WILMINGTON, United States, Nov 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – President-elect Joe
Biden on Tuesday introduced a slate of veteran diplomats and policy-makers
who will make up his national security and foreign policy team, saying:
“America is back, ready to lead the world.”
Biden, 78, presented his picks for secretary of state, national security
advisor, homeland security secretary, intelligence chief, UN ambassador and
climate change envoy.
“These public servants will restore America’s global leadership and moral
leadership,” Biden said as the six men and women stood behind him wearing
face-masks.
Biden said that after he is inaugurated on January 20 and Donald Trump
leaves the White House, the United States will “once again sit at the head of
the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies.”
“It is a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead
the world, not retreat from it,” he said in a jab at President Trump’s go-it-
alone “America First” policies.
Biden’s remarks came after Trump suffered further setbacks in his efforts
to overturn the results of the election with unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
Pennsylvania and Nevada certified the November 3 election results Tuesday,
a day after the state of Michigan did so, a move which triggered the General
Services Administration (GSA) to launch the transition process.
As more members of his Republican Party came out demanding an end to the
impasse, Trump signed off on the GSA move, effectively admitting defeat.
But the president on Tuesday tweeted a picture of himself in the Oval
Office with the caption “I concede NOTHING!!!!!”
The 74-year-old Trump later attended a traditional Thanksgiving turkey-
pardoning event at the White House.
He appeared to indirectly address the election, saying: “I say America
First — shouldn’t go away from that.”
– ‘Coalition builder’ –
The GSA determination gives Biden access to classified information and
will allow his aides to coordinate with officials on addressing the worsening
coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re already working out meeting with the Covid team in the White
House… The outreach has been sincere,” Biden told NBC in his first TV
interview since winning the presidency.
Biden said that in his first 100 days in office he would tackle the Covid
crisis, scrap Trump policies “damaging” the environment and push legislation
offering millions of undocumented residents a route to citizenship.
And he said he wanted to get all students back in classrooms, despite the
huge cost of adapting schools to be Covid-safe.
The slate that Biden unveiled included veterans of the Barack Obama
administration and signaled a return to traditional US diplomacy and
multilateralism.
Biden said that “America’s going to reassert its role in the world and be
a coalition builder,” but he denied it would be like a third term of Obama —
whom he served as vice president.
“We face a totally different world,” the president-elect said. “President
Trump has changed the landscape. It’s become America First, which meant
America alone.”
Antony Blinken, Biden’s choice for secretary of state, said the United
States cannot solve global problems on its own.
“We need to be working with other countries,” the former State Department
official said.
However, outgoing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced Biden’s call
for greater international cooperation, saying that Trump had been focused on
“real results” and “the reality on the ground.”
“More multilateralism for the sake of hanging out with their buddies at a
cocktail party? That’s not in the best interest of the United States,” Pompeo
told Fox News.
Pompeo said he had not spoken to Blinken but would “do everything that’s
required by law” as part of the transition.
Former secretary of state John Kerry, who Biden chose as his special envoy
on climate change, confirmed that the United States will rejoin the Paris
climate accord which, under Trump, it formally withdrew from earlier this
month.
Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas was named to head the Department of Homeland
Security, whose policing of tough immigration restrictions under Trump was a
frequent source of controversy.
Avril Haines was nominated to be the director of national intelligence,
the first woman to hold the post, while Jake Sullivan was named national
security advisor.
Former Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen is expected to be named
Treasury Secretary, the first woman to hold the job.
– ‘Delay the inevitable’ –
With Biden having won a comfortable victory, Trump’s last card is to try
to disrupt the normally routine process of state-by-state certification of
the vote and challenge election results in the courts with claims of
irregularities.
The legal offensives have failed so far, however, along with the attempts
to delay state certification.
“The Trump campaign’s legal efforts have no basis in fact, no basis in
law,” said Bob Bauer, a senior advisor to the Biden campaign. “Their only
purpose is to delay the inevitable.