Trump relents, Biden forges ahead with building team

Wilmington, November 24

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday began a new phase in his transition to the White House after the Trump administration gave the Democrat access to critical resources that will enable him to take the reins of power in January.

The General Services Administration's announcement on Monday that it would formally recognise Biden's transition came after weeks of the president falsely claiming that the November 3 election had been marred by widespread voter fraud.

Trump, in a post on Twitter, offered support for the move.

While Trump stopped short of conceding, it was the closest he has come to acknowledging that it is time to hand over power to Biden, who will take office on January 20.

The GSA announcement will allow the president-elect to access millions of dollars in funds and focus on putting together a leadership team.

Two Trump administration officials said the Biden agency review teams could begin interacting with Trump agency officials as soon as Tuesday.

The Biden transition team said meetings would begin with federal officials on Washington's response to the coronavirus pandemic, along with discussions of national security issues.

Biden on Monday tapped trusted aide Antony Blinken to head the State Department and John Kerry, a former US senator, secretary of state and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, to serve as his special climate envoy.

Biden, who plans to undo many of Trump's "America First" policies, also named Jake Sullivan as his national security adviser and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations - both with high-level government experience. — Reuters

Yellen may be Treasury Secretary

Biden is likely to tap former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen to become the next Treasury Secretary, according to two Biden allies. The Biden transition team said meetings would begin with federal officials on Washington’s response to the Covid pandemic, along with discussions of national security issues. Reuters

Europe expects reset of ties

Berlin: German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said he hopes a reset of US-European relations under the Biden administration can end years in which Europe was mainly concerned with “damage control.” Maas’ counterpart from Portugal, Augusto Santos Silva, said Europe wants to be treated as a “full and equal partner” rather than an enemy of the United States. Agencies