Biden speeds up transition by appointing new head of cabinet
Joe Biden continues the transition while Donald Trump still won't admit defeat: the new US president chose a veteran Democrat to be his chief of staff at the White House on Wednesday night.
Ron Klain, a lawyer by profession and a strong critic of Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic, may have been the main reason for Biden's choice for the job, as the president-elect has made the fight against the coronavirus pandemic one of his government's priorities.
Biden, who is due to take office on 20 January, is making his first appointment, announced in a statement by the Biden-Harris presidential transition team.
"His broad and varied experience and ability to work with people from across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we face this moment of crisis and bring our country together again," he added.
Ron Klain, 59, also worked with Joe Biden when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He then served as Vice President Al Gore's chief of staff. Under President Barack Obama, he coordinated the White House response to the Ebola crisis in 2014.
Ron Klain said it was "the honor of a lifetime" to be appointed to this position. "I look forward to helping him and Vice President Harris assemble a talented and diverse team to work in the White House, to address its ambitious agenda for change, and to work to bridge the divisions in our country," he said.
The choice of this Klain has received praise from Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called Ron Klain's appointment a "great choice" because he "understands the magnitude of the health and economic crisis and has the experience to lead this next administration.
According to The New York Times, even before Biden reported his first appointments, the more liberal wing of the Democratic Party is pressuring him to include figures from the more progressive spectrum among his advisors.
As every day since the election, Donald Trump began his day on his favourite communication channel, Twitter, to continue broadcasting his accusations of electoral fraud without any concrete evidence to back them up.
Trump has the support of the main leaders of the Republican Party who advocate that legal challenges be considered before the president admits his defeat. But some Republicans are beginning to call on Trump to accept defeat.
