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WASHINGTON – U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will announce the first of his cabinet appointments on Tuesday and is planning a scaled-down inauguration due to the coronavirus pandemic, attendees said Sunday, as he lays the groundwork for his new administration a regret of President Donald. Trump’s refusal to budge.
Since Biden, a Democrat, was declared the winner of the November 3 election two weeks ago, the Republican president has launched a series of lawsuits and mounted a lobbying campaign to prevent state officials from certifying total votes, suffering another emphatic legal setback on Saturday in Pennsylvania.
Ron Klain, chosen by Biden as White House chief of staff, again urged that the Trump administration, specifically a federal agency called the General Services Administration (GSA), formally recognize Biden’s victory to unlock resources for the transition process. .
“I hope the GSA administrator does her job,” Klain added, referring to GSA chief Emily Murphy.
Biden will take office on January 20.
“A record number of Americans rejected the Trump presidency, and since then Donald Trump has been rejecting democracy,” Klain told ABC’s “This Week.”
Biden, who works in his home state of Delaware, has announced a series of selections for positions in the White House. Klain said they “will see the first cabinet elections on Tuesday,” but declined to reveal the options or positions to be filled.
Biden said Thursday that he had chosen a Secretary of the Treasury. Candidates on Biden’s shortlist include former Fed Chairman Janet Yellen, current Fed Governor Lael Brainard, Sarah Bloom Raskin, former Fed Governor, and Raphael Bostic, Chairman of the Reserve Bank. Atlanta Federal.
Biden’s allies also indicated that he could announce his selection for secretary of state as early as this week, with former national security adviser Susan Rice and veteran diplomat Antony Blinken among the candidates.
Klain said there will be “shortened versions of existing traditions” for Biden’s inauguration. Opening ceremonies and related events often draw large crowds to Washington. COVID-19 cases and deaths are increasing in many parts of the country amid a pandemic that has killed an estimated 256,000 Americans.
“We know people want to celebrate. There is something to celebrate here,” Klain said. “We just want to try to find a way to do it as safely as possible.”
Trump’s critics, including Democrats and some Republicans, have accused him of trying to undermine faith in the American electoral system and delegitimize Biden’s victory by promoting false claims of widespread voter fraud.
“Fight hard against the Republicans,” Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday morning as he pressed his unsubstantiated narrative of voter fraud.
Attempts to thwart the certification of vote counts have failed in the courts of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Arizona. US District Judge Matthew Brann, in dismissing Pennsylvania’s lawsuit on Saturday, compared the Trump team’s arguments alleging voter fraud to a “Frankenstein monster” that was “stitched up at random” using meritless legal arguments. and speculative accusations.
‘Banana Rebublic’
Some of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress are now breaking ranks, though many, including those of the highest rank, have not.
“We’re starting to look like a banana republic,” Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan told CNN’s “State of the Union” show, criticizing the refusal of many in his own party to acknowledge Trump’s defeat. “Frankly, I am ashamed that more people in the party are not speaking.”
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey said Saturday that Brann’s ruling “exhausted all plausible legal options” for the president in Pennsylvania, congratulated Biden and urged Trump to concede.
Republican Senator Kevin Cramer told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that the start of the presidential transition process is delayed, although he refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
“I hope they start to accept reality,” Klain said of the Republican leaders.
Critics have said that Trump’s refusal to facilitate an orderly transition has serious implications for national security and the fight against COVID-19.
Jen Psaki, senior adviser to Biden’s transition team, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that legal action to force the GSA to recognize Biden “is not our preference.”
Klain said that Biden is denied the intelligence briefings to which he is entitled, background checks on potential Cabinet nominees and access to agency officials to help develop plans, including preventing launch delays. of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The question is: how can we get a 100% vaccine for Americans in a short time?” Klain said.
US Congressman Cedric Richmond, elected by Biden to a high-ranking position in the White House, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Monday’s expected certification of Pennsylvania election results should prompt the Trump administration to start cooperating with the Biden team.
Biden received 6 million more votes nationwide than Trump and, more importantly, prevailed 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the winner of the election. – Reuters
