criminal” during a presidential debate in October. “Their kids were ripped from their arms and separated. And now they cannot find over 500 sets of those parents and those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It’s criminal. It’s criminal,” he said.

Read more here.

2 hr 18 min ago

Biden will receive Covid-19 vaccine soon, advisory panel member says 

From CNN’s Naomi Thomas

Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, testifies during a hearing in Washington, DC, on Thursday, May 14.
Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, testifies during a hearing in Washington, DC, on Thursday, May 14. Greg Nash/The Hill/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Rick Bright, a member of President-elect Joe Biden’s coronavirus advisory panel, said on Wednesday that Biden is “going to receive it soon, you know. He’s having conversations with Dr. Fauci” about the Covid-19 vaccine.

“He doesn’t want to jump the line, necessarily,” Bright told CNN’s John Berman. “He wants to make sure that the limited doses of vaccine are available for people who need it most, the most vulnerable – health care workers and people in long-term care facilities. But he wants to make sure that he does get the vaccine.”

Bright said this was a show of confidence, and that Biden is “very confident in this vaccine. He just wants to make sure it is his turn, and he wants to do it publicly so people know that he’s very confident in the outcome.”

When asked by CNN’s Alisyn Camerota why not today, Bright said, “I know there are discussions about it and I know that it’s imminent that it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of the timing and the logistics of getting the vaccine.”

“There is absolutely no hesitancy at all,” Bright said. “It’s just now a matter of the timing, logistics.”

2 hr 25 min ago

Biden still aims to fill Cabinet posts by Christmas, but several key decisions remain 

From CNN’s Jeff Zeleny

US President-elect Joe Biden, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, introduced nominees to his incoming administration on December 11.
US President-elect Joe Biden, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, introduced nominees to his incoming administration on December 11. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden still has a goal of announcing all – or most – of his Cabinet positions before Christmas, but officials close to the transition say several decisions still must be made in the next week.

Biden is scheduled to hold two public events for the rest of this week: Today’s event to introduce Pete Buttigieg as the nominee for transportation secretary and an event on Saturday to introduce members of his climate team.

He is not scheduled to have events Thursday because of an expected snow storm and Friday because it’s the anniversary of his wife’s and daughter’s death, a day he traditionally does not have a public schedule.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is a leading contender for the commerce secretary post, two officials familiar with the matter say, but as of late last night she had not been formally offered the position yet.

Several major decisions remain – none bigger than attorney general.

Judge Merrick Garland and Alabama Sen. Doug Jones remain the two leading contenders, people familiar with the matter say, but Biden has yet to reach a final decision for who will be nominated to lead the Department of Justice.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not a contender for the position, people familiar with the matter say, adding that Sally Yates and Deval Patrick are not leading contenders, but have not been entirely ruled out.

A decision has also not been reached on the CIA Director, officials say, and no formal announcements are expected yet this week.

The decisions have taken longer than some transition officials expected, but those who have worked with Biden for a long time are not surprised.

Advisers warned after the election that Biden was “notoriously deliberative” as CNN reported Nov. 13.

2 hr 29 min ago

How Inauguration Day is adapting due to the coronavirus pandemic

From CNN’s Kate Sullivan and Sarah Mucha

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announces new cabinet nominations at the Queen Theatre on December 11, in Wilmington, Delaware.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announces new cabinet nominations at the Queen Theatre on December 11, in Wilmington, Delaware. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The Presidential Inaugural Committee on Tuesday urged Americans to refrain from traveling for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ inauguration on Jan. 20 amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Biden and Harris will take their oaths of office at the US Capitol during a significantly scaled-down inauguration ceremony that will implement “vigorous health and safety protocols,” the committee said in a news release.

The ceremony’s footprint will be “extremely limited,” according to the committee, and the parade on Inauguration Day will be “reimagined.”

“Our goal is to create an inauguration that keeps people safe, honors the grand traditions of the Presidency, and showcases the Biden-Harris Administration’s renewed American vision for an inclusive, equitable, and unified citizenry,” committee CEO Tony Allen said in a statement.

Much like the Democratic National Convention — which was forced to go online over the summer in efforts to keep the virus from spreading — the inauguration festivities will feature a virtual program to allow Americans to participate from home.

More details about the Jan. 20 event will be announced in the coming weeks, the committee said.

The expectation is the event itself will be smaller than usual and attendees will have to wear masks and maintain social distance within the ticketed parameters. There is also ongoing discussion about requiring Covid-19 tests for anyone who will stand on the main platform near the President-elect, who is 78.

Read more about Biden’s inauguration here.

2 hr 37 min ago

Biden’s inauguration is 35 days away. Here are key dates to watch until then.

From CNN’s Zachary B. Wolf and Will Mullery

President-elect Joe Biden attends a
President-elect Joe Biden attends a “Get Ready to Vote Rally” with Georgia’s U.S. Senator Democratic nominees Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff on December 15, in Atlanta, Georgia. Joshua Lott/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Voters voted. States counted the votes. Challenges were heard and rejected. Now the Electoral College has made President-elect Joe Biden’s victory completely official.

The time for President Trump’s repeated baseless allegations of fraud is over, but that doesn’t mean the drama has ended. Lawmakers follow an archaic timeline set out the Constitution and US law to make Biden president.

Just as then-Vice President Biden oversaw the counting of electoral votes that gave Trump the White House in 2017, now it will be Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s loyal soldier these last four years, who will announce the vote tally that officially makes Biden the winner. Read more about that here.

And Republicans will have to choose how deeply they want to follow Trump into his rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.

Here are key dates to watch from now until Inauguration Day:

Dec. 23

  • Electoral votes must arrive in Washington.
  • The certified electoral votes have nine days to get from their states to Capitol Hill.

Jan. 3

  • New Congress is sworn in.
  • Members of the House and new members of the Senate take the oath of office at noon. This is the official start of the 117th Congress. However, Georgia’s two Senate seats will remain unfilled until after a runoff election scheduled for January 5.

Jan. 6

  • Electoral votes counted in Congress.
  • Members of the House and the Senate will meet in the House chamber. The President of the Senate — that’s Vice President Mike Pence — will preside over the session and the electoral votes will be read and counted in alphabetical order by two appointees each from the House and Senate. They will then give their tallies to Pence, who will announce the results and listen for objections.
  • If there are objections, the House and Senate consider them separately to decide how to count those votes.
  • There are 538 electoral votes — one for each congressman and senator plus three for Washington, DC. If no candidate gets to a majority — that’s 270 — then the 435 members of the House decide the election. Each state gets a vote. So while there are more Democrats in the House, Republicans, as of now, control more state delegations, so it is possible the House could pick Trump even though there is a Democratic majority.
  • The House has until noon on January 20 to pick the President. If they can’t, it would be the vice president or the next person eligible in the line of presidential succession.

Jan. 20

  • Inauguration Day.
  • A new president takes the oath of office at noon. If the President-elect dies between Election Day and Inauguration, the vice president-elect takes the oath of office and becomes President. In a disputed election, if the House has not chosen a President but the Senate has chosen a vice president, the vice president-elect becomes acting president until the House makes a choice. And if there’s no president-elect and no vice president-elect, the House appoints a president until one is chosen.
2 hr 44 min ago

Biden will formally nominate Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary today

From CNN’s Dan Merica

Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced ending his campaign to be the Democratic nominee for president during a speech in South Bend, Indiana, on March 1.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced ending his campaign to be the Democratic nominee for president during a speech in South Bend, Indiana, on March 1. Scott Olson/Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden will nominate Pete Buttigieg to be his transportation secretary, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN, elevating the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to a top post in the federal government.

Biden will make remarks around the nomination at 11:45 a.m. ET in Wilmington, Delaware.

Buttigieg would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber.

The choice — which represents the first time the President-elect has called on one of his former Democratic presidential opponents to join his administration as a Cabinet secretary — vaults a candidate Biden spoke glowingly of after the primary into a top job in his incoming administration and could earn Buttigieg what many Democrats believe is needed experience should he run for president again.

The role of transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure package.

Read more about Buttigieg’s nomination here.

##Biden#