Here is how the transition is unfolding. All times Eastern.
Dec 20, 2020, 5:18 PM EST
Jennifer Granholm talks Biden administration's 'robust' plans for climate change, response to cyberattack
"The civil servants, the investigators, the scientists who are doing the investigation, they've got to be able to come up with very specific answers so we know what the response will be. But Joe Biden I know will have a robust response once we find out the perpetrator and extent of it," Granholm said about the cyberattack.
On Biden's plans to address climate change, Granholm said, "The Green New Deal was an important framework for what Joe Biden has put on tap, but I mean really, this is the most robust climate change plan ever."
Cyber hack resulted in 'big haul' and is 'ongoing': Sen. Mark Warner
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Republican Intelligence Committee counterpart, Sen. Marco Rubio, on "This Week" Sunday in placing the blame for the government cyberattack on Russia, despite President Trump's downplaying of the country's involvement Saturday.
"I would echo what Secretary Pompeo has said and Marco Rubio has said. All indications point to Russia," Warner said. "This is extraordinarily serious, and when the president of the United States tries to deflect or is not willing to call out the adversary as we make that attribution, he is not making our country safer," he further said.
The senator also told George that the intrusion "may be ongoing" and that, despite current indications that only "non-classified networks" were breached, the attackers nevertheless got away with a "big, big haul" and that it could be some time before the government is able to fix the underlying vulnerabilities.
Biden administration proposing one of the most ‘ambitious climate plans in history’: Harris
Wrapping up Saturday's event announcing members of the incoming administration's climate and energy team, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris emphasized how forceful Biden's plan is in fighting climate change.
"Part of the reason I was so proud to join Joe Biden as his running mate was because he was proposing one of the most ambitious climate plans in history, a plan to secure carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, a plan to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050, a plan to invest in a clean energy future and create millions of good-paying union jobs along the way," she said.
"And the team that President-elect Biden and I are announcing today will help make that plan a reality," Harris added.
The vice president-elect said the appointees and nominees announced Saturday represented some of the country's "most seasoned public servants and climate experts" and reflected the "very best of America."
"They are compassionate leaders who understand that, ultimately, addressing climate change is about building safer communities and healthier communities and thriving communities for all Americans," Harris said.
Dec 19, 2020, 3:47 PM EST
Gina McCarthy accepts nomination for first-ever national climate adviser
Former E.P.A. chief Gina McCarthy accepted her nomination as the first-ever national climate advisor to head the new White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy.
"I'm here today because climate change is not only a threat to the planet. It is a threat to our health and our well-being," McCarthy said. "It's a threat to people everywhere and the precious natural resources that we depend on."
Defeating this threat, she went on, "will require engagement of every community, every sector in our nation and every country in the world."
In the role, she said she will work directly with communities and harness "the force of science and the values of environmental justice."
Biden referred to McCarthy, who currently serves as president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council, as a "policy wonk and a people person, problem solver and coalition builder."
While E.P.A. head under the Obama-Biden administration, she led the effort of lowering carbon emissions from power plants and conserving critical water sources, he said.
McCarthy will work closely with former Secretary of State John Kerry in the new role, Biden said.