US president-elect Joe Biden plans to announce the first names chosen for his Cabinet today, incoming White House chief of staff Ron Klain said — and is expecting a scaled-down inauguration celebration because of the risks of spreading COVID-19.
In a sign that his transition team is pressing ahead swiftly — despite Donald Trump’s failure to concede the election and ongoing attempts to thwart the transition process — Klain on Sunday said that the appointments were moving at a faster pace than the previous two administrations.
“You’re going to see the first Cabinet picks this Tuesday [today], but if you want to know what Cabinet agencies they are, who’s going to be in those Cabinet agencies, you’ll have to wait for the president-elect to say that himself on Tuesday,” he told ABC.
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Antony Blinken, a career diplomat who served as US deputy secretary of state and US deputy national security adviser in then-US president Barack Obama’s administration, is Biden’s most likely pick to be US secretary of state, the New York Times and Reuters reported on Sunday night.
It comes after Biden on Thursday said that he had already chosen his treasury secretary, hinting only that it is somebody who would be “accepted by all elements of the Democratic party.”
Klain said that while parts of the transition are moving at “record setting pace,” there are limits to what the Biden team can do while the current administration continues to attempt to block the transition, the effects of which “escalate every day.”
He said that Biden and US vice president-elect Kamala Harris are not getting access to intelligence briefings, COVID-19 data or background checks for Cabinet nominees and criticized US General Services Administration Administrator Emily Murphy, who has delayed ascertaining Biden’s win.
“The law only requires her to find who is the apparent victor of the election, and I can’t imagine there’s any dispute that Joe Biden is the apparent winner of the presidential election,” he said.
Klain said that Trump “has definitely set back the democratic norm here in the United States. He’s been doing that for four years and that’s ramped up since the election.”
Asked about how the incoming administration plans to balance moving forward with holding the previous one accountable, he said that Biden “is not going to tell the justice department who to investigate or who not to investigate.”
On inauguration day, Jan. 20, the incoming president normally enjoys being received by the outgoing president at the White House, followed by the swearing-in in front of the Capitol, watched by the public on the National Mall and millions on television. There is a special launch, a procession down Pennsylvania Avenue and the inaugural balls.
Everything about Joe Biden’s celebrations are expected to be different in January, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know people want to celebrate … we just want to try to find a way to do it as safely as possible,” Klain said.
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