Biden’s first full day in office

The US needs to do more to help speed the administration of Covid-19 vaccines, Dr. Vivek Murthy, President Joe Biden’s pick for US surgeon general, said Thursday.

Murthy said the Biden administration is working to address the vaccine rollout issues that jurisdictions have been grappling with. He said the plan includes setting up more vaccination sites, leaning on partnerships with pharmacies and finding people who can help administer vaccines. 

“We hear often from both local and state leaders that they’re worried about the workforce – that we may not have enough people to actually deliver the vaccine to meet the demand,” he said.

Biden has said his administration will deliver 100 million Covid-19 vaccine doses in his first 100 days in office.  

On the eve of President Joe Biden’s deportation pause taking effect, Immigration and Customs Enforcement are still working through details of the moratorium, according to three DHS officials.

The decision to halt deportations for 100 days was made “to ensure we have a fair and effective immigration enforcement system focused on protecting national security, border security, and public safety,” according to a DHS news release sent out late Wednesday.

The moratorium, which Biden had pledged to impose during his campaign, will start Friday. 

On Thursday, immigration lawyers whose clients are slated to be deported anxiously awaited for more information. Eileen Blessinger, an immigration attorney based in Virginia, kicked off Thursday morning trying to sort out next steps for clients slated to be removed. 

James Reyes, another immigration attorney based in Virginia, was trying to get in touch with ICE to confirm whether his client, 34-year-old man from Guatemala, would be deported Thursday when a flight was scheduled.

“Either we’re going to get a call from him in Guatemala… or we’ll hear back that he’s in Oakdale (Louisiana),” Reyes said, referring to the city where his client has been transferred.

On Biden’s first full day in office, officials at the Department of Homeland rushed to begin to set in place the series of actions taken by Biden that reverse his predecessor’s policies.

“It’s a hectic pace to reassess,” one DHS official said.

Vice President Kamala Harris and husband Doug Emhoff will temporarily move into the Blair House until renovations at the official vice president’s residence are complete, according a Harris aide. 

“The VP and Second Gentlemen will temporarily move into Blair House. VP Harris and Mr. Emhoff will not immediately move into the Naval Observatory to allow for repairs to the home that are more easily conducted with the residence unoccupied,” a White House official said.

The aide cites replacement liners to the chimney and other household maintenance. Yesterday, CNN reported the delay in moving into the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory, as officials said repairs were “more easily conducted with the home unoccupied.”

The pair have a condo in Washington, DC, where they lived during the campaign and transition, when not in Delaware. A move in date to the Naval Observatory is still to be determined.  

Harris’s belongings were being moved into the Blair House by aides via valets carts Thursday night and her motorcade was spotted outside.

Blair House is directly across from the White House, which is known as the president’s guest house. Leaders of other nations who are guests of the President are often invited to stay there. 

The Bidens also spent the night there the evening before Wednesday’s inauguration, as is tradition for an incoming president.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has extended its moratorium on single-family foreclosure and eviction after a request from the Biden administration on Wednesday.

The moratorium applies to HUD-insured or guaranteed single-family forward and reverse mortgages, except for those secured by legally vacant and abandoned properties.

More context: As one of his first acts as president, Joe Biden called on several federal departments and agencies to extend their bans on evictions and foreclosures for those affected by the coronavirus until at least the end of March.

One of several executive actions Biden took on Wednesday is a signal from the incoming administration that immediate action is needed in order to stabilize housing for the estimated 25 million renters and homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes.

The action seeks to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s federal moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent by two more months. The CDC’s order first went into effect in September and the latest stimulus bill extended the protection until Jan. 31.

The National Academy of Medicine released commentaries advising the Biden administration to prioritize addressing racial and gender inequities to help ensure better health care for all. 

“The unacceptable health inequities that persist in the US today, compounded by the enormous and uneven impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasize the need and the opportunity for the next administration to address the fundamental challenges that the nation faces in health and health care,” several health experts, including NAM President Dr. Victor J. Dzau, explained in the journal Health Affairs on Thursday. 

This comes as the NAM found that Black, Indigenous, Pacific Islander, and Latino Americans have been proportionately more likely than White Americans to die from Covid-19, and advices the new presidential administration to consider confronting economic inequities and rejecting policies that perpetuate structural racism within health care. 

“Given the high costs and substandard health outcomes of the US health system, ensuring effective and high-value health care for all Americans must be a top priority for the next administration,” the experts explain.  

The academy suggests that to provide more equitable access to affordable health care, the United States will need to develop new systems to improve access to coverage, reform health care payment methods, and address workforce shortages in health care facilities. 

Additionally, the academy believes that the country needs to optimize health coverage for women and children, as they continue to experience high rates of morbidity and mortality in the US and are even further intensified by racial inequities. 

“The US should set the world’s standard for promoting the health and well-being of women and children,” the experts write. 

Avril Haines appears before the Senate Intelligence committee for a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill January 19, in Washington, DC.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Avril Haines, the new director of national intelligence, “will be dedicated to keeping the American people safe,” she tweeted this afternoon following the swearing-in ceremony.

In a statement, Haines called her appointment “the honor of a lifetime.”

“From my time in government, I know that those who serve in the Intelligence Community are the very best this country has to offer. The men and women of the IC are patriots of extraordinary talent and expertise, who work tirelessly to protect our nation, advance its security and prosperity, and defend its freedoms and values,” she said.

More details: Haines is the first woman to lead the US intelligence community; her role was approved in the Senate by 84 to 10.

Haines takes over an intelligence community that was repeatedly disparaged and sidelined by former President Trump throughout his four years in office. The director of national intelligence is the president’s top intelligence official and leads an agency that coordinates the entire intelligence community, a total of 17 agencies and organizations.

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As Democrats are reviewing Sen. Mitch McConnell’s offer on how to structure the impeachment trial including a delay to February, multiple Democratic aides say it’s not a bad idea to wait. 

Sen. Chris Coons, who is a close ally to President Biden, told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer he wasn’t shutting the door to the idea of delaying the trial if it meant Biden got nominees confirmed quickly. Coons isn’t the only Democrat who thinks that delay could be a way to allow Biden a bit of breathing room in his first days in office.

Multiple aides say that Democrats have been waiting for years to have the House, Senate and White House back again, and an impeachment trial has always been a daunting task. It’s something Democrats believe they can’t ignore. They have wanted to hold the President accountable, but allowing more time could provide them the space they need to move Biden’s nominees along.

On the Republican side, the benefits for delaying the trial are obvious. It gives Trump’s newly formed team time to prepare as well as offers McConnell more time to take the temperature of his conference who has up to this point been divided over whether Trump can even be convicted now that he is no longer in office.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger speaks during a news conference on December 21, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger today said security officials and Americans must remain vigilant to protect against future attacks from domestic terrorists, warning that the Capitol riot was not a one-time event. 

“I think it’s important for everyone, your viewers, those who are doing the day-to-day work of preventing attacks to recognize that what occurred on Jan. 6, was not an isolated event,” Spanberger, a former CIA officer, told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin today. 

Spanberger said she believes too many made the error of quickly dismissing the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, “as a one-time event,” when it it should have been linked to events that followed, including the 2017 Tree of Life synagogue shooting. 

“They don’t all look the same,” she said. “They are all rooted in the same domestic far-right White nationalist threat.”

“Across out country we need to recognize that this is a real threat,” Spanberger added of the Capitol riot. “This was not a one-off. This was not a one-time thing unless we aggressively work to make it so.”

There are still no calls planned between President Biden and former President Trump, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

Asked again about the note Trump left Biden, Psaki said Biden telling reporters yesterday he wouldn’t reveal the contents of the “generous” letter until he spoke with him was not Biden seeking a call with his predecessor.

On a call with GOP senators, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell told his conference he’s in no rush with regard to the impeachment trial, according to multiple GOP senators.

His point: The House moved quickly on impeachment but the Senate needs time to prepare for a full trial.

He is proposing to delay the start of the trial until sometime in February. He wants to give Trump’s team two weeks to prepare their case, according to a source.

McConnell’s office says a formal statement on his remarks is coming shortly.

It remains to be seen if Democrats, who now hold a slim majority in the Senate, will go along with McConnell’s proposed timeline.

House Democrats could still send the article of impeachment over at any time, and the Senate would be forced to start the trial the next day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held the timing plans of delivering the article close to her vest.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki was pressed Thursday on whether the Biden administration would provide guidance to states on some of its key priorities, like reopening schools and businesses, but she declined to share many specific details on how this administration plans to engage with state and local officials. 

Psaki suggested there will be “more engagement with states,” including “more clear guidance from the federal level,” going on to criticize the Trump administration’s communication with state and local officials.  

She continued, “But part of our priority and our focus here is on providing more engagement with states, more clear guidance from the federal level in terms of how we’re planning to operate, what data we’re seeing, how vaccines are being distributed, what we see as the challenges, and that communication has been lacking as we understand it from our conversations in the past few months so that is what we will focus on improving in the months ahead.”

She was unable to provide any specifics on how communication would be improved. 

Part of the Covid team’s role, she said, “will be engaging with governors, Democrats and Republicans, mayors local elected officials to gain a better understanding of what’s happening on the ground.” 

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, she said, will “also do engagement… because they also want to have that conversation with states and local officials on what they’re experiencing, what they see the challenges as, and how they can be addressed.”

She declined to say whether there would be any sort of official weekly call or report for states, as the Trump coronavirus task force previously did.

Senate Democrats are refusing to buckle to demands from Senate Republicans that they agree not to weaken filibusters against legislation. It’s something many progressives are anxious to do in order to push through the Biden administration’s agenda as Democrats take control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time in years.

“I think we ought to end the filibuster, unquestionably. It is an obstacle to conquering the pandemic and reviving the economy, getting stuff done,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut.  

The tense standoff over the issue is stalling a power-sharing agreement between the parties in the 50-50 Senate and could impact the confirmation of Biden’s Cabinet nominees. That’s because the Senate operates under the rules of the last Congress – when the GOP controlled the Senate majority and held the committee chairmanships – until a power-sharing deal is agreed.

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, now in the minority, is insisting language assuring the protection of minority rights -– through the requirement that 60 votes are needed to overcome filibusters of bills – be added to a must-pass organizing resolution.

While the Senate is evenly divided, Democrats have the edge because Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris can vote to break ties in their favor. But Democrats can’t take full control of the Senate until reaching an agreement with Republicans on an organizing resolution and therefore are operating on the organizing resolution from the last Congress, when the GOP was in the majority. Because of that, for instance, confirmation hearings for President Joe Biden’s cabinet picks this week are being chaired by Republicans.

Republicans are trying to leverage the urgency to pass an organizing resolution to press Democrats to agree not to gut the filibuster for legislation. With Democrats staunchly refusing to do so, it’s not clear how long it will take the sides to reach an agreement and it could drag out.

Dr. Anthony Fauci seemed to contradict reports that the Trump administration had no plan for widespread Covid-19 vaccine rollout, telling reporters in the briefing room, “we’re certainly not starting from scratch, because there is activity going on in the distribution.”

He touted plans for community vaccine centers, pharmacy buy-in, and targeted use of the Defense Production Act, adding, “it’s taking what’s going on, but amplifying it in a big way.”

Earlier today, CNN’s MJ Lee reported that in the immediate hours following Biden being sworn into office Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new administration’s Covid-related work told CNN one of the biggest shocks the Biden team had to digest during the transition period was what they saw as a complete lack of a vaccine distribution strategy under former President Donald Trump, even weeks after multiple vaccines were approved for use in the United States. “There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch,” one source told MJ.

Fauci seemed to dispute that characterization, telling reporters,

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Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks during a briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

Dr. Anthony Fauci told reporters that he feels liberated to speak freely about the coronavirus pandemic and the science behind it under the Biden administration.

When asked if he felt differently now that he works under President Biden versus President Trump, Fauci said:

“I don’t want to be going back, you know, over history, but it’s very clear that there were things that were said, be it regarding things like hydroxychloroquine and other things like that, that really was uncomfortable, because they were not based on scientific fact. I can tell you, I take no pleasure at all in being in a situation of contradicting the President. So, it was really something that you didn’t feel that you could actually say something and there wouldn’t be any repercussions about it.”

Fauci noted that under President Biden, he feels that he can speak to topics based on his expertise.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci speaks with reporters at the White House on Thursday, January 21, in Washington, DC.

Dr. Anthony Fauci made it clear today during a White House news briefing that if he doesn’t have an answer to a question pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic, he’s not going to guess, which he called “one of the new things in this administration.”

When asked whether there are any actionable items left from the Trump administration in regards to the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, Fauci said some were indeed usable.

“We’re coming in with fresh ideas but also some ideas that were not bad ideas with the previous administration. You can’t say it was absolutely not usable at all. So we are continuing, but you’re going to see a real ramping up of it,” he added.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is speaking now to reporters in a White House press briefing and is providing an update on the status of the pandemic in the country and distribution of vaccines.

“Obviously we are still in a very serious situation. To have over 400,000 deaths is something that is unfortunately historic in a very bad sense,” Fauci said.

Fauci noted that while the number of new infections is still at a “very high rate,” when you look more recently at the seven-day average of cases, “right now it looks like it might actually be plateauing in the sense of turning around.”

The briefing comes after President Biden rolled out his national strategy to battle the coronavirus pandemic that includes several executive actions related to vaccinations and testing in hopes of moving the federal response in a different direction.

Biden signed executive orders ramping up supplies for vaccination, testing and personal protective equipment and another boosting development of therapeutics to treat Covid-19.

He said the plan was developed with input from Fauci and other advisers and experts.

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A large group of pro-Trump protesters stand on the East steps of the Capitol Building after storming its grounds on January 6 in Washington, DC.

Christopher Rodriguez, director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency in DC, told reporters Thursday that the threat of right-wing extremism will continue to be a threat to the District of Columbia and the surrounding region.  

“Let’s be clear threat of right-wing extremism is here, right, and we saw it on Jan. 6th, and it will continue to be a persistent and real threat to the District of Columbia and to our region as well,” Rodriguez said in response to a question from CNN. 

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said she has asked Rodriguez to prepare an “advanced posture” to deal with these threats. 

“I’ve directed Director Rodriguez and his team to begin working with our partners on our advanced posture to deal with the threat of White extremism and any other threat to our city,” Bowser said. 

“We are also evaluating now, the rest of the year, the next three weeks, the next six weeks, what we think would be intelligent from our federal partners that would suggest that we need more presence,” the mayor added.

Bowser confirmed earlier CNN reporting that the out-of-state National Guard troops will begin to leave the District today, and are winding down numbers through the end of the month.

The mayor also said she believes that any future Joint Session of Congress should be considered a National Special Security Event, or some form of enhanced security, “I think it’s very clear to me that any joint session of Congress should be a special security event or some package like that.”

A government commission on cybersecurity, chaired by Sen. Angus King and Rep. Mike Gallagher, sent President Biden a 23-page report reflecting congressional priorities for US cybersecurity policy on Thursday. 

The report by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission urged the administration to appoint a national cyber director, develop a national cybersecurity strategy and bolster partnerships with the private sector. It is the fifth such report to be published by the commission. 

“This white paper is intended to provide a guide for the incoming Biden-Harris administration, identifying possible early policy achievements and suggesting priorities for action over the coming months and years,” the report said.

The commission’s recommendations come as the Biden administration grapples with the SolarWinds breach and its fallout, which has affected a range of federal agencies. Investigators are still trying to determine the extent of the damage done by suspected Russian hackers, in what’s been described as the worst data breach to hit the government in years. 

To reduce the risk of so-called supply chain attacks like the kind deployed by the SolarWinds attackers, the report said the Biden administration must stimulate domestic alternatives for technology currently built by foreign companies. 

The White House Covid-19 Response Team officially has a presence on Twitter.

@WHCOVIDResponse will provide “the latest updates on the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to contain COVID-19,” the White House tweeted.

The account’s first and only tweet so far links to the administration’s pandemic strategy.

Earlier today, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said don’t expect President Biden to be breaking news at 1 a.m. ET on Twitter and that Biden’s social media presence will be one of hope.

She added that they viewed their social media strategy during the campaign as the “battle for the soul of the internet.”

At the end of today’s remarks on the administration’s new Covid-19 response, President Biden balked at the suggestion that 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days was a low bar.

“When I announced it, you all said it was not possible. C’mon give me a break man, it’s a good start, 100 million,” he told Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller.

Last Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the Today Show the 100 million number was “quite feasible.”

“We’ve discussed it with the Biden team, and we think it’s quite feasible that we can do that. Right now, even now, we’ve gone from half a million a day to 750,000 a day. I believe strongly that it’s doable — and if we do it, stay on target to get the overwhelming majority of the country vaccinated,” Fauci said.

“If we get about 70% to 85% of the people in the country vaccinated, we likely will get to that umbrella of herd immunity,” he added. “We can start approaching some form of normality, but it’s really going to be dependent on the uptake of vaccines.”

President Joe Biden prepares to sign a series of executive orders at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office just hours after his inauguration on January 20 in Washington, DC.

President Joe Biden has returned to the longstanding tradition of the Cross presidential pen.

He is using a Cross Century II, per manufacturer A.T. Cross, which is promoting the pen on its website as “President Biden’s pen of choice for his Inaugural Signing Ceremony.”

Former President Donald Trump initially used the Century II pen with a felt tip, but quickly eschewed the presidential standard pen in favor of his preferred Sharpie.

Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton used the Cross Townsend pen, although Obama later switched to the Century II. Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush were also known to use Cross pens, however, the official Cross-White House program began under Clinton.

The Century II comes in multiple colors and the price ranges from $100-$189.

Cross sells the pen to the White House through a distributor in the Washington area, a spokesperson told CNN in 2017. The distributor gets a discount, paying less than $50 per pen, although it was not immediately clear how much they charge the White House.

President Joe Biden signs an executive order promoting safe travel as part of the Covid-19 response in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

President Biden just signed several executive orders aimed at addressing the coronavirus pandemic, including setting up a pandemic testing board, keeping workers safe and expanding access to care and treatment for the virus.

“This executive order I’m signing is strengthening the supply chain,” Biden said before signing the order. “This next one is keeping workers safe, how to do that. This next one is ensuring equitable response.”

The President signed each executive order as he announced what they pertained to.

“This next one is, I referenced about traveling to America, this is promoting safe travel. This next one is setting up the pandemic testing board. This next one is studying safe schools initiative. This next one is dictating the Covid data that has to be maintained and recorded,” Biden said.

“Next one is making sure that the National Guard and FEMA support is available,” the President said. “This next one relates to expanding access to care and treatment for Covid-19. And the last one is our global response directive.”

CNN reported Thursday that Biden and his advisers are inheriting a nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration, with sources telling CNN that they’ll have to essentially “build everything from scratch.”

Here are some of the executive orders Biden signed today related to Covid-19:

President Joe Biden speaks about the Covid-19 response in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

President Biden called his plan to tackle the coronavirus pandemic “a wartime undertaking.”

“Our national plan launches a full-scale wartime effort to address the supply shortages by ramping up production and protective equipment, syringes, needles, you name it,” Biden said.

Biden is signing an executive action to use the Defense Production Act to direct all federal agencies and private industries to produce everything needed to protect Americans from the virus, he said.

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President Joe Biden speaks about the Covid-19 response in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

President Joe Biden sought to reassure Americans today that restoring “public trust” is a top priority in his administration’s plan to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden added: “We’re going to make sure they work free from political interference and that they make decisions strictly based on science and health care alone, science and health alone, not what the political consequences are.”

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As part of his broader coronavirus pandemic strategy, President Biden said he will direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to establish a liaison to each state who will report back to the federal government. 

The creation of the liaison role “means every state will have a point person at the federal level to maximize cooperation between the federal government and the states, where it falls short, to be made known about it immediately,” Biden said at his coronavirus strategy rollout Thursday.

Biden said the liaison system will be based off a model the federal government has used to respond to hurricanes, including Hurricane Sandy, with which he was “deeply involved.”

President Joe Biden speaks about the Covid-19 response in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

President Biden unveiled his national strategy on Covid-19 to tackle the coronavirus pandemic during remarks today at the White House.

Biden said his strategy was created in response to address the past administration’s failure to act with “the urgency and focus and coordination we needed.” 

The President plans to sign at least 10 executive orders, memorandums and directives focused on addressing the pandemic.

Biden’s press secretary and Dr. Anthony Fauci will answer questions at a White House press briefing at 4 p.m. ET.

What we know about the executive orders: Biden will sign an order ramping up supplies for vaccination, testing and personal protective equipment and another boosting development of therapeutics to treat Covid-19.

Following through on his campaign proposals, Biden will sign two executive orders creating a National Pandemic Testing Board to improve US coronavirus testing capacity and a Covid-19 Health Equity Task Force to ensure an “equitable” pandemic response and recovery.

Another executive order will enhance the nation’s collection, production, sharing and analysis of data about the virus.

He will issue an executive order calling on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to release clear guidance on Covid-19, decide whether to establish emergency temporary standards, and directs OSHA to enforce worker health and safety requirements.

Building on the order he signed Wednesday making masks mandatory on federal property, Biden will also take action to require facial coverings in airports and on certain modes of transportation, including many trains, planes, maritime vessels and intercity buses. Thursday’s executive order will also require international travelers to provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test prior to traveling to the US.

Here are some of the other Covid-19-related items on Biden’s agenda:

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will also receive a briefing from members of their Covid-19 team on the state of the pandemic and vaccinations.

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President Joe Biden speaks about the Covid-19 response in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 21.

President Biden began his remarks on his Covid-19 response by thanking security and law enforcement officials for their “professionalism, duty and honor” at his inauguration yesterday.

He called the law enforcement presence an “unprecedented situation,” and that “hopefully it will never have to be renewed again.”

Security at the inauguration was stepped up to never before seen levels after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.

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Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks on January 7.

On a conference call with Senate Republicans, Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested South Carolina lawyer Butch Bowers will represent former President Trump at his impeachment trial, according to a person on a call.

CNN has reached out to Bowers for comment to see if that is the case. 

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are expected to discuss trial logistics sometime today, multiple sources also tell CNN.

Earlier in the day Graham was asked by reporters if any contrition by Trump would be helpful in an upcoming trial. Graham replied:

Graham did say that a quick trial seems most likely, suggesting that “I don’t think the country needs a whole lot.

“The public record is your television screen, I don’t know. So, I don’t see why this would take a long time,” he said.

The senator pushed back on the idea of a third political party – an idea raised by Trump in his farewell remarks at Joint Base Andrews Wednesday morning, saying “we’re gonna come back in some form.” 

“Well, I think a third-party movement would destroy conservatism,” Graham said. “I think if there was an effort to break away and form a new party, that would be a dream scenario for liberal Democrats, because if we do that, that’s the end of effectively having conservative voices. I think Trump is going to be a major voice in the Republican Party, the best thing for him and us is to field a good team in 2022 and mount a comeback.”

With support from the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the Biden administration will begin to address “chaotic” Covid-19 vaccine distribution in the US, said Dr. Atul Gawande, who served on Biden’s transition coronavirus advisory board.

He noted that the Trump administration left Biden’s team little information on the national strategy around Covid-19 vaccination or the status of production and distribution.

Helping run a vaccination site at Gillette Stadium, Gawande said he’s seen first-hand how chaotic vaccine distribution is in the US.

“We don’t have visibility into how much vaccine actually is available,” said Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital

Despite the lack of guidance, he said that local jurisdictions have managed to slowly improve the administration of vaccines.

“Counties, cities and states have been heroic in standing up efforts,” he noted.

Retired General Lloyd Austin testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his conformation hearing to be the next Secretary of Defense in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, on January 19.

The Armed Services Committee voted to advance a waiver and to favorably report retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III.

Both actions were approved by a voice vote. 

The next step will be to hold a vote on the Senate floor. The timing of the vote has not been announced.

If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black man to lead the Department of Defense.

U.S. workers build the new 13-mile border wall construction project in the desert between Sunlad Park, New Mexico, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on January 15.

The Department of Defense will pause construction of the US-Mexico border wall as it continues to review President Biden’s executive order calling for construction to grind to a halt, according to Raini W. Brunson, a spokesperson for the US Army Corps of Engineers. 

The US Army Corps of Engineers oversees border wall contracts. 

“We are following the direction provided in the E.O. as to how to implement the pause,” Brunson added.

Activity may still continue at sites over the next few days to ensure they’re safe, an administration told CNN.  

Biden took an immediate shot at one of his predecessor’s key legacies Wednesday evening when signing a proclamation called for border wall construction to grind to a halt. “It shall be the policy of my Administration that no more American taxpayer dollars be diverted to construct a border wall,” Biden’s proclamation reads. 

Over the last four years, billions of dollars had been put aside for additional barriers on the US-Mexico border, prompting a slew of lawsuits and pushback from environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers.

Days from the end of his term, former President Trump paid the wall a visit, citing it as an accomplishment of his administration.  

Of the roughly 455 miles constructed under Trump, the majority replaced old, dilapidated barriers with a new enhanced wall system, a marked difference from the fencing previously constructed in some regions.

Forty-nine miles have gone up where no barriers previously existed, according to the latest figures from Customs and Border Protection.

“(Wednesday’s) proclamation will likely result in what’s called a suspension of work on the border wall,” said Travis Sharp, research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. “During the suspension of work, the contractor must keep track of any additional expenses caused by the delay, so that the government can potentially reimburse those expenses later.” 

Samuel Camargo

An alleged Capitol rioter from Florida knew he was wanted from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and returned to Washington, DC, to attend the inauguration on Wednesday, the Justice Department said in a new court filing.

Prosecutors in Washington say that when law enforcement tried to arrest Samuel Camargo at his home in Florida on Tuesday, he had left.

Investigators then found him in DC on Wednesday and arrested him there — the same day as the presidential inauguration.

Camargo told investigators that he knew he was wanted by the Justice Department and “decided that he should attempt to attend the Inauguration rather than turn himself into authorities,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing on Thursday. 

The Justice Department is seeking to keep Camargo detained pending trial, arguing he is a flight risk. He is set to appear in federal court for the first time on Thursday afternoon.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer held a photo spray with the new Democratic senators that he called “the majority makers.”

Schumer touched upon several topics, including whether President Biden’s Defense Secretary nominee Lloyd Austin’s waiver will be voted on in the Senate today. Schumer said “it is passing the House, and I would like to get it passed in the Senate ASAP.”

The waiver is needed since Austin retired in 2016 but the law requires a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job.

Asked about the timing of the impeachment trial in the Senate Schumer said, “Speaker Pelosi will determine when she will send the articles over.”

 “Leader McConnell and I are trying to come up with a bipartisan agreement on how to conduct the trial. But make no mistake about it. There will be a trial, there will be a vote up or down on whether to convict the president. I believe he should be convicted. And we’ll have to wait to she see when she sends the articles over to figure out how to do all that,” Schumer said.

On the Cabinet nominations still needed to happen, Schumer said, “we have the greatest health care crises in 100 years, the greatest economic crises and the national security of America is always at stake. To leave these seats vacant does a disservice to America.”

“We’re very pleased that last night we got bipartisan cooperation. We got bipartisan cooperation, so that April Haines is now the DNI. We’re hoping to get the same bipartisan cooperation for Treasury, State, Homeland Security and Defense, very soon. We need these position to go quickly. We need our Republican colleagues to cooperate,” he continued.  

On whether that means the Senate will be in session tomorrow, Schumer said, “well we have to get these nominees approved, and we will do what it takes to do that.”

Schumer made clear that he is strongly opposed to changing the filibuster as part of his power-sharing agreement negotiations with McConnell.

“We believe, our caucus believes, that the fairest, easiest and most bipartisan way to come to an organizing resolution is to enact the 2001 agreement that Senators Lott and Daschle came to a bipartisan way back then. Our caucus is strongly opposed to any extraneous provisions. And so we’re going to keep working to try and get a bipartisan agreement,” Schumer said.

The Biden administration will seek a full five year extension of a key arms control treaty between the US and Russia, according to a US official.

The New START Treaty expires in just over two weeks. CNN previously reported that Biden advisers indicated that they would not seek a shorter extension on the landmark deal.

CNN has reached out to the State Department for comment.

Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken said during his confirmation hearing Tuesday that President Biden intended to seek an extension of the New START Treaty, but suggested he had not made a decision on the length of that extension.

The secretary of state-designate noted that Biden “couldn’t really engage” on the issue during the transition because he was “very cognizant of the fact we have one president at a time.”

Blinken told lawmakers that he believes “this is something that we will be coming to you on pretty much immediately as soon as the president is sworn-in, and I know that he does intend to seek an extension, and he’ll have to make a decision as President about what duration he would seek.”

The Trump administration went back and forth with the Russians on the terms of a shorter extension to the longstanding treaty after efforts to create a new trilateral treaty with Russia and China failed.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy broke with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on former President Donald Trump’s role in the insurrection saying he didn’t play a role.

McCarthy’s remarks today are a reversal from his previous comments on Trump’s role in the Capitol violence. During McCarthy’s impeachment speech on Jan. 13, he blamed Trump for the attack.

“The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters,” he said.

Today, McCarthy said any members of Congress who had any role in what happened in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 should be held accountable.

“Any member who participated in breaking the law or rioting that way, yes, I think anybody should be held accountable in that process. I do not know of any member that had has done that. And this is why I called for last week after this happened, a bipartisan commission. We should get to the bottom of that.”

McCarthy’s comments are in stark contrast to comments made earlier today by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. CNN asked Pelosi if pursuing impeachment against Trump at the start of the new Congress would undermine efforts to create unity with colleagues from across the aisle.

“No, I’m not worried about that,” she replied.

“The fact is, the President of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection. I don’t think it’s very unifying to say, oh, let’s just forget it and move on. That’s not how you unify,” Pelosi continued.

Christopher Kelly, who was arrested Wednesday for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, allegedly went to the protest with his brother, a former New York Police Department (NYPD) officer, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday.

Kelly was arrested on charges for unlawful entry to the Capitol, disorderly conduct, aiding and abetting and obstructing a congressional proceeding

Kelly planned to attend the rally with proud boys’ members and former New York Police Department officers, according to court documents.  

Kelly, a Rockland County, New York, resident, did allegedly attend the protest with his brother who’s a retired NYPD officer, the document says.  

It is not immediately clear whether Kelly’s brother has been or will be arrested on similar charges. 

Federal agents gathered evidence against Kelly with search warrant access to Kelly’s Facebook account, including several conversation threads about his plans to attend, live updates during the protest and days after.   

In a Facebook group chat during the protests, Kelly allegedly wrote, “F*** these snakes. Out of OUR HOUSE!”

It is not clear when Kelly will appear in federal court.  

President Biden will name a powerhouse lawyer, Elizabeth Prelogar, to serve as acting solicitor general, in an acknowledgment that the office charged with representing the government before the Supreme Court will face an enormous workload both reversing Trump administration legal positions and developing a defense strategy as Biden’s executive actions come under inevitable legal challenge.

Under normal circumstances, when an election produces an administration of a different political stripe, the solicitor general plays a key role managing a wave of potential reversals on certain issues. As Biden replaces Donald Trump, however, it could look more like a tsunami. 

In the short term, for instance, the solicitor general’s office is likely to notify the court of a new position in a blockbuster dispute concerning the future of the Affordable Care Act, defending the law rather than seeking to overturn it — but also in other cases tied to controversial Trump policies, some of which the Biden administration may attempt to rescind before the Supreme Court can rule on them.

Under the Trump administration, the solicitor general’s office was particularly aggressive defending a broad array of Trump’s policies in hot button areas such as immigration, religion and abortion, often asking the justices to jump in before an issue had made its way through the lower courts. 

Biden has yet to put forward his nominee for the permanent job. The solicitor general is the person who traditionally represents the US government in cases at the Supreme Court and regularly jousts with the justices in their majestic red velvet lined chamber — or, as with current practice, over the telephone.

In the interim, Prelogar will be in the forefront. She is a veteran of the Office of Solicitor General having served as an assistant in the office and also worked recently as an adviser to former special counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into Russian interference into the 2016 election. 

Prelogar worked as a former clerk to Judge Merrick Garland, Biden’s nominee for Attorney General, as well as the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Justice Elena Kagan. Biden has yet to nominate a full-time solicitor general, and once that person is confirmed, she will be the principal deputy. 

“She’s a spectacular lawyer with impeccable integrity and is ideal for this role in the Department,” said Andrew Goldstein, a former top Mueller team prosecutor.

But while moving quickly, the Biden solicitor general’s office also must be careful so as not to irritate justices who expect the government to be an honest broker acting in the long-term interests of the United States, not on the particular whim of one president or another. The court treats government lawyers with special solicitude, but in turn, the justices expect a level of consistency even when an election triggers a change of party in the executive branch. 

Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday the first order of business of the Senate is to confirm President Biden’s key Cabinet picks, saying he deserves a national security team in place as soon as possible as well as key officials in charge of responding to health and economic crises.

“Here in the Senate, the first order of business is to fulfill our constitutional duty to advise and consent on the President’s appointments to his Cabinet. Last night, the Senate confirmed the President’s selection for the director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines. We appreciate the bipartisan cooperation to get her confirmed — her confirmation done yesterday, and we should continue in that spirit today,” Schumer said.

“With the cooperation of our Republican colleagues, we can and should confirm the secretaries of defense, state, homeland security and treasury without much delay,” he added.

The New York Democrat also noted that the Biden administration is wasting no time getting started pointing to the President “marshaling the resources of the federal government into action” to help with the pandemic, the US rejoining the World Health Organization, a mask mandate for federal property and Biden naming a new Covid response coordinator to manage vaccine distribution. 

“What a concept, a president who actually takes the defining crisis of our time seriously, what to a change and how great is the need,” he said.

Schumer was beaming as he opened the Senate today, announcing how “yesterday we began a new chapter in the history of our nation.”

“A new politeness from the chair,” Schumer also said jokingly after Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, who is presiding over the chamber this morning, called him, “majority leader.” 

Republican Leader Mitch McConnell began his floor remarks on Thursday congratulating Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for taking over the majority.

“I want to congratulate my colleague from New York. His pride and emotion were palpable yesterday. As this self-described kid from Brooklyn and son of an exterminator and a housewife, became the first Jewish member of Congress to lead either chamber — an historic milestone,” he said.

It’s just one small part of the sweeping immigration overhaul President Biden is pushing.

But the symbolic significance is huge.

Biden’s proposed bill, if passed, would remove the word “alien” from US immigration laws, replacing it with the term “noncitizen.” 

It’s a deliberate step intended to recognize America as “a nation of immigrants,” according to a summary of the bill released by the new administration. 

The term “illegal alien,” long decried as a dehumanizing slur by immigrant rights advocates, became even more of a lightning rod during the Trump era – with some top federal officials encouraging its use and several states and local governments taking up measures to ban it.

“How we describe people really sticks. It affects how we treat them,” he said. “How we talk about immigrants shapes the policies. It frames what are the issues really at stake here. It acknowledges that we’re talking about human beings and families.” 

Read more details on the law and proposed changes here.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said it’s clear there were members of Congress who “gave aid and comfort” to the rioters who stormed the Capitol by embracing the election lie told by former President Donald Trump. She indicated, however, that as of now it remains to be seen whether members aided and abetted the Capitol attack in a way that would necessitate prosecution.

“I’m very pleased that we will have an after-action review that will review many aspects of what happened if people did aid and abet there will be more than just comments from their colleagues here, there will be prosecution if they aided and abetted an insurrection in which people died,” she said during her weekly news conference.

Young immigrant, climate and racial justice activists say they feel hopeful about the Biden Administration following a slew of executive orders signed by President Biden on his first day in office, reversing many policies set forth by the Trump administration.

Among his first executive orders, Biden moved to halt construction of Trump’s border wall, reverse his predecessor’s travel ban targeting largely Muslim countries, and rejoin the Paris climate accord. Biden also signed a presidential memorandum to fortify DACA, the Obama-era program which shielded undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation.

Biden’s decision to prioritize actions affecting immigrants has a direct impact on her daily life, she said.

For his part, Ahmad Ibsais, a 19-year-old Muslim American, says he is optimistic about Biden’s approach to immigration and inclusion of Muslim people. 

“It gives me a lot of hope for the direction of this country,” Ibsais said of Biden’s executive order to reverse the travel ban on predominately Muslim countries. 

“For a lot of Muslim Americans that I’ve met, and my family, we came to this country in search of a better future and life. Hopefully now we have a President that is reversing something that was stripped away an American ideal,” Ibsais told CNN.

As for Biden’s executive moves to rejoin the Paris climate accord and revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, Lily Gardner, a 17-year-old climate activist, called the decisions “really big wins for the climate movement.”

Gardner – an organizer with Sunrise Movement, the youth-led climate justice organization – said that while these executive orders signal that Biden is taking climate seriously, “this is the start and it’s nowhere near the end.”

“This is a huge signal that these two things are Day One priorities, and I think that signals the importance of climate justice in the coming 100 days and remainder of the administration, I hope,” Gardner said.

Across the board, these young activists say they will continue to push the President and his administration toward more aggressive progressive measures.

When it comes to racial justice, Biden is “setting the tone of what’s next for our country,” Chelsea Miller, a 24-year-old racial justice advocate, told CNN.

Miller said that by prioritizing equity in his executive orders, Biden is taking “a step in the right direction.”

“But I think that when we’re talking about the 17 executive orders, let’s also push for the next 17 to come because there’s so much more to do,” Miller said, adding that she would like to see executive orders and legislation that will impact activists on the frontlines of the movement for racial justice.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney speaks in September.

Federal law enforcement should investigate Parler, the alternative social media platform favored by many on the far right, over the role it may have played in facilitating the Capitol riots, according to the chair of the House Oversight Committee. 

In a letter to the FBI on Thursday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney said Parler may not have simply facilitated the violence, but that it could also be “a repository of key evidence posted by users on its site, and … a potential conduit for foreign governments who may be financing civil unrest in the United States.”

Maloney signaled that the Oversight Committee is also looking into Parler. 

“In addition, as the Committee conducts its own investigation of these matters to inform its oversight and legislative efforts, I request a meeting with appropriate FBI officials on the status and scope of its review, consistent with protecting the integrity of law enforcement efforts on this front,” Maloney wrote.

The letter was first reported by The Washington Post. 

Vice President Kamala Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, recognized the second ladies who preceded him throughout US history. In a tweet, he promised to build on their legacy in his role as the first male spouse of a vice president.

“I’ll always remember generations of women have served in this role before me—often without much accolade or acknowledgment,” he tweeted. “It’s their legacy of progress I will build on as Second Gentleman.”

Harris made history yesterday as the first woman, the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent to assume the office of vice president. Her husband also made history becoming the nation’s first second gentleman.

Emhoff will become a member of Georgetown Law Faculty this month, in a position that will be “separate and apart” from his role as second gentleman, the Biden team has said.

Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg says the Biden administration will look at “all relevant authorities” at its disposal toward a federal mask mandate on all forms of transportation.

President Biden promised to implement a mask mandate on forms of transportation such as airlines and public transit, but transportation-related language has thus far yet to make it in an executive order from the new administration.

Some background: Buttigieg’s comment marks a significant shift after the Department of Transportation under former President Trump did not mandate masks on planes, trains or buses — leaving airlines and public transit systems to implement mask mandates on their own. 

Only recently did rhetoric from the Federal Aviation Administration shift to a zero-tolerance toward unruly or mask-resistant passengers, but it still did not make mask wearing a federal mandate.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed to suggest that she did not believe the impeachment trial needed witnesses, but ultimately punted the responsibility of that decision to the impeachment managers.

“So, I, believe it or not, don’t take part in the deliberations of over, delivering and making the preparing for the trial. That’s up to the managers, but I do see a big difference between something that we all witnessed versus what information you might need to substantiate,” Pelosi said Thursday. She made clear her perspective that the evidence that Trump committed an impeachable offense was made in plain view, something the “whole world bore witness” to.

“It’s up to them to decide how we go forward,” the House Speaker added.

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CNN’s Manu Raju asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi if pursuing impeachment against former President Trump at the start of the new Congress would undermine efforts to create unity with colleagues from across the aisle.

“No, I’m not worried about that,” Pelosi said during her weekly news conference.

“The fact is, the President of the United States committed an act of incitement of insurrection. I don’t think it’s very unifying to say, oh, let’s just forget it and move on. That’s not how you unify,” she continued.

When Pelosi said, “just because he is now gone,” she paused to say “thank God” before continuing to add, “you don’t say to a president do whatever you want in the last months of your administration, you’re going to get a get out of jail card free.”

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Transportation Secretary nominee Pete Buttigieg says he will work to implement reforms directed by Congress to prevent another air disaster like the Boeing 737 Max crashes and is willing to make personnel changes to get the job done.

“Engineers and the FAA should be in the driver’s seat,” the former presidential candidate and South Bend, Indiana, mayor told the Senate Commerce Committee on Thursday during his Cabinet confirmation hearing.

A congressional committee investigation concluded that Boeing had too much influence in how the 737 MAX was certified and hid significant design features from FAA officials. More than 346 people were killed in two crashes abroad.

Earlier this month, Boeing reached a $2.5 billion deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department to settle criminal charges that the company defrauded the FAA when it first won approval for the flawed 737 Max jet.

When asked by Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, Buttigieg said he is open to personnel changes if necessary at the FAA. Some of the agency’s top-ranking positions are currently vacant.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the timing of a Senate impeachment trial during her opening remarks of her weekly news conference, but did not specify exactly when that will unfold and when the House will send articles.

“Everyone’s asking – I’m not going to be telling you when it is going. We had to wait for the Senate to be in session. They have now informed us they are ready to receive, the question is other questions about how a trial will proceed, but we are ready,” she said.

Pelosi was later asked, can you put finer point on impeachment timing and said, “No,” adding, “you’ll be the first to know.”

In her first news conference since President Biden was sworn in, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi addressed the changes to the House schedule next week, with the House in committee meetings and not returning for votes until the week of Feb. 1.

She emphasized that the House will be “completely ready to go” to pass Biden’s Covid-19 package when the members do return. 

Biden is set to present some of his coronavirus initiatives during remarks at 2 p.m. ET today.

Pelosi also addressed the House vote today on a waiver for Biden’s Defense Secretary nominee Lloyd Austin, expressing her confidence that after that vote, the Senate will confirm him. 

Remember: Austin has to win two votes: one from both chambers of Congress to grant the waiver and another from the Senate to confirm him for the position.

The waiver is needed since Austin retired in 2016 but the law requires a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job.

If confirmed he would be the first African American to run the department.

The woman accused of stealing a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol will be released, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

Riley Williams, 22, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is charged with violent entry or disorderly conduct, entering the restricted space of the Capitol, obstructing of impeding an official proceeding as well as aiding and abetting the stealing of government property. She was arrested Monday. 

US Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson approved a bail package agreed upon by prosecutors and Williams’ attorney, telling Williams that while she is presumed innocent of the charges, her alleged actions during the insurrection were “antithetical” to Constitutional values. 

“We know now that the mob failed and the Constitution prevailed. The Constitution prevailed … because Congress, stepping over the wreckage of its Capitol, met and confirmed with the Vice President of the United States the vote of the electoral college, setting the stage for the latest peaceful transition of power yesterday,” Carlson said. 

Williams will remain in home confinement with electronic monitoring and travel restrictions. She has been ordered not to communicate with possible co-defendants. 

Prosecutors initially recommended Williams be kept in custody, in part, because they believed she had attempted to flee, after leaving her home and changing her phone number. But Williams’ attorney Lori Ulrich said in court Thursday that her client changed her number at the recommendation of local police after being threatened by an abusive ex-boyfriend. Ulrich said the ex-boyfriend is listed in court filings as the witness who made allegations including that Williams was at the Capitol.

“It is regrettable that Ms. Williams took the President’s bait and went inside the Capitol. However, based on our initial investigation and preparation for today, it is our position that the allegations surrounding the theft of Speaker Pelosi’s computer came in part from a former abusive boyfriend,” Ulrich said. “He has threatened Ms. Williams in a number of ways…His accusations are overstated.”

In an amended court filing, prosecutors allege that Williams appears to have filmed a gloved hand lifting a laptop off a table in the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“There is text across the video clip that reads: ‘they got the laptop.’ Given how loud Williams’ voice is, it seems likely that she was the one holding the cell phone camera,” law enforcement wrote in an affidavit. 

President Biden tweeted out his intent to sign executive actions on the coronavirus pandemic today, emphasizing that “we don’t have a second to waste” to get the virus under control.

Biden has made Covid-19 the focus of his first full day in office. He plans to sign six executive orders and one presidential policy directive on the virus.

The executive orders include things like a review of supply chain, additional data collection and transparency, and support for additional Covid-19 treatment research and supply. A presidential policy directive will call on agencies to “strengthen efforts to combat COVID-19 globally and strengthen global pandemic preparedness.” 

Biden’s Cabinet nominees could face a bumpy road ahead since no deal has been reached on power sharing in the Senate. That means Republicans are still chairing key committees and have the power to set the agenda until such an agreement is reached.

This is evident this morning in the hearing for President Biden’s Transportation nominee, Pete Buttigieg, who is being questioned by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, is chairing the hearing, and Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, is serving as ranking member.

What is power-sharing? A power-sharing agreement will spell out the number of seats that each caucus will have on Senate committees. Absent an agreement, the Senate will operate under the rules of the last Congress when the GOP controlled the Senate majority and held the committee chairmanships

A power sharing agreement is under discussion between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, but the two have hit a snag over McConnell’s demands that Schumer promise to save the filibuster and not move forward with efforts to gut the potent stall tactic on legislation.

The US Secret Service arrested 13 people during the time the agency was the lead for inauguration security, which began on Jan. 13.

Three people were arrested on Inauguration Day – two for unregistered ammunition and one for possession of a BB gun. 

In the wake of the Capitol attack, the Department of Homeland Security extended dates of the National Special Security Event, which unlocked federal resources and incident management plans at an earlier date. 

Pete Buttigieg is testifying now before a Senate panel on considering his nomination for transportation secretary, putting the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor on the path to becoming the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary.

The nominee vowed to “work every day for the department to meets its mission of ensuring safety.”

Some background: Buttigieg often spoke about infrastructure on the campaign trail from the perspective of a small-town mayor, arguing that local governments like the one he once ran needed people in Washington who understood their needs and issues.

Buttigieg is expected to play a central role in President Biden’s push for a bipartisan infrastructure package.

During the campaign, Biden proposed spending $1.3 trillion over 10 years to build schools, roads, bridges, railroads and pipes, expand broadband access and usher in a “100% clean energy economy.”

Some top Democrats believed that Biden wanted to get Buttigieg, 39, a top post as a way to elevate a rising star in the Democratic Party. Buttigieg’s future aspirations are no secret, but the former mayor’s political future in his conservative home state has long been a roadblock.

House Democrats say they have the votes to grant the waiver for Lloyd Austin to serve as defense secretary. That’s according to what House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn indicated on a caucus call, sources tell CNN. The vote is today.

Remember: Austin needs to be granted a waiver from a law requiring a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job. He retired in 2016.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also told his colleagues to plan for floor votes on President Biden’s plan to bolster Covid-19 vaccinations during the week of Feb. 1.

President Biden, first lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff are joining a virtual Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) and Washington National Cathedral prayer service.

The program will include prayers, readings, blessings and hymns from interfaith leaders to “mark the beginning of a new national journey that restores the soul of America, brings the country together and creates a path to a brighter future,” according to a press release.

Later on in the day, Biden will deliver remarks at 2 p.m. ET on his administration’s coronavirus response and he will sign executive orders. Harris is expected to attend the event. The White House press secretary and Dr. Anthony Fauci will answer questions at 4 p.m. ET.

Avril Haines will be sworn in as the director of national intelligence at the White House this morning, according to a spokesperson from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Senate confirmed President Biden’s first Cabinet nominee Wednesday evening, voting to approve his pick for DNI, Avril Haines, on his first day in office.

Haines’ confirmation as the first woman to lead the US intelligence community, was approved in the Senate by 84 to 10.

The Biden team is feeling confident this morning about the prospect of retired Gen. Lloyd Austin receiving a waiver to serve as Secretary of Defense when the House votes later today, according to a source familiar. 

The source confirmed the Biden team believes it is seeing progress as more members announce their support for the waiver. 

What this is about: Austin needs to be granted a waiver from a law requiring a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job.

Austin, who retired in 2016, has been reaching out to top House and Senate lawmakers who will have to agree to pass legislation to grant the waiver, something approved only twice before in history, including for James Mattis to run Donald Trump’s Pentagon in 2017.

The press got its first glimpse of President Joe Biden’s Oval Office on Wednesday, showing how in a matter of hours the office has visibly transformed in both dramatic and subtle ways to reflect the taste and politics of the officeholder.

Biden made some changes to the office’s artwork. A portrait of Andrew Jackson, to the left of the seat at the Resolute Desk, has been replaced with a portrait of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Duplessis. Like other works routinely lent to the White House, the portrait appears to be on loan from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Gallery of Art.

The Washington Post, which got a first look at the Oval’s new interior decorations, reported that the Franklin portrait and a nearby moon rock set are meant to represent Biden’s interest in science.

A bronze bust of Latino civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, created by artist Paul Suarez, was also placed on the credenza behind his desk.

Chavez sought to bring awareness to the harsh conditions of farmworkers in the US and fight for better wages. The prominent inclusion of his bust in the West Wing came the same day that Biden proposed immigration legislation that would allow undocumented farmworkers to qualify to apply for green cards immediately.

Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the labor leader’s granddaughter, is Biden’s director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Though not entirely visible to television cameras, the Post reported that “busts of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy flank a fireplace in the office” — in an apparent nod to their efforts in the civil rights movement.

There are also busts of Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and an Allan Houser sculpture depicting a horse and Chiricahua Apache rider. The sculpture, the Post said, once belonged to the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Democrat representing Hawaii.

The Post report says other parts of the office now feature paintings of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton and a bust of Daniel Webster, a former senator who defended the Union. A bust of Winston Churchill has been removed from display.

Unlike the Trump administration, many of Biden’s staffers will continue working from home in the coming days and weeks.

Officials say they received new government computers and phones that were activated at noon on Wednesday that will allow them to conduct official business from living rooms, kitchens and home offices.

While many of the West Wing’s individual offices have been assigned, the building will not be at capacity as it was for much of last year, despite the pandemic.

The few places that did implement some work from home requirements under Trump, like the National Security Council, will continue having officials work remotely.

This doesn’t include Biden’s top staffers like chief of staff Ron Klain and press secretary Jen Psaki, who were in the building yesterday when Biden arrived for the first time.

But other mid-level and lower-level staffers will work from home, a departure from the Trump aides who mostly continued coming to work without wearing masks.

As Psaki said during her press briefing on Wednesday, all staffers entering the complex will be required to undergo a Covid-19 test, wear an N95 mask and adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Plexiglass barriers were also mounted on desks in the West Wing, something Trump officials had resisted.

House Democrats are in discussions to send over the article of impeachment to the Senate as early as Friday, two sources say, but a complicating factor remains the fact that former President Donald Trump still does not have a lawyer to represent him in a Senate trial.

There are also discussions about how to ensure a trial can move quickly and not overwhelm the Biden agenda, but ultimately no timing has been finalized. Trump’s lack of lawyer underscores the chaos that the former president is still injecting on Capitol Hill even after he left Washington Wednesday. 

Democrats want to make sure that the trial looks fair given the fact that Democrats are hoping to convince some Republican senators to vote to convict Trump. The fear is that moving ahead without Trump having a lawyer could make it harder to convince Republicans the process was fair.  

The House is expected to vote Thursday on a waiver to permit retired Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense in the Biden administration.

Austin, who would be the first African American to run the department, needs to be granted a waiver from a law requiring a defense secretary to wait seven years after active-duty service before taking the job.

President Joe Biden’s pick for defense secretary will, in effect, have to win two votes: one from both chambers of Congress to grant the waiver and another from the Senate to confirm him for the position.

CNN has previously reported that Austin, who retired in 2016, has been reaching out to top House and Senate lawmakers who will have to agree to pass legislation to grant the waiver, something approved only twice before in history, including for James Mattis to run Donald Trump’s Pentagon in 2017.

Congressional Democratic leaders are trying to move swiftly to confirm Cabinet members and other key officials following Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday.

A schedule update from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s office earlier this week announced that the House is expected to consider the legal exception needed to appoint Austin as secretary of defense on Thursday.

To win the waiver and confirmation, Austin must overcome objections from some lawmakers to allowing a recently retired general to assume the top civilian post at the Pentagon.

He addressed those concerns directly at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday afternoon, saying, “If confirmed, I will carry out the mission of the Department of Defense, always with the goal to deter war and ensure our nation’s security, and I will uphold the principle of civilian control of the military, as intended.”

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will focus on tackling the coronavirus pandemic during their first full day of the Biden presidency today.

Biden is expected to deliver remarks at 2 p.m. ET on his administration’s Covid-19 response. The President is also expected to sign executive orders and other presidential actions related to the pandemic.

Biden and Harris will also receive a briefing from members of their Covid-19 team on the state of the pandemic and vaccinations.

Here’s a look at their schedule:

Dr. Anthony Fauci will appear at today’s White House press briefing, currently scheduled for 4 p.m. ET, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said during an appearance on MSNBC.

Psaki said during Wednesday’s briefing that the Biden administration would resume regular briefings with public health officials on coronavirus.

Biden asked Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious, to stay on in his role and to be a chief medical adviser in his incoming administration.

Fauci hit the ground running today, speaking to the World Health Organization at 4 a.m.

The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. ET today to consider the nomination of Peter Buttigieg to be transportation secretary.

The former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate would be the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ Cabinet secretary should his nomination make it through the chamber.

In remarks prepared for delivery ahead of his confirmation hearing, Buttigieg previews his vision for the department, saying that as a Cabinet secretary, he anticipates his department will “have a lot of work to do to improve the infrastructure in this country, a mission that will not only keep more people safe, but also grow our economy as we look to the future.”

President Biden said last month when nominating Buttigieg, that he sees the Department of Transportation as the “site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better” and that he trusts “Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision.”

Where Cabinet confirmations stand: The Senate confirmed Biden’s first Cabinet nominee Wednesday evening, voting to approve his pick for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, on his first day in office

Haines’ confirmation as the first woman to lead the US intelligence community, which was approved in the Senate by 84 to 10, continues a recent Senate precedent of confirming Cabinet nominees the day a new president is sworn in, though Biden is getting fewer nominees approved quickly than his predecessors.

CNN’s Manu Raju, Jeremy Herb and Zachary Cohen contributed reporting to this post.

President Joe Biden’s first full day in office today will focus on Covid-19, rolling out his national strategy for the pandemic amid the Trump administration response he inherited, with record high cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. 

There is a lot of work to do, officials said, and it’s actually “so much worse” than they thought.  

White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients noted there was “big confusion” surrounding the FDA-recommended schedule for a second dose of vaccine, but said that pointed to a larger issue. 

“That speaks to the larger problem I was talking about before, which is what we’re inheriting from the Trump administration — what we’re inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined, and you know, we are committed to being transparent and honest with American people,” 

Zients railed against a “lack of cooperation” from the Trump administration, which he called an “impediment” as the administration faces the challenges of vaccinations with visibility into supply and allocations. He said he felt “confident” the administration can meet its 100 million shots in 100 days target, but called for additional funding from Congress to help with badly-needed infrastructure, particularly testing. 

“We do not have nearly enough testing capacity in this country. On the diagnostic side, we still are too slow, don’t have the right capacity and then on the asymptomatic screening side, we’re woefully under capacity so we need the money in order to really ramp up testing,” Zients said. 

The Biden strategy, he said, will be “a fundamentally different approach from the Trump administration,” and will be “driven by science, data, and public health,” not politics. 

President Biden will invite Congressional leaders to the White House “soon” to discuss his legislative agenda, an administration official tells me, adding that the meeting could come as early as Friday.

The exact timing of the meeting has not yet been set, the official says, but we could learn more later today.

Biden spent time with the four top Congressional leaders at Mass and later at the Capitol on Wednesday, but this would be the first formal meeting in the Oval Office to set the tone for his agenda amid the new dynamic in Congress.

On Friday, Biden is scheduled to focus on the economy and make remarks at the White House. He is likely to take questions after that event, which could be the first press conference of his administration.

White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said President Biden today “will sign executive orders that will direct agencies to exercise the Defense Production Act” to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Bedingfield said the Biden team did not get “a lot of detail” from the Trump administration about vaccines. Sources tell CNN that Biden and advisers are inheriting an essentially nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan from Trump. 

Biden will “be laser-focused on moving forward” to increase the supply of vaccine doses, as well as pushing Congress to pass funding for his Covid-19 rescue plan, she said.

Bedingfield said the administration is still committed to get 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days. 

Watch:

As crews in Washington, DC, started dismantling some security fencing within hours of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, it remained clear that security in the nation’s capital will likely never return to its pre-insurrection form.

It’s unclear what security changes, if any, made across Washington in preparation for the inauguration will remain permanent, or to what degree President Joe Biden’s upcoming address to a joint session of Congress and potential impeachment proceedings will be considered in security planning.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, has said the US Capitol complex “will never be the same.”

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Tuesday that there would be a “new posture” in the district, but also noted she didn’t want “fences and armed troops in our city any longer than they need to be.”

In a tweet Wednesday, the mayor’s chief of staff said crews will begin breaking down fencing on major streets in “earnest” starting that evening and the process would take 36 hours. The time frame for removing the fencing was set to coincide with the lifting of the city’s pause on an indoor dining ban. The ban is scheduled to end at 5 p.m. ET Friday.

The unprecedented number of soldiers, federal law enforcement officers, police officers and protective infrastructure in the nation’s capital for the inauguration was triggered by a rally-turned-riot on Jan. 6. After the rally, thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol with hundreds or more overrunning the Capitol Police officers protecting it, all in an effort to overturn the presidential election results.

More than 20,000 soldiers were deployed to Washington for Biden’s inauguration, and more than 6,000 National Guard soldiers will remain beyond that.

A federal official familiar with the National Guard deployments said the current plan is for many guard units depart Thursday. Some more regional ones may stay through the weekend.

“And that number can go up or down depending on the lead federal agency requirements or federal law enforcement requests,” said Army Gen. Daniel Hokanson, chief of the National Guard Bureau. “But really after the inauguration, we’ll look at the conditions and the environment and the mission set that we’re asked to perform. And if that is below the number of personnel that we have, then we’ll start identifying those folks to get them home as quickly as possible.”

At the Capitol, Durbin predicted there could be metal detectors at entrances to each legislative chamber and some “enhanced” perimeter of the building.

“We’re reaching a point where it is — if we have to fear that some members will bring firearms on the floor or visitors will, then we have to take extra precautions,” he said.

Durbin said he hasn’t spoken to new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about placing metal detectors in front of the Senate chamber and it would be his decision.

As for now, portions of the District remain largely on lockdown. Four of the bridges inbound to the city are closed until Thursday morning. The National Mall, the city’s central park, is closed, covered in flags to represent the American citizens who cannot be there in person due to the security measures and Covid-19 restrictions.

CNN’s Ryan Nobles, Ali Zaslav, Phil Mattingly, Josh Campbell and Aileen Graef contributed to this report.

In addition to executive actions and memoranda President Biden signed today, the Biden administration has an ambitious slate of additional actions for the first 10 days in office, many of which will roll back key policies established by his predecessor. 

Starting Thursday, each day through the end of the month, with the exception of this weekend, will center around a specific theme, with a set of corresponding actions and directives, according to a draft of a calendar document sent to administration allies and viewed by CNN.  

Here are the themes: 

This Thursday, the theme of the first full day of the Biden presidency will be about coronavirus. There will be six executive orders and one presidential policy directive.

The executive orders include things like a review of supply chain, additional data collection and transparency, and support for additional Covid-19 treatment research and supply. A presidential policy directive will call on agencies to “strengthen efforts to combat COVID-19 globally and strengthen global pandemic preparedness.” 

Then on Friday, the “Economic Relief” day, there will be two executive orders.

One directs agency action on Medicaid, Pell grants, SNAP benefits and unemployment insurance. The second executive order will restore collective bargaining rights to federal employees and initiates action to roll back former President Trump’s Schedule F executive order – which gave the Office of Management and Budget and federal agencies leeway to reclassify key roles.