News: Who could be in Biden's Cabinet?

Thursday, November 12, 2020

Who could be in Biden's Cabinet?

Biden's begins forming his Cabinet; Pope Francis has pledged to combat sexual abuse.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Benjamin Rosenberg.

TOP NEWS

Biden has his chief of staff. Next up: choosing his Cabinet.

Michael S. Williamson/Washington Post/Getty Images

After naming 13 people to a Covid-19 task force on Monday, President-elect Joe Biden named Ronald A. Klain as his White House chief of staff Wednesday. Klain was Biden's chief of staff when he was vice president, and also held that role under Vice President Al Gore. [Washington Post / Michael Sherer]
With Klain at his side, Biden's next steps will be to select his Cabinet. Many of his selections will likely be holdovers from President Barack Obama's administration, though the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party would prefer him to go in a different direction. [The Hill / Tal Axelrod]
The Sunrise Movement and the Justice Democrats, two well-known progressive groups, are calling for the two leftmost candidates from the 2020 Democratic primary campaign to join Biden's Cabinet: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. [NYT / Sydney Ember]
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was also briefly a presidential candidate, and with his focus on climate change, his name has come up in Cabinet speculation. Inslee could be tapped for secretary of energy, secretary of the interior, or head of the Environmental Protection Agency. [Seattle Times / Jim Brunner]
Another former presidential candidate, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, has been floated for attorney general and secretary of agriculture. Klobuchar serves on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, where she has supported tying farmers' subsidies to their cost of production. [CNBC / Brian Schwartz and Thomas Franck]
Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge has expressed interest in the agriculture role as well, and she would be the first Black woman to hold the post. Fudge has fought back against the Trump administration's efforts to roll back the food stamps program. [Politico / Natasha Korecki, Helena Bottemiller Evich, and Liz Crampton]
Biden's most-anticipated appointment will be for secretary of state. Top contenders include Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations under Obama; Anthony Blinken, Obama's Deputy Secretary of State; and Delaware Sen. Chris Coons, who holds Biden's old Senate seat. [CNN / Kate Sullivan, Gregory Krieg, Dan Merica, and Jeff Zeleny]
Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy during Obama's first term, is under consideration to lead the Defense Department. Flournoy would be the first woman to hold the position, as would Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth if she is selected. [Vox / Matthew Yglesias]
Many of Biden's picks will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Biden and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have negotiated compromises in the past, but McConnell has signaled that he may block Biden's more progressive appointees. [The Hill / Jordain Carney and Julia Manchester]

Pope Francis vows to end sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

After the Vatican released a detailed report into allegations of sexual abuse by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Pope Francis pledged Wednesday to end sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church. [AP / Nicole Winfield]
The Vatican's report revealed that two previous popes, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, were aware of the allegations against McCarrick, but supported his rise through the church's ranks anyway. Francis was not informed of abuse by McCarrick, the report said. [Washington Post / Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli]
Six lawsuits and settlements regarding sexual abuse have been filed against McCarrick since June 2018. Francis dismissed him in 2019 after a Vatican investigation revealed he had sexually abused minors in addition to adults. [AP]
Francis has been aware of McCarrick's case since at least 2018, before he became the first US cardinal to be dismissed. Last year, Francis held an international summit on abuse at the Vatican and set forth new rules for investigating clergy members accused of abuse. [Wall Street Journal / Francis X. Rocca]
"Yesterday, the report about the painful case of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was published," Francis said in a weekly address. "I renew my closeness to the victims of every abuse and the commitment of the Church to uproot this evil." [The Hill / Jordan Williams]

MISCELLANEOUS

Tropical Storm Eta made landfall in Florida on Thursday, sweeping across the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic. It's the 29th named storm in the Atlantic this year — a record.

[CNN / Madeline Holcombe]

The United Kingdom became the fifth country to surpass 50,000 deaths from Covid-19, joining the US, Brazil, India, and Mexico, according to Johns Hopkins University data. [The Guardian / Kevin Rawlison, Tobi Thomas, and Pamela Duncan]
After Armenia gave up control over much of the Nagorno-Karabakh region to Azerbaijan in a peace agreement, thousands of Armenians are protesting in the capital city of Yerevan, calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to resign. [AP / Avet Demourian]
The first cruise ship with passengers to set sail in the Caribbean Sea since the Covid-19 pandemic began was halted after a passenger tested positive for the virus. The ship had left Barbados on Saturday and was forced to return there after the positive test. [Orlando Sentinel / Richard Tribou]
In a year unlike any other, the tournament billed as "a tradition unlike any other" has been reimagined. The Masters, which normally takes place in April, began today at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. [NYT / Brendan Porath and Alan Binder]

VERBATIM

"His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again."

[President-elect Joe Biden, on naming Ronald Klain as his chief of staff]