World News – USA – Presidential Transition Live Updates: Biden Selects Denis McDonough and Susan Rice for Top Jobs

President-elect Joe Biden places great emphasis on personal relationships when selecting his team. Mr. McDonough and wife. Rice both served with the new president in the Obama administration.

President-elect Joseph R. . Biden Jr. . Several members of former President Barack Obama’s administration were tapped on Thursday – including Mr. Obama’s Chief of Staff and National Security Advisor – To serve in the White House and cabinet, and to increase the number of advisers with whom he has longstanding relationships.

Mr. . Biden announced that Denis McDonough was the master. Obama’s chief of staff will be his candidate for secretary for veterans affairs. Susan Rice, who was the National Security Advisor when Mr.. . Biden was vice-president and will become director of his Home Affairs Council, which oversees much of the new president’s agenda.

Officials with the transition also officially announced that Tom Vilsack, who was Mr. Agriculture Minister for all eight years. Obama’s presidency becomes the role in Mr.. . Biden’s administration. Mr. Biden’s friendship with Mr.. . Vilsack, who approved his first presidential offer more than 30 years ago.

The transition also confirmed that Mr.. Biden will make Katherine Tai a U. S.. . Sales agent and representative Marcia Fudge as secretary for housing and urban development.

The selection underscores an unmistakable topic that has emerged in the past few weeks: With all the talk that Mr. . Biden sticks to a complicated formula of race, gender, and experience in building his administration – and he is – perhaps the most important criterion for landing a cabinet post or a top job at the White House seems to be a longstanding relationship with the president. choose you.

Mr. . Biden has been working with the ex-aide he wants to become Secretary of State since serving on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee in the 1990s. He knows his election as Pentagon chief from the time of the retired general in Iraq, where Mr.. . Biden’s son, Beau, a military lawyer, was also on the general’s staff. John Kerry, his climate envoy, is an old Senate pal.

It’s a sharp contrast to President Trump, who put together a dysfunctional collection of cabinet members he barely knew. After their first honeymoon, they spent their time constantly in danger of being fired. With almost half of mr. Biden’s cabinet and many important White House jobs were announced. Its administration looks more like a close-knit family.

But there are risks in Mr.. . Biden’s approach, which is very different from Abraham Lincoln’s famous desire for a « team of rivals » in his cabinet to challenge one another – and the president. And while each president brings in a group of long-time advisors, few have the longevity of Mr.. . Biden has been in Washington for nearly five decades and has deeply appreciated the relationships he has built along the way.

Citing advisors and cabinet officials in old Washington – and Mr.. . Biden’s own worldview gives his still formative presidency a touch of islanding at a time when many Americans expect new ideas to face a world very different from that the president-elect and friends got to know back then.

Mr. . McDonough is a convenient choice for Mr.. . Biden at the scandal-plagued V. . ONE. Mr. McDonough has a national security background and served as Deputy National Security Advisor in the White House prior to becoming Mr. Obama’s chief of staff. In both functions he worked closely with Vice President Biden.

One of these duties was Mr.. McDonough works on behalf of military families, a role that helped help Mr.. . Biden that he was the right person to lead the sprawling agency that administers health care and other benefits for veterans. Politico reported earlier on its selection.

As a member of the National Security Guard, Mr.. McDonough traveled frequently to meet with members of the military, such as someone familiar with the discussions and asking for anonymity to discuss private conversations. Mr. McDonough also worked with Robert A.. . McDonald, the former secretary of veterans affairs, on improving veterans’ care after devastating reports of long waiting times to see doctors.

woman. Rice is known for coordinating Mr.. . Obama’s foreign policy, first as ambassador to the United Nations and later as national security advisor, a time when she clashed with the Republican-led Congress over the attacks on the U.. S.. . Consulate in Benghazi.

These clashes may have doomed her hopes for confirmation as Secretary of State, a position for which she was supported by Dr. . Biden. Your position on the White House Home Affairs Council does not require Senate confirmation. (Mrs. Rice was a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times for three years. Her last column for The Times was published in December. 1, 2020. )

In a statement announcing her appointment, Mr.. Biden’s transition team said she “knows the government inside out and will implement the president-elect’s vision of a newly empowered domestic policy council and advance efforts to better rebuild. ”

Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun control organization supported by former Mayor Michael R.. New York’s Bloomberg, who on Thursday called on the Biden government to swiftly issue executive orders to regulate the prosecution of homemade firearms, is demanding background checks for virtually all arms sales and mandate dealers who notify the F.. B.. . I. when they complete arms sales before doing a background check.

Mr. . Bloomberg’s group has been the largest actor in gun control politics for years, outperforming the gun rights powerhouse, the National Rifle Association, in both the 2018 and 2020 elections.

John Feinblatt, the president of Everytown, worked closely with President-elect Joseph R.. Biden Jr. . as mr. . As vice president of the Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School after the 2012 gunfire, Biden served to combat gun violence.

But the Obama administration waited months before a Senate vote to run universal background checks failed. Much of the rest of President Barack Obama’s gun control agenda fell by the wayside.

« There is an entirely different environment where people know that gun safety is a public health crisis, » said Mr. . Feinblatt said this week during an interview.

Everytown’s set of proposed executive measures relies heavily on strengthening federal regulation of arms transactions. But like the Obama administration’s proposals, all executive action, Mr.. Biden takes are likely to face severe resistance and legal challenges from gun lawyers.

So-called ghost rifles, bought in parts and later assembled by their owners, are not prosecuted by federal law enforcement agencies. Everytown suggests Mr.. . Biden’s Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Bureau classifies ghost weapons as firearms and requires them to carry serial numbers and be tracked like other weapons – essentially eliminating their appeal as untraceable weapons.

The group also urges the agency to tighten its definition of an arms dealer who must comply with state background checks. President Trump and previous administrations have left it up to sellers to determine whether they are full-time dealers, selling countless thousands of guns at gun shows and online without federal controls. According to Everytown’s proposal, the agency would have set the limit of five guns sold per year in order to have to do background checks prior to sale.

Everytown is also asking the Department of Justice to require arms dealers to notify the government before a weapon is shipped to a buyer if a background check is pending. Currently, weapons can be transferred if a federal background check is not completed within three working days. The group also calls on the von Biden government to establish a gun violence task force to conduct gun control measures across all federal departments.

Other liberal groups, including the human rights campaign, have published their own proposals for executive action that they would like. Biden should be in office once.

President Trump and his proxies continue to exert political pressure across multiple channels, questioning election results and creating obstacles to the future administration, even if all 50 states and Washington, D. . C.. . have confirmed the results of the presidential elections.

With almost no legal avenue for the Trump campaign to contest the election results, the president went back to Twitter on Thursday to no doubt slander the 2020 election. There is no evidence of widespread fraud, a conclusion shared by Mr.. Trump’s own Justice Department.

Another tweet echoed Wednesday’s comments directing the Supreme Court to « overturn » election results even after the court rejected a motion from Pennsylvania Republicans in a one-sentence ruling. On Thursday mr. Trump said the court had « a chance to save our country from the biggest election abuse in United States history. ”

Despite the Supreme Court’s reluctance to help, Mr.. . Trump has enjoyed the support of a host of influential Republicans who have continued to face his challenges.

Republican attorneys general in 17 states joined a pleading filed with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, supporting a lawsuit to delay certification of presidential elections in four battlefield states lost by the president.

The day before, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who had tried several cases in the Supreme Court prior to becoming a Senator, had agreed to stand on the President’s case in any remaining case to invalidate the election results, if that Court agrees to hear them.

While the presidential deputies are pushing what legal experts have described as an increasingly desperate strategy in court, officials loyal to the president have tried to block the transfer of power in other contexts.

Transitional meetings have been held or restricted at several agencies by Trump officials who are reported to have interposed between officials and President-elect Joseph R.. Biden Jr. . The transition teams in a way that several federal officials said they hampered the transition process.

President-elect Joseph R. . Biden Jr. . Increased pressure from Democratic lawmakers, progressives, and tribal leaders to elect New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland as Secretary of the Interior.

On Thursday, a group of more than 100 female leaders, including local women, activists and celebrities, released a letter in which they were Mr.. Biden chooses wife. Haaland, who would be the first Native American cabinet secretary.

« We urge you to appoint Congressman Deb Haaland to head the Interior Department, » the letter reads. “The Haaland representative will be a strong steward of our precious natural resources and will return to the practice of science-based decisions. In addition, she will work to comply with the treaties between the federal government and the tribal nations. ”

The president-elect, the letter reads, has « an historic opportunity to appoint a local woman of integrity, vision, and real public service. ”

The letter, organized by actress Marisa Tomei, progressive advocacy group We Stand United, and Allie Young, a Native American activist with Protect the Sacred group, is the latest attempt to reach Mr.. . Biden’s election as Minister of the Interior, who oversees the public land and controls the federal agencies most responsible for the government’s relationship with the country’s indigenous peoples.

Already more than 50 House Democrats have sworn mr. In a separate letter, include the Congresswoman, a Democrat. Tribal leaders and environmental activists have also expressed their support for women. Haaland.

In a broader sense, woman. Haaland is a favorite for the position among progressive groups, including the Sunrise Movement, which was started by young climate activists and campaigns for the Green New Deal.

Julia Walsh, campaign director for We Stand United, said her group helped organize the letter with local women to show that « Deb is very supportive and it’s not just an Indian country. « . ”

In addition to Native American leaders and activists, celebrities including Mandy Moore, Amy Schumer, Rosario Dawson, and Cher also signed the letter. The letter will be delivered to the Biden transition team, woman. Said Walsh.

woman. Haaland, a citizen of Laguna Pueblo, made history in 2018 when she and Sharice Davids of Kansas became the first two Native American women to be elected to Congress.

But woman. The relative lack of political experience in Haaland has given some Biden advisors a break. Other names published for the post are Michael L.. . Connor, who was assistant secretary of the interior under the Obama administration and is also an Indian; and Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, who is retiring from Congress.

President-elect Joseph R. . Biden Jr. . The choice of General Surgeon Dr. . Vivek H.. . Murthy played a pivotal role in the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s decision in March to cancel this year’s national basketball tournaments – one of the earliest and most culturally significant signs that the virus would change normal life in America.

The work of Dr. . Murthy, a member of the association’s powerful Board of Governors who served as Surgeon General during part of the Obama administration, provides an account of how he dealt with the initial threat of the pandemic in the United States and how he addressed the response of the federal government under Mr.. . Biden.

Dr. Dr. , a newcomer to the island world of college athletics. Murthy turned out to be a cautious, deliberate expert who was careful not to make drastic decisions prematurely, interviewing more than a dozen people attending the N.. C.. . ONE. ONE. Propose meeting. But they did say as the tournaments approached and more data and scientific research surfaced, said Dr. . Murthy was a staunch and effective advocate of action that, for most people, had only been unthinkable days or weeks before.

In fact, it was Dr. . Murthy, who urged board members to risk a deadly crisis if they allowed the tournaments to go as planned.

« He was instrumental in convincing the board that the time to act is now, » said Kenneth I. . Chenault, a former American Express chairman, who sits on the N.. C.. . ONE. ONE. blackboard.

But board members like Mr. . Chenault said it was clear that Dr. . Murthy understood the cultural and financial implications of a decision like the cancellation of basketball tournaments, which generate hundreds of millions of dollars.

Republicans are shifting their focus from legal challenges to overturning election results in battlefield states to efforts that would limit or undermine the future use of the email ballots that infuriated President Trump.

Postal votes made up almost half of the votes cast in the 2020 elections. And registered Democrats, according to the US election project, cast nearly eight million more postal ballot papers than Republicans in states where the party affiliation of the voters is recorded. The mass mailing voting experiment was viewed by electoral professionals as a notable success that was less prone to error than expected and had almost no documented fraud.

And yet the specter of imaginary electoral fraud is the stated reason for efforts to curb postal voting.

This week in Georgia, Republican state senators promised to make getting and dropping absentee ballots much more difficult. On Tuesday, they promised to stop postal voting without an apology, require photo ID to get a ballot, ban dropboxing and scrap a court agreement to quickly alert voters of ballot signature issues so they can be resolved.

Michigan Republicans have signaled they want to review a two-thirds of the voter-approved 2018 election initiative that approved an apologetic absentee ballot, as well as same-day registration and direct-ticket voting.

In Pennsylvania, Republicans are preparing for the legislature that will open on Jan.. January takes place. 11 and seek co-sponsorship of bills to tighten identification requirements for postal ballot papers, tighten standards for signature matching and, in one case, repeal the law that allows anyone to vote absent without apology.

And the Republicans in Texas, who already have some of the strictest restrictions in the country on postal voting, are pending bills ahead of next month’s legislature that would affect officials’ ability to distribute postal votes and even make them a crime make a voter help fill out a ballot.

The Chinese Embassy Twitter account in the United States on Wednesday shared a post from President Trump falsely claiming that the Democrats “cheated” in the election and that the results should be overturned – just for the retweet Hours later to reverse and claim that his account had been hacked.

The post-election disputes and litigation have been a fixation for Chinese state news agencies, who have heralded polarization as evidence of America’s decline. But the first retweet on Wednesday seemed to be the first time an official Chinese social media account called Mr.. . Trump’s inaccurate claims about election fraud.

The embassy’s subsequent attempts to distance itself from the post demonstrated the precarious position China attempted to take during the transition: Mr.. . Trump, who continued to try to punish China in his final weeks in office, is hoping for a reset with President-elect Joseph R.. . Biden Jr. .

Chinese officials have not recognized Mr.. Biden’s victory for a few days after the election, and China’s leader Xi Jinping did not send his congratulations until more than two weeks later.

Mr. . Trump recently introduced a number of new measures against China, including sanctions and a travel ban on Chinese officials this week. On Thursday, China hit back by announcing that U. . S.. . Holders of a diplomatic passport can no longer enter Hong Kong and Macau without a visa.

Mr. . Trump’s tweet was the last in a long line of false allegations by the president about the election. After alleging the Democrats acted inappropriately, Mr said. Trump wrote: « How can a country be run like this? »

Chinese state-sponsored newspapers have happily asked similar questions. « So-called US-style democracy has become a joke, » read a front page headline in an article read after the election.

But hours after the embassy shared the post, it disappeared from the account. Shortly thereafter, the embassy tweeted that it had been hacked, adding, « For clarification, the embassy didn’t retweet it in December. 9. ”

It wasn’t the first time Chinese official Twitter accounts resigned after they seemed to be enjoying the American election chaos. Last month, People’s Daily, the official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, mocked a tweet from Mr.. . Trump falsely claimed he won the election, adding « HaHa » and a laughing emoji. The tweet was later deleted.

Joe Biden, Susan Rice, Denis McDonough, Barack Obama, United States Home Affairs Council, White House