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Biden implements coronavirus strategy
President Biden signed a series of presidential executive orders and guidelines on Thursday that put in place a comprehensive coronavirus strategy for the war, including requiring masks on some planes, trains and buses.
I understand the despair and frustration of so many Americans and how they feel. I understand why many governors, mayors, district officials, and tribal leaders feel like they are alone with no clear national plan to get them through the crisis. Let me be very clear. Things will keep getting worse before they get better. The memorial that we held two nights ago will unfortunately not be our last. There are moments in history when more is required of a certain generation, more of Americans than at other times. We are in this moment now. History will measure whether we are up to the task. I believe we are. The next step is to ensure that support from the National Guard and FEMA is available. The next concerns expanding access to treatment for Covid-19.
President Biden signed a series of presidential executive orders and guidelines on Thursday that put in place a comprehensive coronavirus strategy for the war, including requiring masks on some planes, trains and buses.recognitionRecognition…Doug Mills / The New York Times
President Biden on Thursday pledged a “full-blown war effort” to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and signed a series of presidential executive orders and guidelines to tackle the worst public health crisis in a century, including new requirements for masks on interstate aircraft. Quarantine trains and buses, as well as international travelers, upon arrival in the United States.
"History will measure whether we are up to the task," said Biden during an appearance in the State Dining Room of the White House with Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, his chief Covid-19 medical advisor at his side.
With thousands of Americans dying from Covid-19 each day, a national death toll of more than 400,000, and a new, contagious variant of the virus that is spreading rapidly, the pandemic is the most pressing challenge in Mr. Biden's early days in office . How he deals with it will set the tone, how the Americans see his government in the future, as Mr Biden himself admitted.
In a 200-page document titled "National Strategy for Responding to Covid-19 and Preparing for Pandemics," released Thursday, the new administration outlines the kind of centralized federal response that Democrats have long called for and which President Donald J. Trump has rejected.
Despite his repeated calls for unity, the new president shot his predecessor, saying, “Over the past year we could not count on the federal government to act with the urgency, focus and coordination we needed, and we have seen the tragic cost this failure. "
But the Biden plan is too optimistic in some ways and not ambitious enough in other ways, some experts say. It is not clear how he would enforce the quarantine requirement. And his promise to inject 100 million vaccines in his first hundred days is low, as twice as many doses should be available in those 100 days.
Mr Biden was reluctant to ask a reporter when asked if the target should be a higher number. "When I announced it, you all said it wasn't possible," said Mr. Biden. "Come on, give me a break, man."
With the currently approved coronavirus vaccines requiring two doses, but some Americans have already received their first shots, Mr Biden's pledge should cover 65 to 70 million Americans, said Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration under Trump.
"I think we can achieve that goal, and probably move higher, by focusing on how many people are vaccinated for the first time each day," said Dr. Gottlieb. With vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna already receiving emergency approval and a third from Johnson & Johnson likely to be approved soon, he said, "We can definitely reach a lot more patients."
The problem lies beyond the 100-day mark. Federal health officials and senior executives agree that a lack of manufacturing capacity will make it impossible to increase the immediate supply of vaccines until April at the earliest.
"The brutal truth is that it will be months before we can vaccinate the majority of Americans," said Biden.
For Mr Biden, it makes political sense to lower expectations, and on Capitol Hill the new president doesn't have a big honeymoon. House No. 2 Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana said in a statement, "The comments the White House coronavirus Tsar made on vaccine delivery and distribution are old Washington spin-offs." He added, "The fact is that the Biden government has inherited contracts for 300 million doses of vaccines for two approved vaccines and two in late-stage clinical trials."
However, the Biden team was quick to pinpoint what it sees as a mistake by the Trump administration.
"What we are inheriting is so much worse than we could have imagined," said Jeff Zients, the White House's new Covid-19 response coordinator, adding, "The cooperation or lack of cooperation from the Trump administration has been an obstacle . We do not have the visibility we would hope for offer and allocation. "
In a demonstration of his often-declared promise to put federal health professionals first, Mr. Biden was welcomed by Dr. Fauci and Mr. Zients accompanied in the state dining room. Four other officials attended by video: Xavier Becerra, the candidate for the Ministry of Health; Vivek Murthy, the candidate for general surgeon, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the new director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Racial Equality Health Advisor.
Efforts to untangle and accelerate the distribution of vaccines – perhaps the most pressing challenge facing the Biden government, which is also the most promising way forward – will be a desperate race against time as states across the country have warned that they could run out of vaccines doses this weekend.
Although Mr Biden has stated that his administration would release more doses as they become available and keep fewer in reserve, he said last week that he would not change the recommended timing for second doses: 21 days after the first dose for Pfizer's vaccine and 28 days for Moderna.
The government is asking Congress for $ 1.9 trillion for pandemic aid, and White House officials said they would need a large portion of that money to carry out their Covid-19 plan.
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"It will be soon," Pelosi says of the Trump impeachment process
Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said the impeachment charges against former President Donald J. Trump would "soon" be sent to the Senate for trial but had not set a date.
"We'll be talking to the managers in a few days about when the Senate will be ready to try the then President of the United States for his role in sparking an insurrection in the House of Representatives, to order the United States Capitol over our democracy." to undermine the will of the people. It is up to them to decide how to move forward, when to move forward. It will be soon. I don't think it will take long, but we have to. Reporter: "You mentioned unity yesterday, a message of unity. Are you even concerned about pushing an impeachment process, could you undermine that message and alienate the President's Republican supporters?" "No, no, I don't care To care. The fact is that the President of the United States has committed an act of incitement to insurrection. I don't think there is much agreement to say, "Oh, let's just forget about it and move on." So don't unite. You are not saying to a president, "Do what you want in the last few months of your administration." You will get out of jail for free. “Because because people think we should be nice, nice and forget that people died here on January 6th. That the attempt to undermine our choice, to undermine our democracy in order to dishonor our constitution – no, I don't see that at all. I think that would be detrimental to unity. "
Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi said the impeachment charges against former President Donald J. Trump would "soon" be sent to the Senate for trial but had not set a date.recognitionRecognition…Amr Alfiky / The New York Times
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, told Senators Thursday that he was planning to ask Democrats to postpone the impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump until early February to allow Mr. Trump's legal team Have time to prepare a defense to someone familiar with his remarks.
The proposal came about when McConnell and Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and new majority leader, haggled privately behind the scenes over the timing and structure of the process, and Spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi again refused to say when she would submit the impeachment fee to the Senate, which will initiate the process.
Uncertainty has puzzled Democrats over how to advance the former president for his role in fighting the violent rabble that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 without overshadowing President Biden's early days. Ms Pelosi insisted that the trial would not prejudice Mr Biden's demand for unity, implying that the prosecution case could be speedy but would not set a precise date for the prosecution other than to say the house would do this "soon".
"I don't think there is much agreement to say, 'Let's just forget about it and move on," the spokesman told reporters at the Capitol. "Just because he's gone now – thank God – don't say to one President: 'Do whatever you want in the last few months of your administration, you will get a no-parole card' because people think we should be nice and nice and forget that people died here on January 6th that he tried to undermine our choice, undermine our democracy, dishonor our constitution. "
As soon as a process begins, the legislators in both chambers agree that it should be done quickly. Still bitter about the length and repetition of last year's trial of Mr. Trump, the Senators were approaching rules that would condense the meat of the trial into just three days of oral presentations, with law enforcement and defense taking up to 12 hours each to make Fall, said those involved in the planning. When the Senate tried Mr Trump a year ago, each side had up to 24 hours.
Ceremonial requests, deliberations, and votes would add several additional days, but the trial could be the fastest impeachment trial of the president in history.
Even so, the timeline could skyrocket if either the property managers or Mr Trump's defense team asked to call witnesses. On Thursday, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham said on a conference call with Republican Senators that Mr. Trump had hired a lawyer, Butch Bowers, according to one person on the conference call.
Mr. Bowers, whose practice is based in South Carolina, did not immediately respond to a call for comment.
Whether Democrats would be able to get enough Republican votes to condemn the former president remained unclear. Mr McConnell said he hadn't made up his mind yet.
His colleague in the House of Representatives, California Republican Kevin McCarthy, said Thursday that he does not believe Mr Trump instigated the attack on the Capitol.
"I don't think he provoked it when you hear what he said at the rally," Mr. McCarthy continued.
The tone was different from what Mr McCarthy said on the floor of the house last week when he argued during the impeachment debate that Mr Trump "was responsible for the attack".
"He should have denounced the mob as soon as he saw what was going on," Mr. McCarthy said then.
Recognition…Pool photo by Andrew Harnik
The deputy director of the F.B.I. announced to office staff on Thursday that he is retiring and leaving the office while the Biden administration takes over.
Outgoing official David L. Bowdich's exit comes after the White House assured Thursday that President Biden would keep Christopher A. Wray as director of the office.
Mr Bowdich had successfully mastered the strained relationship between the office and the Trump administration and was ranked # 2 on the F.B.I. in 2018. promoted. Some within the F.B.I. questioned his close relationship with former Attorney General William P. Barr, asking if he had done enough to protect the office from Trump allies in Congress who repeatedly targeted the Russia investigation.
Mr. Bowdich, who is the deputy chief operating agent for the F.B.I. was appointed assistant director in March 2018 following the dismissal of Andrew G. McCabe, who has long been a target of disdain for former President Donald J. Trump. Mr. Bowdich started his career as F.B.I. Special Agent in 1995 and spent much of it on criminal matters.
Mr. Bowdich will be replaced by Paul M. Abbate, Officer No. 3 of the F.B.I., according to officials familiar with the matter. Mr. Abbate is a veteran counterterrorism investigator who has led the Washington, DC branch office – the second largest – as well as the Detroit branch, which has a solid counter-terrorism program.
The F.B.I. and the Justice Department are leading the federal investigation into the January 6th Capitol insurrection that raises questions about whether the F.B.I. could have done more to prevent this day's failures.
Recognition…Octavio Jones for the New York Times
In a briefing Thursday, President Biden said he had fulfilled his long-standing promise to invoke the Defense Equipment Manufacturing Act to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
During the presidential campaign, he had called for the Korean War-era law to be used to increase the nation's supply of essential items such as coronavirus testing and personal protective equipment. On Thursday, he signed an executive order instructing federal authorities to use it to increase the production of vaccine material.
Former President Donald J. Trump has had limited application of the law, which allows the federal government to enforce some control over private industry to ensure the production of materials deemed necessary for national defense. It goes back to the Korean War.
Congress passed it with military necessities such as steel and armor in mind, but legislators expanded it to include other areas, including public health and safety, after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In 2019, it was re-approved until 2025.
Part of the law allows the government to change the order in which companies meet their contractual obligations by asking them to prioritize some existing contracts over others. For example, if a company makes surgical masks and other paper products, the government might order them to put the other items on hold in order to clear mask production. The Pentagon routinely uses this authority with defense companies.
It is an open question whether the government could use the law to force a company to accept a new contract on a product it has not yet manufactured.
Recognition…Doug Mills / The New York Times
President Biden signed a series of measures late Wednesday to take down some of the Trump administration's most controversial policies. He moved hours after he took office to brush aside and reverse his predecessor's pandemic on his environmental policies and anti-immigration orders.
Here are some of the key issues that President Biden addressed in the 17 implementing regulations, memoranda and proclamations:
The pandemic
Mr Biden signed an executive order appointing Jeffrey D. Zients as Covid-19 Response Coordinator to "aggressively" accelerate the nation's response to the pandemic. Calls for social distancing and the wearing of masks on all federal properties and by all federal employees, Mr. Biden is launching a "100 Day Masking Challenge," which will encourage all Americans to wear masks.
Mr Biden is also reestablishing ties with the World Health Organization after the Trump administration decided last year to withdraw the nation's membership and funding.
immigration
With an executive order, Mr Biden has supported the program "Measures deferred on the arrival of children", which protects immigrants who were brought to the USA as children from deportation. Mr Trump tried for years to end the program. The ordinance also calls on Congress to enact laws that provide these immigrants with permanent status and a route to citizenship.
Three other orders repeal the Trump administration's plan to exclude non-citizens from the census, overturn a Trump order that encourages aggressive efforts to find and deport unauthorized immigrants, and block the deportation of U.S.-based Liberians.
Mr Biden has also ended travel restrictions on people from several predominantly Muslim and African countries and stopped building the border wall with Mexico.
Climate change
Mr Biden, the head of executive regulation dealing with climate change, has signed a letter on re-entry into the United States under the Paris Agreement, which he will officially rejoin in 30 days. Mr Trump withdrew the United States from the deal in 2019, in which nearly 200 nations pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In additional executive orders, Mr. Biden began reversing many environmental policies, including withdrawing approval for the Keystone XL pipeline. Reversing rollbacks on vehicle emissions standards; Undoing decisions to reduce the size of several national monuments; Implementation of a temporary moratorium on oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and re-establishing a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gases.
Racial and L.G.B.T. equal rights
Mr Biden will end the Trump administration's 1776 commission, which on Monday released a report that historians say has skewed the role of slavery in the United States. The president also overturned Mr Trump's order restricting the ability of federal agencies, contractors and other institutions to deliver training on diversity and inclusion.
Mr Biden appointed Susan E. Rice, director of his home affairs council, to lead a "robust, interactive" effort in which all federal agencies are required to make "eradicating systemic racism" a central theme of their work.
Another executive order reiterates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which requires the federal government not to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity, a policy that reverses the actions of the Trump administration.
The economy
Mr Biden is moving to extend a federal moratorium on eviction and has asked authorities including the Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban Development departments to extend a moratorium on foreclosures on government-guaranteed mortgages that was issued in response to the pandemic. The extensions will run at least until the end of March.
The president will also seek to take a break on interest and principal payments on federal student loans by the end of September.
Recognition…Pool photo by Greg Nash
The House and Senate approved a special waiver Thursday to allow Lloyd J. Austin III, a retired four-star general in the Army, to serve as Secretary of Defense, removing a hurdle for affirmation of a key member of the national Security teams eliminated by President Biden as Congress leaders rushed to install him in the Pentagon.
The successive votes came as Senate leaders set a time as early as Thursday night to approve General Austin who would be the first black American in the nation's history to hold office. Earlier in the day, the Armed Forces Committee approved both the nomination and the special arrangement required of any Pentagon chief who has retired from active military service for less than seven years.
The waiver was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate with overwhelming non-partisan votes. The House took the unusual step of bypassing its own Armed Forces Committee and voicing the waiver directly. In the Senate, lawmakers refrained from discussing the measure on the floor and voted the measure off the House just minutes after it was passed. Congress approved a similar move four years ago for President Donald J. Trump's first Secretary of Defense, Jim Mattis, a retired four-star naval officer.
The numerous activities on Capitol Hill reflected the Democrats' urgency to install General Austin rapidly in the Pentagon. This is a step typically taken on the first day of a new president's term to signal the continuity of American power when the presidency changes hands.
For weeks, General Austin's chances of obtaining the waiver seemed slim, and members of both parties said they would not circumvent the law twice in a row. Clearly, some Republicans saw the refusal to surrender as a way to attack any of Mr Biden's candidates without having to directly oppose his endorsement.
For the past two weeks, officials on Mr Biden's transition team have been putting heavy pressure on the Democrats to approve General Austin. Their efforts were ultimately supported by Democratic leaders who stressed the historic nature of the nomination and warned its members not to send a message of disability on the first full day of Mr Biden's presidency.
Californian spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi leaned on members to waive General Austin Thursday, according to several Democrats familiar with the remarks, and asked her on a private conference call, "Can you give the President of the United States the benefit?" of doubt give? ? "
The siege by Trump supporters of the Capitol earlier this month and the participation of some veterans and members of the military on active duty underscored the military's continued failure to eradicate white supremacy and right-wing extremism from its ranks. General Austin said at his confirmation hearing that this would be one of his top priorities.
"We cannot overlook the historical significance of Secretary-designate Austin, who was the first African American to be elected Secretary of Defense in our history," said Representative Adam Smith, Democrat of Washington and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, in a letter to Democratic lawmakers Week.
"Our country is facing a violent right-wing extremist uprising, fueled mainly by white supremacist organizations," he wrote. "Given these realities, it would be a grave mistake for the United States House of Representatives to prevent Secretary-designate Austin from being confirmed as our Secretary of Defense."
Unlike General Mattis, who had not met with lawmakers before they voted to approve his waiver, General Austin met privately with lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee Thursday. He testified before the Senate committee last week.
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Buttigieg Says Transport Policy Is Key To The "American Dream"
In speaking to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Pete Buttigieg focused on a broad vision for his tenure if sustained as Secretary of Transportation.
First and foremost, I want you to know that, when this is confirmed, I will work every day to make sure the department is doing its job of maintaining safety – safety for both travelers and workers. And I look forward to working closely with Congress. Safety is the foundation of the Department's mission, and it is gaining new meaning in the face of this pandemic. We also have a lot to do to improve the infrastructure in this country. This mission will not only protect more people but also grow our economy as we look to the future. Now is the time and I believe we have a real chance to deliver for the American people. I believe that good transport policy can play no less part than realizing the American dream of getting people and goods where they need to be and creating, directly and indirectly, well-paying jobs. But I also acknowledge that in the worst case scenario, misdirected policies and missed transportation options can exacerbate racial and economic inequality by dividing or isolating neighborhoods and undermining the fundamental role of government in enabling Americans to thrive. So much is at stake today and as much is possible as our country is working to get out of the crisis of this moment with a bipartisan appetite for an opportunity for generations to transform and improve American infrastructure. So I'm not taking the chance to head this department lightly at this historic moment. And if confirmed, I promise I will bring the same sense of duty and commitment that led me to serve my hometown as mayor and that motivated me to serve our country in the Navy Reserve.
In speaking to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Pete Buttigieg focused on a broad vision for his tenure if sustained as Secretary of Transportation.recognitionRecognition…Pool photo by Stefani Reynolds
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, promised Thursday that if he was confirmed as Secretary of Transportation, he would align the department with President Biden's goals for nationwide infrastructure reform.
In his confirmation hearing, held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Mr. Buttigieg said there was a "generational opportunity" to transform the country's infrastructure to meet Mr. Biden's goals of climate change, racial justice and justice job creation will be promoted.
While staying away from specific policy proposals for most of the hearing, Mr Buttigieg, who ran for president in the 2020 elections, said he would tighten traffic safety rules, especially in the aviation industry. He also pledged to work with the country's state, local and tribal leaders on transit issues and said he would try to mitigate the impact of transport policies on poor and minority communities.
"I believe that good transport policy can play a role no less than making the American dream come true," he said. "But I also recognize that in the worst case scenario, misguided policies and missed transport options can exacerbate racial and economic inequality."
Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who last chaired the committee when the Senate completed its transfer of power, said he was concerned about how the nation would pay for the ambitious transportation program proposed by the Biden administration, however he was "pretty sure" that Mr. Buttigieg would be confirmed and was looking forward to working with him.
Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the committee, said Mr. Buttigieg's experience as mayor would be beneficial and praised his initiative called Smart Streets, which aimed to revitalize downtown South Bend through street and sidewalk changes.
"As mayor," she said, "I know that you are not unfamiliar with the challenges that a region is facing in terms of transport infrastructure."
If confirmed, Mr Buttigieg would take over the department – with 55,000 employees and a budget of $ 87 billion – at a time when the country's transportation systems are hit by the pandemic.
Some of Mr Buttigieg's critics have said that his records of policing and racial relations – including his dismissal of a black police chief and his inability to diversify South Bend's predominantly white police force – and his relatively little experience working on large transportation projects show that he has a lot to prove.
Recognition…Matt Eich für die New York Times
Susan Bro erkannte den spürbaren Ärger und die offene Bigotterie in der Menge, die Anfang dieses Monats das Kapitol der Vereinigten Staaten angriff. Es erinnerte sie an die Ausgießung von Hass, die ihre Tochter Heather Heyer getötet hatte.
Das war im Jahr 2017, als weiße Supremacisten, bekennende Neonazis und rechte Milizen im Namen der Intoleranz – und des ehemaligen Präsidenten Donald J. Trump – auf Charlottesville marschierten und einer von ihnen ein Auto in eine Menschenmenge fuhr und dabei tödlich verletzte Frau Heyer.
Mehr als drei Jahre später sagen Frau Bro und andere Einwohner von Charlottesville, sie hätten eine Botschaft für die Nation nach der jüngsten Episode weißer Gewalt in Washington und für Präsident Biden, der die Themen Heilung und Einheit angesichts der Rechte betont. Flügelextremismus.
Heilung erfordert, die Täter zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen, sagte Frau Bro. Einheit folgt Gerechtigkeit.
"Schauen Sie sich die Lehren aus Charlottesville", sagte sie. "Die Eile, sich zu umarmen und" Kumbaya "zu singen, ist keine wirksame Strategie."
Herr Biden berief sich regelmäßig auf Charlottesville während einer Kampagne, in der er fünf Staaten zurückeroberte, die Herr Trump 2016 gewonnen hatte. Und obwohl Herr Biden während seiner Antrittsrede am Mittwoch der Gewalt hier und im Kapitol nickte, formulierte er die Lösungen in die Art von Begriffen, die Frau Bro in Frage stellte und die den Glauben zeigten, dass Freundlichkeit und Mitgefühl systemische Diskriminierung überwinden könnten.
In Interviews in dieser Woche forderten Aktivisten, religiöse Führer und Bürgerrechtsgruppen aus Charlottesville, die die Ereignisse von 2017 überstanden hatten, Herrn Biden und die Demokratische Partei auf, über die Einheit als das ultimative politische Ziel hinauszugehen und einen Sinn für Gerechtigkeit zu priorisieren, der die historisch Ausgegrenzten erhebt.
Als Herr Biden Frau Bro an dem Tag anrief, an dem er 2019 in das Präsidentenrennen eintrat, drängte sie ihn auf seine politischen Verpflichtungen zur Korrektur von Rassenungleichheiten. Sie lehnte es ab, ihn zu unterstützen, und konzentrierte sich mehr auf die Unterstützung der Antirassismusbewegung als auf jeden einzelnen Kandidaten.
Lokale Führer sagen, dies sei das Erbe des „Summer of Hate“, da die weißen supremacistischen Aktionen und Gewalttaten von 2017 in Charlottesville bekannt sind. Als die Wahl von Mr. Trump und die darauf folgende Gewalt den Mythos eines nachrassischen Amerikas, insbesondere unter den weißen Liberalen, durchbohrten, verpflichteten sich diese Führer zu dem langen Bogen, die Demokratie vor weißer Vormachtstellung und Fehlinformationen zu schützen.
"Wir waren der Kanarienvogel in der Kohlenmine", sagte Jalane Schmidt, ein Aktivist und Professor, der an der Universität von Virginia lehrt und 2017 am Aktivismus beteiligt war. Sie verglich den aktuellen politischen Moment mit den Folgen des Bürgerkriegs und formulierte die Entscheidung für die Regierung von Herrn Biden entweder als Verpflichtung zu tiefgreifenden Veränderungen, die dem Wiederaufbau ähneln, oder als Teil des Kompromisses, der sein Ende brachte.
"Wir haben eine große politische Partei, die zu groß ist und undemokratische Praktiken, die Unterdrückung von Wählern und die Verwöhnung dieser Verschwörungstheorien unterstützt", sagte Dr. Schmidt und bezog sich dabei auf Republikaner. „Also Heilung? Einheit? Das kann man nicht mit Leuten machen, die sich nicht an demokratische Grundprinzipien halten. "
Recognition…Jason Andrew for The New York Times
Federal authorities in Michigan have arrested a man suspected of using a hockey stick to repeatedly hit police officers during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — including beating one who had already fallen to the ground.
Like other suspects, the man, Michael Joseph Foy, has been charged with obstruction of a congressional proceeding and unlawful entry into a restricted building. But he also faces additional serious charges, including forcibly assaulting a federal officer.
Mr. Foy is one of several suspects in the riot charged with attacking police officers in assaults caught on video. Prosecutors this week also charged a Connecticut man, Patrick E. McCaughey, with trapping a police officer, Daniel Hodges, behind a riot shield as a crowd pressed against him. In a widely-seen video of the encounter, Officer Hodges cried for help until eventually being pulled to safety.
According to an F.B.I. affidavit made public after Mr. Foy’s arrest, investigators identified him in numerous videos and photographs on social media from the riot, including a compendium of footage of violence against police published by The New York Times.
Another video, posted on YouTube, appears to show Mr. Foy “lifting the stick above his head and swinging it down rapidly, striking an individual on the ground several times. At no point does it appear that the individual on the ground is acting aggressively, nor does it appear that the attack in justified,” the affidavit said.
The officer was not identified in the court filing.
The F.B.I. identified Mr. Foy using postings on his father’s Facebook page; among other things, his father wrote, in discussing a picture of his son in the riot, “he was raised better.” Other postings about Mr. Foy cited in the complaint indicate that he is a former member of the Marine Corps.
Recognition…Pete Marovich for The New York Times
As one of his last acts as president, Donald J. Trump extended Secret Service protection for his adult children for six months, as well as for two cabinet secretaries and the White House chief of staff, an administration official said on Wednesday.
The protections are for each of Mr. Trump’s adult children and their spouses, as well as the former Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, the former national security adviser Robert C. O’Brien and the former chief of staff Mark Meadows, the official said.
The Washington Post reported earlier on the extensions.
The moves mean that the federal government will continue to pay for expensive security arrangements for the wealthy former first family, unless President Biden decides to undo them. But that could be a delicate move for Mr. Biden that might depend on threat assessments by security agencies.
Recognition…Erin Schaff/The New York Times
President Biden began his first full day in the White House on Thursday with only one member of his cabinet approved by Congress — Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence — in a break from recent precedent that could delay the administration’s efforts to implement its broad policy agenda.
The Senate confirmation on Wednesday, after Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office, came after a last-ditch deal to avoid breaking the long tradition of confirming a new president’s top national security officials on Inauguration Day.
An 84-10 vote elevated Ms. Haines, signaling broad bipartisan support that Senator Mark Warner, the Virginia Democrat and likely new chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said was welcome.
Former President Donald J. Trump consistently maligned the nation’s intelligence officials throughout his time in the White House, politicizing intelligence in a way his predecessors sought to avoid. Mr. Trump’s first director of national intelligence, former Senator Dan Coats, won confirmation easily in 2017, but he was not confirmed until mid-March that year.
The confirmation process has been delayed this year because of the unusual nature of the White House transition, in which the outgoing president never conceded, and Republicans declined for weeks to recognize Mr. Biden’s victory. The late resolution of two Georgia races also left the balance of power in the Senate up in the air until two weeks ago.
The Senate, where Democrats are in charge only by virtue of the vice president’s tiebreaking power, held confirmation hearings on Tuesday for four more cabinet nominees: the Treasury, state, homeland security and defense secretaries.
On Thursday, hearings are set to continue as lawmakers consider the nomination of Pete Buttigieg to be secretary of transportation. If confirmed, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., would be a key player in advancing Mr. Biden’s ambitious agenda on both rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure and on climate change.
On Friday, the finance committee is expected to hold a meeting on the nomination of Janet L. Yellen, the former chair of the Federal Reserve whom Mr. Biden nominated to be Treasury secretary.
As Mr. Biden pressed for his slate of nominees to be confirmed, his administration on Wednesday afternoon announced the appointment of acting leaders for more than 30 federal agencies.
The White House press secretary, Jennifer Psaki, said in her first briefing on Wednesday that Mr. Biden had been in communication with members of Congress, underscoring the urgency to have a team in place to tackle key issues.
Ms. Psaki said the desire to get a cabinet in position was “front and center for the president.”
“We have prioritized getting our national security team in place, given the crisis we’re facing, given the importance of keeping the American people safe at this time,” she said. “But we are eager for those to move forward quickly in the coming days.”
When asked by a reporter about whether Mr. Biden had confidence in the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, Ms. Psaki did not answer directly. On Thursday, she clarified the issue on Twitter, saying that the president “intends to keep FBI Director Wray on in his role and he has confidence in the job he is doing.”
I caused an unintentional ripple yesterday so wanted to state very clearly President Biden intends to keep FBI Director Wray on in his role and he has confidence in the job he is doing.
— Jen Psaki (@PressSec) January 21, 2021
