U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will announce his economic team and other key nominees next week, officials for his transition team said on Wednesday, after formal recognition of his election win this week allowed a transition to move forward.
Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield told reporters on a call that the transition team was encouraged by the “professional and welcoming response” of civil servants who they were getting in touch with to enable a smooth transfer of power.
Transition officials downplayed the impact of the three-week delay in formally beginning the transition, and dismissed President Donald Trump’s continued efforts to cast doubt on the results as a “sideshow.”
Biden was expected to receive his first presidential daily intelligence briefing on Monday, said Bedingfield.
Biden transition adviser Jen Psaki said classified information was already being shared with Biden’s senior team, and the transition’s agency review teams would focus on fact finding on the COVID-19 response and urgent national security threats, including terrorist or state actors who might seek to exploit the transition period.
“On the national security and foreign policy side, agency review team leads have reached out to their assigned agencies within hours of ascertainment on Monday night, and nearly all have had initial contact with their points of contact,” said Psaki.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; writing by Susan Heavey)
