2020 Presidential Campaign Blog

President-elect Biden Announces Key Members of Economic Team

President-elect Biden Announces Key Members of Economic Team

This accomplished, historic, crisis-tested team of trailblazers are ready on day one to build our economy back better — and ensure that every single American is in on the deal.

WASHINGTON – Today, President-elect Joe Biden announced key members of his economic team, including Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury; Neera Tanden, Director of the Office of Management and Budget; Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury; Cecilia Rouse, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers; and Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey, members of the Council of Economic Advisers.

This crisis-tested team will help President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris lift America out of the current economic downturn and build back better — creating an economy that gives every single person across America a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead. These choices reflect the president-elect’s commitment to building an administration that looks like America, drawing on the diverse backgrounds and lived experiences of some of our nation’s foremost economic experts.

President-elect Joe Biden said, “As we get to work to control the virus, this is the team that will deliver immediate economic relief for the American people during this economic crisis and help us build our economy back better than ever. This team is comprised of respected and tested groundbreaking public servants who will help the communities hardest hit by COVID-19 and address the structural inequities in our economy. They will work tirelessly to ensure every American enjoys a fair return for their work and an equal chance to get ahead, and that our businesses can thrive and outcompete the rest of the world. This team looks like America and brings seriousness of purpose, the highest degree of competency, and unwavering belief in the promise of America. They will be ready on day one to get to work for all Americans.”

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said, “President-elect Biden and I have said that our top priorities upon entering the White House are getting this virus under control and opening our economy responsibly. The outstanding economic team that President-elect Biden is bringing together will help us deliver on our commitment. They are not only some of America’s most brilliant economic minds, they are also proven leaders who reflect the very best of our country. And they share a fundamental commitment to ending this economic crisis and putting people back to work, while rebuilding our economy in a way that lifts up all Americans. With the selection of these crisis-tested public servants, the American people are getting the economic team they need — and deserve."

This distinguished slate of nominations and appointments includes several historic trailblazers:

• Janet Yellen is nominated to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231-year history, and the first person to have served as Treasury Secretary, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Chair of the Federal Reserve. She has previously been confirmed by the Senate on four separate occasions.
• Neera Tanden, whose career has focused on pursuing policies designed to support working families, foster broad-based economic growth, and curb rampant inequality, is nominated to serve as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. If confirmed, Tanden would be the first woman of color and first South Asian American to lead the OMB.
• Wally Adeyemo, a veteran of the Executive Branch and expert on macro-economic policy and consumer protection with deep national security experience, is nominated to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, having previously served as Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, Deputy National Security Advisor, and the first Chief of Staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If confirmed, Adeyemo would be the first African American Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.
• Cecilia Rouse, a leading labor economist and the Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, is nominated to serve as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, having previously been confirmed by the Senate as a member of the CEA in 2009. If confirmed, she will become the first African American and just the fourth woman to lead the CEA in the 74 years of its existence.
• Jared Bernstein, who previously served as Chief Economist to President-elect Biden in the first years of the Obama-Biden Administration, will serve as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.
• Heather Boushey, a distinguished economist focused on economic inequality and the President, CEO, and co-founder of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will serve as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers.

The following White House announcements were made today:

Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury

Janet Yellen served as the 15th Chair of the Federal Reserve, the first woman to lead America’s central banking system since its creation. Among the most accomplished and decorated economists in modern history, if confirmed, she will become the first woman to lead the Treasury Department in its 231 years of existence, and the first person to ever serve as Treasury Secretary, Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.

Prior to her leadership of the Federal Reserve, Yellen served as the body’s Vice Chair from 2010 to 2014 following an earlier term on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and as President of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. She served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton, has held a litany of high-profile leadership roles with national and international economics organizations, and has forged a prolific career as a professor of economics, including as a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley for the last 40 years. Born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Yellen received her bachelor of arts degree from Brown University and her Ph.D. in economics from Yale University.

Neera Tanden, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Neera Tanden currently serves as President & CEO of the Center for American Progress, an organization dedicated to advancing policies that increase opportunity for every American. A veteran of multiple presidential administrations, Tanden has been a leading architect and advocate of policies designed to support working families, foster broad-based economic growth, and curb inequality throughout her career. Her experience as a child relying on food stamps and Section 8 housing — a social safety net that offered her single mother the foundation she needed to land a good job and punch her family’s ticket to the middle class — instilled in her the true necessity of an economy that serves the dignity and humanity of all people. If confirmed, Tanden would be the first woman of color and the first South Asian American to lead the OMB
Prior to her tenure as President & CEO, Tanden held the post of Chief Operating Officer at the Center for American Progress. She currently serves on the New Jersey Restart and Recovery Commission, and previously served as senior adviser for health reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services developing policies and provisions of the Affordable Care Act, as director of domestic policy for the first Obama-Biden presidential campaign, and in a variety of other roles in government and on the campaign trail. A native of Bedford, Massachusetts, Tanden received her bachelor of science degree from UCLA and her JD from Yale Law School.

Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury

Wally Adeyemo currently serves as the president of the Obama Foundation, the non-profit organization founded by former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to continue their work in service to their community, our nation, and the world. A leader with deep experience across both the economic and national security space, Adeyemo has served as a trusted adviser to the country’s foremost policymakers in times of crisis.

During the Obama-Biden Administration, Adeyemo served as the President’s senior international economic adviser and held a broad range of posts, including Deputy National Security Advisor, Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and senior advisor and deputy chief of staff at the Department of the Treasury. Before and after his service in the Obama-Biden Administration, he has advised a range of leading non-profit and private sector organizations, including the Center for Strategic & International Studies. Born in Nigeria and raised in southern California’s Inland Empire, Adeyemo received his bachelor of arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his JD from Yale Law School. If confirmed, Adeyemo would be the first African American Deputy Secretary of the Treasury.

Cecilia Rouse, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers

Cecilia Rouse currently serves as Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. If confirmed, she will become just the first African American and just the fourth woman to lead the CEA in the 74 years of its existence. A renowned labor economist with expertise centered in the economics of education and equality, she is an accomplished leader who has held prominent roles across academia and government service.

Before taking on her current role as Dean in 2012, Rouse served as a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in the Obama-Biden Administration and on the National Economic Council in the Clinton Administration as Special Assistant to President Clinton. Rouse joined the Princeton faculty in 1992 and has authored landmark papers on a variety of economic policy issues. Originally from California, Rouse received her bachelor of arts degree and her Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Jared Bernstein, Member of the Council of Economic Advisers

Jared Bernstein served as chief economist to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama-Biden Administration before joining the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, where he has served as a senior fellow since 2011. A former social worker, Bernstein has a long and distinguished track record devising economic policies that expand opportunity for working Americans.

Bernstein has previously served as Executive Director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class and as an economic advisor to President Obama; prior to his service in the Obama-Biden Administration, he was a senior economist and director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute, and served as Deputy Chief Economist at the U.S. Department of Labor under President Clinton. In addition to authoring numerous books, Bernstein has been a regular commentator on economic issues for leading national print and television outlets, including The Washington Post and CNBC. Bernstein received his bachelor’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, his master of social work degree from Hunter College, and his Ph.D. in social welfare from Columbia University.

Heather Boushey, Member of the Council of Economic Advisers

Heather Boushey is a long-time economic counselor to President-elect Biden and currently serves as President & CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a non-profit research and grantmaking organization she co-founded in 2013. An expert on the impact of structural inequities on economic growth, she is a leading voice on matters of economic policy.

Boushey served as chief economist for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential transition team, and previously served as an economist for the Center for American Progress, the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and the Economic Policy Institute. She currently sits on the board of the Opportunity Institute, is a senior fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic and Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research, and serves as an Associate Editor for Feminist Economics. Born and raised in the Seattle area, Boushey received her bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and her Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Form Presidential Inaugural Committee

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Form Presidential Inaugural Committee
Initial Senior Leadership Team Announced

Online Presence and Store Unveiled at BidenInaugural.org and @BidenInaugural

WASHINGTON — Today, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are forming a Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC) to organize activities surrounding their swearing-in on January 20, 2021, announcing the initial senior leadership team who will lead PIC and unveiling its online presence.

The team announced today to lead PIC includes:
• Tony Allen, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer*
• Maju Varghese, Executive Director
• Erin Wilson, Deputy Executive Director
• Yvanna Cancela, Deputy Executive Director
*Serving in personal capacity

“I’ve known and loved the Biden family for 25 years and am deeply humbled to help organize the historic inauguration of a good and decent patriot during an unprecedented time in our country. As the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden alongside Kamala Harris, the first woman of color to be elected Vice President of the United States, will work hard for all Americans and lead us towards our nation’s highest calling — ‘a more perfect union,’” said Tony Allen, PIC Chief Executive Officer. “This year's inauguration will look different amid the pandemic, but we will honor the American inaugural traditions and engage Americans across the country while keeping everybody healthy and safe.”

“It is an honor to help lead the team that will plan the inaugural activities for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris while keeping their commitment to protecting the health and safety of Americans and demonstrating the strength and resilience of our nation,” said Maju Varghese, PIC Executive Director. “This historic inauguration will serve as the launching pad for the Biden-Harris Administration to get to work on day one and beat the pandemic, build back our economy better, and unify our country.”

Additionally, the PIC is also unveiling its website at BidenInaugural.org, which includes a web store with exclusive inaugural merchandise and collectables. The PIC is also launching its social media presence on Instagram and Twitter under the handle @BidenInaugural where Americans can visit for the latest news and information about the inauguration.

The PIC will work closely with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) to coordinate all activities surrounding the 59th inaugural ceremonies, prioritizing keeping people safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19 while engaging all Americans.

Additional details about the PIC and inaugural activities will be announced in the coming days and weeks.

SENIOR TEAM BIOGRAPHIES

Tony Allen, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer
Tony Allen, Ph.D., is the President of Delaware State University (DSU), one of the nation’s premiere public Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Before being appointed President, Dr. Allen served as Executive Vice President and Provost at DSU and previously led Bank of America’s corporate reputation group. He is also the Founding President of the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League and co-Founder of Public Allies Delaware. In the 90’s, Allen worked in then-Senator Biden’s office as a Special Assistant and Speechwriter.

Maju Varghese, Executive Director
Maju Varghese was Chief Operating Officer and Senior Advisor on the Biden-Harris campaign from the primaries through the general, overseeing the campaign’s day-to-day operations and leading the entire campaign through an unprecedented shift to remote working. He previously served in the Obama White House in various roles, including Assistant to the President for Management and Administration and Deputy Director of Advance. He has also worked as the Chief Operating Officer at The Hub Project and a Senior Advisor at the law firm Dentons.

Erin Wilson, Deputy Executive Director
Erin Wilson served as the Biden-Harris campaign’s National Political Director throughout the primary and general elections, the senior staff member responsible for relationships with hundreds of elected officials and leaders across the country. Previously, Wilson was a senior aide in Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey’s office, most recently serving as his State Director and Senior Advisor to his 2018 reelection. She is also a Hillary for America and Democratic National Committee alumna.

Yvanna Cancela, Deputy Executive Director
Yvanna Cancelea serves as a Nevada State Senator and was one of Joe Biden’s earliest elected supporters, endorsing him the day he announced his campaign. Cancela was a senior advisor in Nevada during the primary election, helping steer Biden’s comeback, as well as in the general election to secure another victory in the Silver State. Previously, Cancela was Executive Director of the Immigrant Workers Citizenship Project and Political Director at the Culinary Union in Las Vegas.

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Announce Members of White House Senior Communications Staff

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Announce Members of White House Senior Communications Staff

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris today announced new members of the White House staff who will serve in senior communications roles. These diverse, experienced, and talented women demonstrate President-elect Biden’s continued commitment to building an administration that looks like America and is ready to deliver results for working families on day one. For the first time in history, these communications roles will be filled entirely by women.

“Communicating directly and truthfully to the American people is one of the most important duties of a President, and this team will be entrusted with the tremendous responsibility of connecting the American people to the White House. I am proud to announce today the first senior White House communications team comprised entirely of women. These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better,” said President-elect Joe Biden.

"Our country is facing unprecedented challenges — from the coronavirus pandemic to the economic crisis, to the climate crisis, and a long-overdue reckoning over racial injustice. To overcome these challenges, we need to communicate clearly, honestly, and transparently with the American people, and this experienced, talented, and barrier-shattering team will help us do that. These communications professionals express our commitment to building a White House that reflects the very best of our nation," said Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

“Today’s appointees are respected communicators with a breadth of experience and a strong commitment to serving the American people. President-elect Biden has a history of advocating on behalf of women in the U.S and around the world and today’s announcement is a continuation of that work, elevating this dynamic team of leaders to senior White House positions. They embody Joe Biden’s commitment to a diverse administration where the voices of all Americans are represented,” said incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain.

Biographies of the appointees are listed below in alphabetical order:

Elizabeth E. Alexander, Communications Director for the First Lady

Elizabeth E. Alexander served as a Senior Advisor on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Alexander spent the first years of the Obama-Biden administration as the Press Secretary to Vice President Biden, a role which followed her time as then-Senator Biden’s Communications Director on Capitol Hill. She has worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorneys’ offices in Washington, DC and Alexandria, Virginia, where she also served as a counselor to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Previously, Alexander worked as Press Secretary for the United Nations Foundation, Press Secretary to Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, Communications Director for Congressman Adam Schiff, and Deputy Press Secretary for Senator Chuck Schumer. Before joining the Biden-Harris Campaign, Alexander was a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, where she led the firm’s gender inclusion and workplace equality communications offering. Originally from Texas, Alexander is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Georgetown University Law Center. She lives in Bethesda, Maryland with her husband and two young sons.

Kate Bedingfield, White House Communications Director

Kate Bedingfield served as Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director for the Biden-Harris Campaign. She served as Communications Director for Vice President Biden and as Associate Communications Director, Deputy Director of Media Affairs, and the Director of Response in the Obama-Biden White House. Prior to the Obama-Biden administration, Bedingfield served as Communications Director to U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen on her successful 2008 Senate campaign, Deputy National Press Secretary on the John Edwards for President campaign and Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 when Democrats won back the House. Bedingfield has also served as the Chief Spokeswoman and Vice President of Corporate Communications at the Motion Picture Association of America and as the Vice President of Communications at Monumental Sports & Entertainment. Originally from Georgia, Bedingfield is a graduate of the University of Virginia. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband, son and daughter.

Ashley Etienne, Communications Director for the Vice President

Ashley Etienne served as a Senior Advisor on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Before that, Etienne served as Communications Director and Senior Advisor to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the first woman and person of color to hold the position. Etienne was Special Assistant to the President and Director of Communications for the Cabinet in the Obama-Biden administration and also led communications on President Obama’s signature My Brother’s Keeper initiative. Prior to the Obama-Biden administration, she served as Deputy Communications Director and Spokesperson for then-House Democratic Leader Pelosi, Communications Director for House Democrats on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Spokesperson for the Corporation for National and Community Service, and as a Spokesperson in Virginia for the Obama-Biden Campaign in 2008. Etienne has provided strategic counsel to clients while at Dewey Square Group and as president of her own consulting firm, Etienne & Associates. Originally from Texas, Etienne is a graduate of Sam Houston State University and Johns Hopkins University.

Karine Jean Pierre, Principal Deputy Press Secretary

Karine Jean-Pierre was Senior Advisor to President-Elect Joe Biden and Chief of Staff to Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Prior to her role on the campaign, she served as Chief Public Affairs Officer for MoveOn.org and an NBC and MSNBC Political Analyst. Jean-Pierre served as Regional Political Director for the White House Office of Political Affairs during the Obama-Biden administration and as Deputy Battleground States Director for President Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. She served as Southeast Regional Political Director for President Obama’s 2008 campaign, Deputy Campaign Manager for Martin O’Malley for President, Campaign Manager for the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Initiative, and Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Legislative and Budget Affairs for two members in the New York City Council. Previously, she worked at the Center for Community and Corporate Ethics, pushing major companies to change their business practices. Born in Martinique and raised in New York, Jean-Pierre is a graduate of Columbia University.’

Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary

Jen Psaki currently oversees the confirmations team for the Biden-Harris Transition. During the Obama-Biden administration, Psaki held several senior roles, including White House Communications Director, State Department Spokesperson under then-Secretary of State John Kerry, Deputy White House Communications Director and Deputy White House Press Secretary during the financial crisis. She is a veteran of three presidential campaigns having served as traveling press secretary during the Obama-Biden campaign in 2008, as traveling press secretary and senior advisor in 2012 and as deputy press secretary for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. Psaki was a spokesperson at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 when Democrats won back the House of Representatives and has also served as Communications Director to former Congressman Joe Crowley. Prior to joining the Biden-Harris Transition Team, Psaki was the Vice President for Communications and Strategy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a CNN contributor. Psaki is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and lives in Virginia with her husband and two children.

Symone Sanders, Senior Advisor and Chief Spokesperson for the Vice President

Symone Sanders served as a Senior Advisor on the Biden-Harris Campaign. In 2016, Sanders became the youngest presidential press secretary while working on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s then-presidential campaign. Before joining the Biden-Harris Campaign, Sanders was a CNN political commentator and served as principal of the 360 Group LLC, where she provided strategic communications guidance to organizations, businesses, individuals, campaigns and candidates. Sanders is the former chair of the Coalition of Juvenile Justice Emerging Leaders Committee and former member of the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice, where she worked to raise the profile of young voices in the fight for juvenile justice reform and bring millennial perspectives to policy conversations. Originally from Nebraska, Sanders is a graduate of Creighton University. She currently lives in Washington D.C. with her partner.

Pili Tobar, Deputy White House Communications Director

Pili Tobar served as the Communications Director for Coalitions on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Before joining the campaign, Tobar served as the Deputy Director for America’s Voice, where she advocated on behalf of immigrants. She has also served as the Hispanic Media Director for Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, National Director of Hispanic Media and Western Regional Press Secretary for the Democratic National Committee, Communications Director for Congressman Ruben Gallego, and Communications Director for the Latino Victory Project. Originally from Florida and raised in Guatemala, Tobar is a graduate of the University of Miami. She lives in Washington D.C. with her wife and daughter.
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Statement by Biden-Harris Transition Executive Director Yohannes Abraham

Statement by Biden-Harris Transition Executive Director Yohannes Abraham

The GSA Administrator has ascertained President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the apparent winners of the election, providing the incoming Administration with the resources and support necessary to carry out a smooth and peaceful transfer of power. Today’s decision is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track. This final decision is a definitive administrative action to formally begin the transition process with federal agencies. In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies.

Trump Legal Team Statement on State Certifications

Trump Legal Team Statement on State Certifications

“Certification by state officials is simply a procedural step. We are going to continue combatting election fraud around the country as we fight to count all the legal votes. Americans must be assured that the final results are fair and legitimate.”
- Jenna Ellis, Trump 2020 senior legal advisor

President-Elect Biden Announces Key Members of Foreign Policy & National Security Team

President-Elect Biden Announces Key Members of Foreign Policy & National Security Team

Historic nominees and appointees include the first Latino and immigrant as DHS Secretary; the first woman to lead the intelligence community; an experienced diplomat as US Ambassador to the United Nations; one of the youngest National Security Advisors in decades; and the first Special Presidential Envoy for Climate to sit on the National Security Council

WASHINGTON – Today, President-elect Joe Biden announced key members of his foreign policy and national security team including Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security; Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence; Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor; and John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

These experienced, crisis-tested leaders will start working immediately to rebuild our institutions, renew and reimagine American leadership to keep Americans safe at home and abroad, and address the defining challenges of our time -- from infectious disease, to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and climate change.

President-elect Joe Biden said, “We have no time to lose when it comes to our national security and foreign policy. I need a team ready on Day One to help me reclaim America’s seat at the head of the table, rally the world to meet the biggest challenges we face, and advance our security, prosperity, and values. This is the crux of that team. These individuals are equally as experienced and crisis-tested as they are innovative and imaginative. Their accomplishments in diplomacy are unmatched, but they also reflect the idea that we cannot meet the profound challenges of this new moment with old thinking and unchanged habits -- or without diversity of background and perspective. It’s why I’ve selected them.”

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said, “President-elect Biden and I know that the moment we walk into the White House, we will inherit a series of unprecedented challenges. These crisis-tested national security and foreign policy leaders have the knowledge and expertise to keep our country safe and restore and advance America’s leadership around the world. They represent the best of America. They come from different places and reflect different life experiences. But they all share an unwavering belief in America’s ideals and an unshakeable commitment to democracy and the rule of law. And they are the leaders America needs to help meet the challenges of this moment -- and those that lie ahead.”

Today’s announcement includes several historic nominations and appointments.

Antony Blinken, a former Deputy Secretary of State, will be nominated to serve as Secretary of State having previously held top foreign affairs posts on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and in the State Department.
Alejandro Mayorkas, a former Deputy Secretary of DHS, who has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate three times throughout his career, will be the first Latino and immigrant nominated to serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service who has served on four continents, will be nominated to serve as United Nations Ambassador and elevated the role to his Cabinet.
Former Secretary of State John Kerry will fight climate change full-time as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate and will sit on the National Security Council. This marks the first time that the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change, reflecting the president-elect’s commitment to addressing climate change as an urgent national security issue.

Avril Haines, a former Deputy Director of the CIA and Deputy National Security Advisor, will be nominated to serve as Director of National Intelligence and will be the first woman to lead the intelligence community.
Jake Sullivan has been appointed National Security Advisor and will be one of the youngest people to serve in that role in decades.

The following White House announcements were made today:

Antony Blinken, Secretary of State

Tony Blinken has held senior foreign policy positions in two administrations over three decades, and has advised President-elect Biden on foreign policy since 2002.

From 2015 to 2017, Blinken served as Deputy Secretary of State under the Obama-Biden administration. In that role, Blinken helped to lead diplomacy in the fight against ISIL, the rebalance to Asia, and the global refugee crisis, while building bridges to the innovation community. Before that, Blinken served as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama. He chaired the Deputies Committee, the administration’s principal forum for formulating foreign policy. During the first Obama term, he was National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden. Blinken served as Democratic Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008 and was a member of President Clinton’s National Security Council staff from 1994 to 2001.

Prior to serving as foreign policy advisor during the Biden-Harris campaign and transition, Blinken served as managing director of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and was the Herter/Nitze Distinguished Scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Before entering public service, Blinken was a reporter for The New Republic magazine, writing extensively on foreign policy. He is the author of Ally Versus Ally: America, Europe, and the Siberian Pipeline Crisis. He has also served as a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and a global affairs analyst for CNN. Blinken is a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Law School. Blinken graduated from high school in Paris, where he lived from ages nine to eighteen.

Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security

Alejandro Mayorkas is the first Latino and immigrant nominated to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security. He has led a distinguished 30-year career as a law enforcement official and a nationally-recognized lawyer in the private sector. Mayorkas served as the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in the Obama-Biden Administration from 2013 to 2016, and as the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services from 2009 to 2013. During his tenure at DHS, he led the implementation of DACA, negotiated cybersecurity and homeland security agreements with foreign governments, led the Department's response to Ebola and Zika, helped build and administer the Blue Campaign to combat human trafficking, and developed an emergency relief program for orphaned youth following the tragic January 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Mayorkas also created the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate to better ensure the integrity of the legal immigration system.
Mayorkas began his government service in the Department of Justice, where he served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, specializing in the prosecution of white collar crime.

After nearly nine years as a federal prosecutor, he became the youngest United States Attorney in the nation, overseeing prosecutions of national significance, including the investigation and prosecution of financial fraud, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, public corruption, violent crime, cybercrime, environmental crime, international money laundering, and securities fraud.

Mayorkas has also led a distinguished legal career in the private sector, at O’Melveny & Myers and most recently WilmerHale, where he has specialized in strategic counseling and crisis management. He serves several non-profit organizations focused on providing legal services to the poor, refugee resettlement, and education for underprivileged youth.

Mayorkas was born in Havana, Cuba and was the highest-ranking Cuban American to serve in the Obama-Biden Administration. Mayorkas received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from the University of California at Berkeley and a law degree from Loyola Law School.

Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence

Avril Haines has worked with President-elect Biden in various roles for more than a decade, and will become the first woman to serve as Director of National Intelligence. During the Obama administration, Haines served as Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor from 2015-2017, during which time she led the National Security Council’s (NSC) Deputies Committee. From 2013-2015, Haines was the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; she was the first woman to hold both of these positions. Avril began her service in the Obama administration in 2010 as the NSC Legal Advisor. From 2007-2008, Haines served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee while President-elect Biden served as chairman. Haines has led the Transition’s National Security and Foreign Policy Team since its founding in June 2020. Prior to that time, she served in various roles including Senior Research Scholar at Columbia University; a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; and a member of the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service. Haines received her bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center.

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations

Retired Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat, is returning to public service after retiring from a 35-year career with the U.S. Foreign Service in 2017. From 2013 to 2017 she served as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs, where she led the bureau focused on the development and management of U.S. policy toward sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to this appointment, she served as Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human Resources (2012-2013), leading a team in charge of the State Department’s 70,000-strong workforce.

Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield’s distinguished Foreign Service career includes an ambassadorship to Liberia (2008-2012), and postings in Switzerland (at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations), Pakistan, Kenya, The Gambia, Nigeria, and Jamaica. In Washington, she served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of African Affairs (2006-2008), and as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (2004-2006).

Since 2017, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield has led the Africa Practice at Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategic commercial diplomacy firm chaired by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. She was also the inaugural Distinguished Resident Fellow in African Studies at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy from fall 2017 to spring 2019. She joined ISD in spring 2017 as a Senior State Department Fellow. Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield earned a B.A. from Louisiana State University and a M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, where she worked towards a PhD. She received an honorary Doctor of Law degree from the University of Wisconsin in May 2018.

Jake Sullivan, National Security Advisor

Jake Sullivan is currently a senior policy advisor to President-elect Biden and formerly served as Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden in the Obama-Biden administration. He previously served as Director of the Policy Planning Staff at the U.S. Department of State and as Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. During his time in government, Sullivan was a lead negotiator in the initial talks that paved the way for the Iran nuclear deal and played a key role in the U.S.-brokered negotiations that led to a ceasefire in Gaza in 2012. He also played a key role in shaping the Asia-Pacific rebalance strategy at both the State Department and the White House.

In the years following his service in the Obama-Biden administration, Sullivan was a Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he helped conceive and design a bipartisan task force project on a foreign policy for the middle class. He also held teaching posts at Yale Law School, Dartmouth College, and the University of New Hampshire. He co-founded and co-chaired the advisory board for National Security Action, a nonprofit national security advocacy organization, and served on the advisory boards of a number of organizations involved in foreign policy and national security. Sullivan was also a senior policy adviser on the Hillary for America presidential campaign in 2016.

He holds a B.A. in political science and international studies from Yale College; a M.Phil in International Relations from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a J.D. from Yale Law School. He grew up as the second of five children in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is a proud product of the Minneapolis public schools. He lives with his wife Maggie Goodlander in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Fmr. Secretary John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate

John Kerry served as America’s 68th Secretary of State, the first sitting Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman to serve as Secretary in over a century.

Secretary Kerry elevated environmental challenges as diplomatic priorities, from oceans to hydrofluorocarbons. He was a key architect of the Paris Climate Accord, and signed the historic agreement to reduce carbon emissions with his granddaughter on his lap. The New York Times described Kerry as “America’s Mr. Diplomacy,” leading on challenges from nuclear non-proliferation to extremism.

A Yale University graduate, Kerry volunteered for the Navy, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam. He was awarded a Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, and three Purple Hearts. Kerry was elected Massachusetts' Lieutenant Governor in 1982 and US Senator in 1984.

In 2009, Kerry became Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The first hearing he Chaired was on climate change. He also led Senate efforts to ratify a landmark nonproliferation treaty, successfully intervened in Afghanistan’s election crisis, and negotiated bipartisan domestic climate change legislation.

Kerry’s 2018 memoir, Every Day Is Extra, was a best-seller. He has most recently been Yale University’s Distinguished Fellow for Global Affairs and Visiting Distinguished Statesman at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace spearheading programming on climate change and oceans. He co-founded World War Zero to unite unlikely allies on climate change and is a Board Member of the American Security Project.

He and his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry have a blended family of two daughters, three sons, and seven grandchildren.

President-elect Joe Biden Announces Members of White House Senior Staff

President-elect Joe Biden Announces Members of White House Senior Staff

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden today announced new members of his White House senior staff. These diverse, experienced, and talented individuals demonstrate President-elect Biden’s continued commitment to building an administration that looks like America and is ready to deliver results for working families on day one.

“The American people are eager for our Administration to get to work, and today’s appointees will help advance our agenda and ensure every American has a fair shot. In a Biden administration, we will have an open door to the Hill and this team will make sure their views are always represented in the White House,” said President-elect Joe Biden.

“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris share a bold agenda that will build our nation back better than before. Our team will work with the president-elect and vice president-elect to implement that agenda and deliver results for American families,” said incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. 

Biographies of the appointees are listed below in alphabetical order: 

Reema Dodin, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs

Reema Dodin currently serves as a volunteer on the Biden-Harris Transition Team leading legislative engagement for the confirmations process. She also serves as Deputy Chief of Staff and Floor Director to the Senate Democratic Whip, Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL). Prior to that, Dodin served as Senator Durbin's Floor Counsel, Research Director and as an aide to his Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Dodin has served as a volunteer voter-protection counsel on a number of campaigns, including the Obama for America campaign. She is a Truman National Security Fellow, a New Leaders Council Fellow, an Aspen Socrates alum, a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Jenkins Hill Society – a consortium of women in politics supporting female politicians. Dodin is the co-author of a primer on House and Senate Floor procedures through Brookings publications. Originally from California, Dodin is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Shuwanza Goff, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs

Shuwanza Goff served as Floor Director for the House of Representatives under House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer. The first Black woman to hold the position, Goff determined which bills came to the House floor, set the legislative schedule, and helped craft the overall House Democratic agenda. Prior to that, Goff was Director of Legislative Operations for Representative Hoyer when he was minority whip. Goff has also served as Floor Aide, Floor Assistant, and Staff Assistant for Representative Hoyer. Originally from Virginia, Goff is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and American University.

President-elect Joe Biden Announces Members of White House Senior Staff

President-elect Joe Biden Announces Members of White House Senior Staff

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden today announced new members of his White House senior staff. These diverse, experienced, and talented individuals demonstrate President-elect Biden’s continued commitment to building an administration that not only looks like America, but is also ready to deliver results for working families on day one.

“I’m proud to name additional members of our team who will help deliver the change America needs in these difficult times. Their dedication to overcoming the challenges facing our country today are rooted in their diverse backgrounds and experiences. They will serve the American people and help build back better, creating a more just, equitable, and united nation,” said President-elect Joe Biden.

“To bring President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris’ agenda to life you must have a boundless team of experts ready for day one. Today’s appointees are respected leaders who will bring a commitment to serving the American people each and every day. They will support our work to build an administration and White House that represents America and delivers results,” said incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. 

Biographies of the appointees are listed below in alphabetical order: 

Mala Adiga, Policy Director to Dr. Jill Biden

Mala Adiga served as a senior advisor to Dr. Jill Biden and a senior policy advisor on the Biden-Harris Campaign. Previously, Adiga was Director for Higher Education and Military Families at the Biden Foundation. During the Obama-Biden administration, Adiga served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Academic Programs at the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in the Secretary of State’s Office of Global Women’s Issues as Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to the Ambassador-at-Large, and as Director for Human Rights on the National Security Staff. Prior to that, she was Counsel to the Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice. Before entering government service, Adiga worked on the Obama-Biden 2008 presidential campaign. Prior to the campaign, she was a litigation associate at Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago and clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Philip Simon in the Northern District of Indiana. A native of Illinois, Adiga is a graduate of Grinnell College, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and the University of Chicago Law School. 

Carlos Elizondo, White House Social Secretary

Carlos Elizondo was a Special Assistant to the President and Social Secretary to Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden for all eight years of the Obama-Biden administration, the first Hispanic American appointed to this position. In this role, he had responsibility for planning, managing, and successfully executing all events hosted by the Vice President and his family, to include visits by world leaders, members of Congress, business leaders, and other high-ranking dignitaries and celebrities. During the Clinton-Gore administration, Elizondo served in both the White House and in the Office of the U.S. Chief of Protocol, where he managed numerous state visits, Papal visits, the Centennial Olympic Games, the NATO 50th Anniversary Summit and other international summits. Elizondo has held several positions outside of government, including Senior Director of Presidential Events at Georgetown University, Manager of Special Activities and Protocol at Walt Disney World, and as an Estate Manager overseeing operations for a private family estate. Originally from Texas, Elizondo is a graduate of the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. He and his partner reside in Washington, D.C. 

Cathy Russell, Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel

Ambassador Cathy Russell serves on the Advisory Board of the Biden-Harris Transition Team and served as Vice Chair of the Biden-Harris Campaign. Before that, Ambassador Russell was a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. During the Obama-Biden administration, Ambassador Russell served for all eight years at the White House and the U.S. Department of State, including as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden and the U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues, where she led efforts to integrate women’s issues into US foreign policy. Previously, she served as the senior advisor on international women’s issues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice, as the Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and as Senior Counsel to Senator Patrick J. Leahy. Ambassador Russell serves on multiple boards and advisory committees, including board co-chair of the Women’s Foreign Policy Group, a board member of Women for Women International, as well as a member of the Sesame Street Global Advisory Group, the Leadership Council for Women in National Security Steering Committee, the National Security Action Advisory Council, the Thomson Reuters Trust Women Foundation, and the U.S.-Afghan Women’s Council.  A native of Pennsylvania, Ambassador Russell graduated from Boston College and the George Washington University Law School.

Louisa Terrell, Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs

Louisa Terrell currently oversees legislative affairs for the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Terrell’s two decades of experience includes leadership roles in the public and private sectors, including as Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs in the Obama-Biden administration. Prior to that, she served as an Advisor to Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and worked for several years on Capitol Hill, including as Deputy Chief of Staff for then-U.S. Senator Biden and Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Cory Booker. Terrell’s work outside of government has included roles as the Deputy General Counsel and Head of Public Affairs at McKinsey & Company, Executive Director of the Biden Foundation, Senior Director for Federal Policy & Strategy at Yahoo!, and Director of Public Policy at Facebook. Originally from Delaware, Terrell is a graduate of Tufts University and Boston College School of Law, and lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and two daughters.

In addition to the Biden-Harris transition website, BuildBackBetter.com, the transition will continue to give Americans the latest updates across newly launched official social media channels: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram..

Trump Campaign Releases Statement on Wisconsin Recount

Trump Campaign Releases Statement on Wisconsin Recount

Official recount procedures begin in Wisconsin today, following a petition from President Donald J. Trump’s campaign. The campaign released the following statement from Jim Troupis, Wisconsin counsel to the campaign:

“Our democracy depends on fair and impartial elections that fully adhere to the Constitution and state statute. By staging a last minute attempt to change the rules, and by providing unlawful advice before then, the Wisconsin Elections Commission has repeatedly failed to follow the law. They have disenfranchised voters and undermined the integrity of this election. We continue to be confident that when all of the legal ballots are counted and illegal ballots are not counted, President Trump will be proven the winner.”

Trump Campaign Files a Petition for Recount in Two Wisconsin Counties

Trump Campaign Files a Petition for Recount in Two Wisconsin Counties

President Donald J. Trump’s re-election campaign will file a petition today for a recount in two Wisconsin counties – Milwaukee and Dane – citing illegally altered absentee ballots, illegally issued absentee ballots, and illegal advice given by government officials allowing Wisconsin’s Voter ID laws to be circumvented. These two counties were selected because they are the locations of the worst irregularities. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. transferred $3 million to Wisconsin to cover the estimated cost of the recounts. 

The Wisconsin Elections Commission directed Wisconsin municipal clerks to illegally alter incomplete absentee ballots contrary to Wisconsin law. Clerks were instructed that they could rely on their own “personal knowledge,” or unspecified “lists or databases at his or her disposal” to add in missing information on returned absentee ballots. Under Wisconsin law, incomplete absentee ballots may not be counted.

Municipal clerks across Wisconsin issued absentee ballots to voters without requiring an application, in direct conflict with Wisconsin’s absentee voting safeguards. Wisconsin law expressly requires that absentee ballots may not be issued without receiving a written application requesting the ballot. Despite this clear mandatory requirement, clerks uniformly issued absentee ballots without collecting a written application from persons who requested absentee ballots in person during the two week in-person absentee voting period that ran from October 20, 2020 through November 1, 2020.  

Voter identification is an essential requirement in Wisconsin and elsewhere to ensure that only eligible voters may cast their ballots. In clear abuse of Wisconsin’s provision to issue ballots to indefinitely confined voters without requiring them to present voter identification, some Democrat county clerks illegally advised voters to illegally mischaracterize that they were indefinitely confined to circumvent Wisconsin voter ID law. Those claiming to be “indefinitely confined” rose from 72,000 in 2019 to more than 240,000 at the time of the November 3, 2020 election. A substantial number of those claiming that status were sent and then returned ballots without proper identification and without otherwise meeting the requirements for that status.

“The people of Wisconsin deserve to know whether their election processes worked in a legal and transparent way. Regrettably, the integrity of the election results cannot be trusted without a recount in these two counties and uniform enforcement of Wisconsin absentee ballot requirements. We will not know the true results of the election until only the legal ballots cast are counted,” said Jim Troupis, counsel to the campaign. “We will not stop fighting for transparency and integrity in our electoral process to ensure that all Americans can trust the results of a free and fair election in Wisconsin and across the country.”

The petition will be filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission.