Joe Biden to announce cabinet picks tomorrow

 

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will announce the first of his Cabinet appointments on Tuesday as he lays the foundation for his new administration that will succeed Donald Trump’s on 20 January.

 

Ron Klain, Biden’s choice as chief of staff said that “you’re going to see the first Cabinet picks this Tuesday,”.

 

However, he declined to disclose the choices or the posts to be filled.

 

Biden said on Thursday he had chosen a treasury secretary.

 

Candidates on Biden’s shortlist include former Fed Chair Janet Yellen, current Fed Governor Lael Brainard, Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Fed governor, and Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

 

Biden allies also indicated he could announce his selection for secretary of state as soon as this week.

 

Former national security adviser Susan Rice and veteran diplomat Antony Blinken are seen as among the candidates.

 

Since Biden, a Democrat, was declared the winner of the Nov. 3 election two weeks ago, the Republican president has launched a barrage of lawsuits and mounted a pressure campaign to prevent state officials from certifying their vote totals.

 

Trump suffered another emphatic legal setback on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

 

Klain has urged that the Trump administration – specifically a federal agency called the General Services Administration (GSA) – formally recognize Biden’s victory to unlock resources for the transition process.

 

 “I hope that the administrator of the GSA will do her job,” Klain added, referring to GSA chief Emily Murphy.

 

Biden is due to take office on Jan. 20.

 

“A record number of Americans rejected the Trump presidency, and since then Donald Trump’s been rejecting democracy,” Klain told ABC’s “This Week” program.

 

Biden received six million more votes nationwide than Trump and prevailed 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the election’s victor.