President-elect Joe Biden’s team announced that the former vice president will nominate Tony Blinken, who served as Deputy Secretary of State and as Biden’s ex-national security adviser during the Obama years, to be his secretary of state.
The Biden team also announced former Deputy CIA Director Avril Haines as the president-elect’s pick for Director of National Intelligence. If confirmed, Haines would be the first woman to hold the position. In another barrier-breaker, the President-elect has chosen Alejandro Mayorkas to be his Secretary of Homeland Security, which would make him the first Latino to head the department.
Additionally, Jake Sullivan, who was also the former vice president’s national security adviser, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, another Obama administration alum who worked at the State Department, will be tapped as the President-elect’s national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations, respectively.
The Biden strategy team dedicated to getting the President-elect’s appointees confirmed did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Ron Klain, Biden’s new White House chief of staff, told ABC News that the President-elect would be announcing his Cabinet nominees on Tuesday, though Klain declined to say which Cabinet spots specifically.
“If you want to know what cabinet agencies they are, who’s going to be in those Cabinet agencies, you’ll have to wait for the President-Elect to say that himself on Tuesday,” the Biden aide said.
News of the President-elect’s planned nominations highlight how the Biden team continues to move forward as President Donald Trump and his administration refuse to acknowledge the incumbent’s decisive electoral defeat, choosing to stonewall Biden’s transition process instead.
