/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fba856a3803d5c1c3b56502/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=6000&cropY1=0&cropY2=3375&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1 "Biden To Announce First Cabinet Picks On Tuesday As Trump Continues To Block Transition")
Topline
President-elect Joe Biden will announce his first Cabinet picks on Tuesday, his incoming chief of staff said Sunday, as the Democrat moves ahead with building out a government despite President Trump’s continued efforts to subvert the election results and block the transition process.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Key Facts
“You’re going to see the first of the president-elect’s cabinet appointments on Tuesday of this week,” Biden’s incoming chief of staff Ron Klain told This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
It’s not clear which Cabinet positions Biden will announce first, though the president-elect said Thursday he has already chosen a treasury secretary.
In a tweet posted on Saturday, Trump attacked Biden for beginning to build out his Cabinet and floated the possibility state legislatures should overturn the results of the election: “Hopefully the Courts and/or Legislatures will have the COURAGE to do what has to be done to maintain the integrity of our Elections, and the United States of America itself,” he wrote.
Even as the president’s legal efforts to overturn the election fail at every turn, he has succeeded in making the transition process much more difficult for Biden: the General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy, a Trump appointee, has yet to sign off on a letter acknowledging Biden as the president-elect, meaning the Democrat is blocked from federal resources to begin the transition and access to government agencies and information.
So far, Biden has refrained from a scorched earth response to Trump’s obstruction, though he said Thursday he hasn’t ruled out legal action.
What To Watch For
On Thursday, Biden said he wants to put together a Cabinet that “will be accepted by all elements of the Democratic Party, from the progressive to the moderate coalition.”
Chief Critic
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told the Associated Press on Friday it would be “enormously insulting” if Biden declined to choose a progressive to fill a spot in his Cabinet. “It seems to me pretty clear that progressive views need to be expressed within a Biden administration,” Sanders said. “It would be, for example, enormously insulting if Biden put together a ‘team of rivals’ — and there’s some discussion that that’s what he intends to do — which might include Republicans and conservative Democrats — but which ignored the progressive community. I think that would be very, very unfortunate.”
Further Reading
Sanders, Warren under scrutiny as Biden weighs Cabinet picks (Associated Press)
Democrats demand briefing from GSA chief on delay in ascertaining Biden’s win (Politico)
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