Biden’s press-shy secretary

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Welcome to POLITICO’s 2021 Transition Playbook, your guide to the first 100 days of the Biden administration

Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN has been keeping a low profile lately.

While Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN and national security adviser JAKE SULLIVAN have been the public face of the Biden administration’s foreign policy — attending press briefings, posting video messages and going on MSNBC with ANDREA MITCHELL — the taciturn former four-star general has yet to brief the press or give interviews since he was sworn in more than two weeks ago (though he’s been an active tweeter since creating an account in December).

But Austin’s lower profile doesn’t necessarily signal a lack of influence.

One of the reasons JOE BIDEN chose Austin over better-known Beltway favorites like MICHÈLE FLOURNOY is the personal rapport the two men share. That will likely be on display Wednesday when the president makes his first visit to the Pentagon since his inauguration.

Austin’s professional relationship with Biden goes back to the Obama administration.

They collaborated when the then-vice president was leading Iraq policy and Austin was a commander in the Middle East. Austin was integral in implementing the administration’s Iraq drawdown and combating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Biden has said.

But their bond is also deeply personal. Austin developed a friendship with Biden’s late son, BEAU BIDEN, a member of the Army National Guard, during his time on Austin’s staff in Iraq. The two attended Mass together during the younger Biden’s deployment in 2008 and 2009, sitting side-by-side almost every Sunday.

Austin had a leg up with a president who prizes loyalty and personal chemistry. And Biden is likely to lean heavily on Austin’s military experience and calm under pressure behind the scenes.

Austin, the first Black Defense secretary, is just one half of the history-making duo leading the Pentagon who will be showcased Wednesday: Austin’s deputy, KATHLEEN HICKS, is the first woman in the position who was confirmed by Senate.

Hicks, whose first day in the Pentagon was today after the Senate confirmed her Monday night, brings expertise that Austin lacks, particularly on China, which the Biden team has said they will prioritize more than the Obama administration.

WHAT’S ON THE AGENDA TOMORROW? Biden will meet with senior civilian and military leadership at the Pentagon, as well as make remarks that will be live-streamed to the department’s workforce, according to a White House spokesperson.

The president will also view the Pentagon’s African American Heritage hall, a corridor “dedicated to honoring the service and sacrifice of African Americans throughout military history,” the spokesperson said. The visit has “special resonance” coming during Black History Month, she said.

Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you on the White House senior staff’s morning call? Are you VICTORIA NULAND? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: [email protected]. You can also reach Alex and Theo individually if you prefer.

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Where's Joe

In the Oval Office, where he and Treasury Secretary JANET YELLEN (wearing two masks) met with JAMIE DIMON of JPMorgan Chase, TOM DONOHUE of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, DOUG McMILLON of Walmart, SONIA SYNGAL of Gap Inc. and MARVIN ELLISON of Lowe’s.

Where's Kamala

With Biden in the Oval Office. She also swore in Veterans Affairs Secretary DENIS McDONOUGH this morning in her office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. McDonough was accompanied by his wife and sons. (His daughter joined virtually.)

Presidential Trivia

With the Center for Presidential Transition

Yellen is one of only two Treasury secretaries who also chaired the Federal Reserve. Who’s the other: MARRINER ECCLES, ARTHUR BURNS, G. WILLIAM MILLER or PAUL VOLCKER?

(Answer is at the bottom.)

Pro Exclusive

HUAWEI SUES FCC OVER DESIGNATION OF SECURITY THREAT — Chinese telecom company Huawei is suing the FCC over the agency’s move to designate the company as a national security threat, JOHN HENDEL reports. Huawei is asking judges to overturn the FCC order, arguing in a Monday court filing that the action “exceeds the FCC’s statutory authority, violates federal law and the Constitution, [and] is arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion.”

The remaining articles and infographics in this section are exclusively available to POLITICO Pro subscribers. Pro is a smart, personalized policy intelligence platform from POLITICO. If you are interested in learning more about how POLITICO Pro can support your team through the 2020 transition and beyond, visit this webpage.

The West Wing

MARK YOUR CALENDAR — Next Tuesday, Biden will participate in a CNN town hall in Milwaukee, Wis., moderated by ANDERSON COOPER. Televised town halls were a go-to during the general election when campaigning was limited because of Covid-19.

CLUBHOUSE IN THE WHITEHOUSE: First Chief of Staff RON KLAINjoined invite-only chatroom app Clubhouse this weekend, and now Vice President KAMALA HARRIS’ chief spokesperson, SYMONE SANDERS, is participating in a chat tonight on the app’s “Womxn in Business Club.” The topic will be the “American Rescue Plan” or #ARP, according to the host, CHRISTINA HOLDER.

But you’ll need an invite to the app to listen-in.

OOPS: Asked at Tuesday’s briefing about the effort to recall California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM, JEN PSAKI mistakenly referred to him as “former Governor Newsom.” As Playbook pointed out this afternoon, she also didn’t say the administration opposed the effort.

But she clarified this afternoon by tweeting that “@POTUS clearly opposes any effort to recall@GavinNewsom.”

FILLING THE RANKS

FIRST IN TRANSITION PLAYBOOK — Attorney General-designate MERRICK GARLAND has brought on attorney KATE HEINZELMAN for a senior role, an official tells Transition Playbook.

Heinzelman was a clerk for Garland on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 2009 to 2010 and then clerked for Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS in 2010 through 2011. She has worked at Sidley Austin since 2017. She also worked in the White House counsel’s office and the Justice Department during the Obama administration.

MORE WHITE HOUSE HIRES: The White House Council on Environmental Quality is filling out its staff. MATT LEE-ASHLEY, who was previously a fellow at the Center for American Progress, will be the council’s senior director for lands and interim chief of staff.

AUSTIN BROWN will be senior director for transportation emissions; MARK CHAMBERS will be senior director for building emissions; SARA GONZALEZ-ROTHI will be senior director for water; JAYNI HEIN will be senior director for the National Environmental Policy Act and counsel; ANDREW MAYOCK will be federal chief sustainability officer; and JUSTIN PIDOT will be general counsel.

Advise and Consent

WHY THE WAYBACK MACHINE EXISTS — NEERA TANDEN, Biden’s nominee for Office of Management and Budget director, told senators today that she deleted more than 1,000 tweets in November because “I regretted my tone,” while emphasizing that “nobody advised me” to scrub the most caustic tweets from her feed, CAITLIN EMMA reports.

“I deeply regret and apologize for … some of my past language,” Tanden told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I know I have to earn the trust of senators across the board.”

Sens. ROB PORTMAN (R-Ohio) didn’t make it easy on Tanden, reading aloud some of her tweets.

“I’m concerned that your personal attacks about specific senators will make it more difficult for you to work with them,” Portman said. “Just to mention a few of the thousands of negative public statements, you wrote that SUSAN COLLINS is the worst, that TOM COTTON is a fraud, that vampires have more heart than TED CRUZ. You called [Senate Minority Leader MITCH] McCONNELL ‘Moscow Mitch’ and ‘Voldemort,’ and on and on.”

Tanden still has to endure another confirmation hearing before the Senate Budget Committee.

KEEPING SCORE: The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Monday to confirm McDonough as Veterans Affairs secretary, with just seven senators voting no: Sens. TOM COTTON (R-Ark.), TED CRUZ (R-Texas), JONI ERNST (R-Iowa), BILL HAGERTY (R-Tenn.), JOSH HAWLEY (R-Mo.), ROGER MARSHALL (R-Kan.) and RICK SCOTT (R-Fla.).

Hawley is the only senator who’s voted against all of Biden’s Cabinet picks, thus far. Cruz has voted against six of the seven, and Sens. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-Tenn.) and MIKE LEE (R-Utah) along with Cotton, Marshall and Scott have voted against five of them.

The closest confirmation vote has been for Homeland Security Secretary ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, 56-43. Biden could be the first president since RONALD REAGAN not to withdraw a nominee or have one voted down.

HUNTER’S U.S. ATTORNEY STAYS ON — Nearly all of the federal prosecutors appointed by Trump are being asked to resign, a senior Justice Department official told JOSH GERSTEIN. But DAVID WEISS, the U.S. attorney in Delaware who’s overseeing an investigation into the finances of Biden’s son, HUNTER BIDEN, has been asked to stay on.

And JOHN DURHAM, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut who’s conducting a special counsel investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe, has been asked to continue as special counsel while vacating his U.S. attorney slot, according to the official.

I’M NOT MAD, I’M DISAPPOINTED: It’s typical for newly elected presidents to ask U.S. attorneys to step down — but one in particular has caught the ire of Illinois’ two Democratic senators, NATASHA KORECKI tells us (follow her, people).

Sens. DICK DURBIN — the new chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — and TAMMY DUCKWORTH, pushed back Tuesday on Biden’s announcement that U.S. Attorney JOHN LAUSCH should step down and said Biden didn’t consult them ahead of time.

Lausch heads the Chicago-based Northern District of Illinois and is overseeing what could be one of the most significant public corruption cases in the state’s history — and that’s coming from a state that has seen two consecutive governors go to prison.

“While the President has the right to remove U.S. Attorneys, there is precedent for U.S. Attorneys in the Northern District of Illinois to remain in office to conclude sensitive investigations,” they said in a statement. “We believe Mr. Lausch should be permitted to continue in his position until his successor is confirmed by the Senate, and we urge the Biden Administration to allow him to do so.”

Just because Lausch is to be removed doesn’t mean the case will crumble. The office has a long history of pursuing such cases even in the event of a change of power.

The White House referred a request for comment to the Justice Department, which declined to comment.

What We're Reading

Biden administration turned down meeting request from El Salvador’s president (The Associated Press)

SEC expands enforcement staff’s power under Biden (The Wall Street Journal)

The Oppo Book

What is it like to live with CASS SUNSTEIN, the Harvard law professor who’s set to join the Biden administration as a senior counselor in the Department of Homeland Security?

“He wakes up in the morning, and the first thing he does is reach over to the laptop by his bed, and, with this big smile on his face, just starts typing,” SAMANTHA POWER, Sunstein’s wife and Biden’s nominee to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development, told Esquire in 2009, right before their wedding. “Before he does anything, before he has breakfast, before he goes to the bathroom. He’s the only person I’ve ever met who appears to develop fully formed, groundbreaking theories while asleep.”

We hear you, Samantha. That’s just strange.

TRIVIA ANSWER

G. William Miller is the only other Treasury secretary who also served as Fed chairman. President JIMMY CARTER nominated Miller as Fed chairman in 1977, then tapped him as Treasury secretary in 1979.