Tag: Joe Biden

On its way out the door, Trump administration names Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism

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The Trump administration added Cuba to a list of state sponsors of terrorism Monday, reversing a signature policy move of the Obama administration and potentially hampering President-elect Joe Biden’s ability to quickly broker a rapprochement with Havana.

“With this action, we will once again hold Cuba’s government accountable and send a clear message: the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and subversion of U.S. justice,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

A U.S. economic embargo of Cuba already curbs Americans’ ability to do business with or visit the communist island. But the new terrorism label could hinder commercial deals with third countries Cuba relies on to import essential goods and turn off foreign investors in its all-important tourism industry. Continue reading.

Biden announces veteran diplomat William Burns as nominee for CIA director

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President-elect Joe Biden early Monday announced former Deputy Secretary of State William Burns as his nominee for director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Burns is a former career diplomat with more than three decades of experience in the Foreign Service. He retired in 2014 and currently serves as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He has served in various national security roles across both Democratic and Republican administrations.

Burns was U.S. ambassador to Russia between 2005 and 2008 and was U.S. ambassador to Jordan from 1998 to 2001. Continue reading.

D.C. lockdown for inauguration to start Wednesday

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In an escalation of inauguration security following the Capitol riot, federal authorities plan to lock down a massive swath of downtown Washington on Wednesday, six days earlier than originally planned.

Why it matters: The earlier shutdown is based on warnings about pre-inauguration demonstrations planned for this weekend in capitals throughout the country, as well as tighter security after the Capitol siege. 

  • The Department of Homeland Security announced that the window for the National Special Security Event, which will involve tens of thousands of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement personnel, will begin Jan. 13, rather than the previously scheduled Jan, 19, the day before the inauguration. Continue reading.

Trump will skip Biden inauguration

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President Trump tweeted on Friday that he will not be attending President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Why it matters: It’s a break from tradition that comes as Trump faces massive backlash over the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of his supporters.

The big picture: Trump released a video Thursday night acknowledging that a “new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20,” and stating that he will focus on a “seamless transition of power” — one day after his continued and baseless claims of a “rigged” election led to the violent insurrection at the Capitol. Continue reading.

Biden’s NSC to focus on global health, climate, cyber and human rights, as well as China and Russia

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The incoming Biden administration plans to restructure and expand the operations of the White House National Security Council, establishing new senior positions on global health, democracy and human rights, and cyber and emerging technology, signaling a sweeping shift in priorities, according to a senior adviser to the Biden transition.

Russia, which the Trump administration had subsumed into the NSC directorate for European affairs, will again be given its own NSC senior director, the adviser said, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the plans and positions were announced Friday.

“We expect to be taking a stronger position on China than has been the case in past Democratic administrations,” with significant new staff positions to handle “a much more assertive China abroad and a much more repressive China” at home, the adviser said. Continue reading.

Biden denounces racial inequities in blasting Capitol riot

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President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday denounced what he described as an unequal justice system reflected in the lenient response to the mostly White rioters who assaulted the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, suggesting a stark contrast with the treatment of racial justice demonstrators across the country last summer.

“You can’t tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters yesterday they wouldn’t have been treated very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said in Wilmington, before beginning to hammer his fist against the lectern. “We all know that is true. And it is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. The American people saw it in plain view.”

In some of his most pointed remarks to date on racial inequity, a topic he sometimes struggles to discuss despite his support from many Black voters, Biden pledged that the disparities would be addressed as he announced his Justice Department leadership team, including federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland as attorney general. Continue reading.

Thousands of guardsmen to stay in D.C. through Biden inauguration

The full force will arrive in Washington by Sunday

Thousands of National Guard troops will be deployed to Washington, D.C., for the next 30 days, through the coming inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, following a riot at the Capitol Wednesday that left four dead and dozens injured. 

Some 6,200 Guard troops from units in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey will be deployed to secure the Capitol. The full force will arrive in Washington by Sunday. 

The deployment follows Wednesday’s rioting by a pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol and stormed the building, forcing lawmakers, staff and journalists to take cover and prompting the evacuation of congressional leaders and Vice President Mike Pence.  Continue reading.

Biden taps intelligence veteran for new White House cybersecurity role

Anne Neuberger, the NSA’s director of cybersecurity, will join Biden’s National Security Council.

President-elect Joe Biden plans to pluck a career intelligence official from the National Security Agency to serve in a newly created cybersecurity role on his National Security Council.

Anne Neuberger, who joined the NSA more than a decade ago and has been serving as the agency’s director of cybersecurity since 2019, will be named deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity in the incoming NSC, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Neuberger’s hiring indicates that the Biden White House intends to reelevate cybersecurity as a key national security priority, after President Donald Trump eliminated the role of cybersecurity coordinator in 2018. Continue reading.

Biden to pick Merrick Garland for attorney general

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President-elect Joe Biden will announce Judge Merrick Garland to be attorney general on Thursday, seeking to place in the nation’s top law enforcement job a respected federal appeals judge whose Supreme Court nomination Republicans blocked five years ago, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Why it matters: News of the selection, first reported by Politico, came just hours after the nation learned that Democrats would likely win both Senate runoffs in Georgia and take control of the Senate, making it harder for Republicans to block nominations.

  • That applies not just the attorney general nominee himself, but also whomever Biden nominates to replace Garland as an appellant judge in a crucial circuit. Continue reading.

Biden condemns riots at Capitol, calls on Trump to demand end to siege

President-elect Joe Biden offered a scathing rebuke of the hundreds of pro-Trump rioters who continued to storm the U.S. Capitol Complex and disrupted the official declaration of the 2020 election results earlier on Wednesday.

Biden, who will become the U.S. president on Jan. 20, castigated the rioters and called upon law enforcement to quell violence in Washington.

“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” the president-elect said from Wilmington, Delaware. “Let me be very clear: The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect the true America, do not represent who we are.” Continue reading.