Category: Joe Biden

With historic picks, Biden puts environmental justice front and center

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The selection of the first Native American interior secretary and first Black male EPA chief highlights pollution disparities

President-elect Joe Biden chose Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) Thursday to serve as the first Native American Cabinet secretary and head the Interior Department, a historic pick that marks a turning point for the U.S. government’s relationship with the nation’s Indigenous peoples.

With that selection and others this week, Biden sent a clear message that top officials charged with confronting the nation’s environmental problems will have a shared experience with the Americans who have disproportionately been affected by toxic air and polluted land.

“A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior,” Haaland tweeted Thursday night. “ … I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.” Continue reading.

Biden set to select top North Carolina environmental official to lead EPA

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President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday selected Michael Regan to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), picking a longtime EPA insider to lead the agency.

Regan, 44, is currently the secretary for North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), the state’s EPA equivalent. He would be the first Black man to hold the role of EPA chief.

He previously worked for the EPA under the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations before heading to the Environmental Defense Fund as its southeast regional director. Continue reading.

Trump in denial: Report says he told aides he wouldn’t leave the White House on Inauguration Day

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An extensive CNN report Wednesday revealed that President Donald Trump has thought about staging a sit-in and refusing to leave the White House during President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

In most presidencies, the handoff is part of a peaceful transfer of power where the outgoing president attends the day’s festivities while a SWAT-team-like moving crew helps White House staff pack everything of the first families and brings in the incoming president’s things, so it feels like home.

Trump, who continues to maintain he won the 2020 election, has told aides that he will not leave the White House on January 20. Continue reading.

Senate GOP has accepted Biden’s win but continues to push Trump’s baseless fraud claims

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Senate Republicans may be acknowledging President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over President Trump, but the politically charged fight over Trump’s fallacious claims about voter fraud rages on — and threatens to overshadow legitimate efforts to safeguard future elections.

A Wednesday hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee became a forum for Republicans, led by its departing chairman Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), to re-air Trump’s baseless case against the election results in swing states as the president cheered them on from a distance. Complaining that courts threw out Trump’s election lawsuits on mere “technicalities,” GOP senators and aligned witnesses warned that until their concerns were addressed, public trust in the security of the election process would not be restored.

There is no evidence of significant or widespread voter fraud, as the president and his allies continue to insist. Trump’s own attorney general has made that clear while the courts overwhelmingly have dismissed his campaign’s unprecedented effort to overturn Biden’s victory. Across more than 50 cases, at least 88 judges — including 39 appointed or nominated by Republicans — have turned down Trump’s legal challenges in procedural rulings or decisions on their merits. Continue reading.

Inaugural Ceremony to Go Forward Without Public Attendance

Members will get one ticket for self, one guest

President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration will take place without broad public attendance, the congressional committee in charge of the planning announced Wednesday.

The changes, which are the latest adjustment to Capitol operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, mean there will not be a great dispute about crowd sizes.

Each member of the 117th Congress will receive a ticket for themselves and one guest, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies said. For a typical inauguration, the committee would provide about 200,000 tickets, distributed to congressional offices to give to constituents, often through lottery systems. Continue reading.

Biden Plans Safe Inaugural As Trump Keeps Hosting ‘Superspreaders’

President-elect Joe Biden is planning to implement public safety measures for his Jan. 20 inauguration, in light of the raging coronavirus pandemic — a stark contrast to Donald Trump, who has continued to host potential superspreader events even as cases spike across the country.

Biden’s inaugural committee issued a statement on Tuesday outlining initial plans for the event, urging “Americans to stay home, refrain from travel, and limit gatherings during the inauguration.”

“President-elect Biden’s unwavering commitment to the safety of the American people is our North Star as we plan an inauguration that protects public health while honoring inaugural traditions and engaging Americans across the country,” said Maju Varghese, the committee’s executive director. Continue reading.

This Newly Released Letter Details The Criminal Referral On Donald Trump Over His Ukraine Phone Call

BuzzFeed News obtained the document through a public records lawsuit.

Nearly one year after the House of Representatives impeached President Donald Trump, the federal government has released the criminal referral alleging Trump committed crimes related to his phone call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, a conversation that sparked the historic proceedings.

The document, obtained by BuzzFeed News from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, is a letter dated September 4, 2019, and signed by Michael Atkinson, inspector general for the intelligence community. It was sent to Stacey Moy, the deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division. Moy’s involvement in the Ukraine matter has not been previously disclosed.

The inspector general “is formally referring allegations received from an individual regarding, among other things, alleged violations of law related to a telephone call on July 25, 2019, between President Donald J. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,” Atkinson wrote. “This referral is a follow-up to my secure telephone call on August 27, 2019, with FBI Director Christopher A. Wray’s Chief of Staff, Paul B. Murphy, during which I provided to Mr. Murphy a summary of the Complainant’s allegations.” Continue reading.

Mitch McConnell congratulates Joe Biden, Kamala Harris for election win

WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recognized former Vice President Joe Biden as the president-elect for the first time Tuesday, one day after the Democratic ticket sealed an Electoral College victory. 

“The Electoral College has spoken,” McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor in which he also praised President Donald Trump’s accomplishments. McConnell said he wanted to “congratulate President-elect Joe Biden” and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

“The President-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years,” McConnell said of Biden. 

Biden to name Pete Buttigieg to lead Department of Transportation

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Joe Biden plans to name Mayor Pete Buttigieg as his transportation secretary as early as today, tapping a former rival to help rebuild America’s infrastructure, according to three people familiar with the matter. 

Why it matters: By selecting Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for transportation, Biden will be nominating the first openly gay person for a Cabinet position. 

  • Biden will also ensure that the 38-year-old Buttigieg, who rocketed to the front of the Democratic Party and won the most delegates in Iowa, plays a central role in his administration, as billions of dollars are expected to run through the Transportation Department if Biden passed his Build Back Better agenda. Continue reading.

After electoral college backs Biden, Trump continues falsely insisting he won: ‘This Fake Election can no longer stand’

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After the electoral college cemented his victory on Monday, President-elect Joe Biden urged the nation and the GOP to “turn the page” on weeks of false claims by President Trump and his allies that massive fraud had flipped the election.

Trump, though, soon made it clear that he has no intention of moving on.

In a cascade of tweets sent after midnight, the president shared more dubious claims of electoral fraud and falsely insisted, yet again, that he was the true victor. Continue reading.