Fauci to meet Biden’s transition team for the first time on Thursday

WASHINGTON – Dr Anthony Fauci will meet President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team for the first time on Thursday to discuss the response to the coronavirus pandemic, said a person close to the infectious disease expert and an official for the transition.

Fauci has already spoken to Biden’s new White House chief of staff Ron Klain, but Thursday’s virtual meeting will mark a more formal process and will be more substantive.

Fauci plans to remain in his role as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as the new administration takes over, the sources said.

White House task force response coordinator Dr Deborah Birx also began official contact with Biden’s transition team this week.

Meanwhile, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also receive the daily presidential briefing and meet with transition team advisers on Thursday. There are no public events on their schedule.

They are also set to record a joint interview Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, parts of which are scheduled to air after 4 p.m. ET, with the full interview airing at 9 p.m. ET.

• Biden could announce his health team as early as next week, a transition official told NBC News, including his choices to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the response from the new administration to the pandemic. Former Obama surgeon general Vivek Murthy is one of the top contenders for HHS secretary, as is Rhode Island housekeeper Gina Raimondo.
• Former President Barack Obama and former Georgia House Minority Leader and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will lead a virtual voting rally for Democratic state Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and the Reverend Raphael Warnock. The event will include a discussion with volunteers before the December 7 voter registration deadline and the start of in-person early voting on December 14.
• Harris announced more senior executive appointments on Thursday, including his chief of staff, Hartina Flournoy, who served as chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton. Rohini Kosoglu will be a domestic policy adviser and has worked for Harris since her days in the Senate, as chief of staff. Nancy McEldowney, a 30-year foreign service veteran, will be Harris’ national security adviser.
• Trump did not rule out the possibility of sacking Attorney General William Barr, according to an administration official and two people familiar with the matter who also said a sudden departure was not considered imminent. It comes after Barr said on Tuesday that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, contradicting Trump’s baseless claims.
• Ivanka Trump was impeached by lawyers, claiming that Trump’s inauguration committee in 2017 abused donor funds, according to a new court record revealed Wednesday.
• Senator Dianne Feinstein, D-California, wants California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to replace Kamala Harris in the Senate next year.
• Mark Kelly was sworn in in the Senate Wednesday by Vice President Mike Pence, offering Democrats a key handover in the battlefield state of Arizona.

President Donald Trump has no public events on his schedule. He is expected to hold two events on Thursday, closed to the press, to present the Medal of Freedom to former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz and sign a law to modernize information technology at the federal level and a decree promoting the use of artificial. intelligence in government.