Politics news
New York Democrat Joe Biden plans to use a small team of aides and advisors to oversee his presidential transition.
The new White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, will leave the job on April 25. The position is expected to become vacant as soon as April 30.
White House Chief of Staff Mike Donilon will be replaced by Jim DeBooer in the next administration. Donilon came from the Republican Party, who have long been allies of former President Donald Trump. Donald Trump has also nominated Tom Bossert to serve as Director of the National Security Agency.
In December 2020, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced she would switch sides in the Senate for the first time since 2009 when she became an independent. She now represents Vermont and voted against her party's leadership when they had control of the Senate after it was decided that Vice President Kamala Harris would not be allowed onto Capitol Hill.
At this point, there are no plans to change parties within the House or Senate. It can take months, possibly longer, for any potential change of party affiliation to happen. At this point in time, both leaders of each party have already confirmed they plan to stick with their respective groups.
The last president to lead a transition was Bill Clinton, which took place between 1998 and 2007 under Bush administrations and under Obama administrations. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama did not do a transition, because they were both elected, but used one of their ceremonial offices to coordinate with family members and business associates during the process. Both administrations chose to run in the November 2nd election against incumbent Republicans including Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who served as a member of Mr. Bush's vice Presidential Cabinet.
When Trump won the presidency, he appointed Donilon to head the government response, counterterrorism, civil and human rights agencies, Homeland Security, and Covid recovery. In March, Trump chose Gina Haspel as Secretary of State. Ms. Haspel, along with some other national security officials, made the transition to the new administration smooth.
The incoming administration will also need assistance from Congress and the United States Postal Service, the agency charged with delivering mail packages. Congressional funding may cover office space and costs related to personnel, computers, office supplies, travel and social media.
The General Services Administration, where Ms. Haspel works, gave Ms. Psaki all the necessary support in October and September for her transition to politics during her tenure. The GSA acted similarly in April when Ms. Psaki joined the transition team, although her appointment and confirmation were delayed.
Trump welcomed Ms. Psaki into his orbit after the announcement of Pete Buttigieg as his pick for Democratic nominee for US Senate, saying her appointment “shows tremendous strength.” While many of Ms. Psaki's former colleagues were not pleased at the delay, Ms. Psaki said: "When I joined the transition efforts just over a month ago I was honored and grateful to learn about so many exciting opportunities ahead and how we were going to help make things justly successful for our nation."
On Monday morning, the Biden campaign announced its selection of Eric Ballek as the Biden senior adviser for foreign policy. He replaces Tony Blinken, who left before the inauguration to join The Washington Post as a political columnist.
Ms. Psaki was tapped to become Biden's chief spokesperson, making her the second-highest ranking official in charge of the federal government’s most powerful agency. Her appointment comes amid questions about whether she might be more willing to speak out publicly about issues that are critical to the current administration than the man who oversaw them.
The new White House press secretary will be responsible for overseeing communication between the president and his staff, press pool, press gallery, and daily briefing rooms, among others. A transition spokesman declined to say what would hold her off being asked about those issues publicly.
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