Trump announces new impeachment legal team

Former Secretary of State John Kerry -- the nation's first ever special presidential envoy for climate -- discussed the climate plan and the impact it will have on jobs in a press briefing with reporters Wednesday ahead of Biden signing climate-focused executive actions.

In response to a question from ABC News' Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega, Kerry said that efforts to improve climate will not come at the expense of American workers.

"Unfortunately, workers have been fed a false narrative -- no surprise, right? -- for the last few years," Kerry said in a nod to the Trump administration. "They've been fed the notion that, somehow, dealing with climate is coming at their expense. No, it's not. What's happening to them is happening because other market forces are already taking place."

Pressed later on the cost of the the Biden administration's plans, Kerry said it costs "a lot more" to dismiss climate change than it will to address it now.

"There are countless economic analyses now that show that it is now cheaper to deal with the crisis of climate than it is to ignore it," he said.

Former Secretary of State and now the nation's first ever climate envoy, John Kerry, along with Biden's national climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, joined together in the White House press briefing room Wednesday ahead of Biden signing executive actions on climate change.

"This executive order establishes a White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy, and it directs everyone who works for the president to use every tool available at our disposal to solve the climate crisis. Because we're going to take a whole of government approach. We're going to power our economy with clean energy," McCarthy said.

The duo discussed the urgency of addressing climate change and the need for global intervention -- in a stark contrast with the priorities of the Trump administration.

"We could go to zero tomorrow, and the problem isn't solved. So that's why today, one week into the job, President Biden will sign this additional executive set of orders to help move us down the road, ensuring that ambitious climate action is global in scope and scale, as well as national -- here at home," Kerry said.

Kerry also detailed the plans to further the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement at another meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, in April.

Biden's top coronavirus advisers -- including Chief Medical Adviser on COVID-19 Dr. Anthony Fauci, new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky and COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients -- have wrapped their first public briefing on the White House's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

In contrast with the Trump administration, the Biden administration has pledged to aim for three virtual, public briefings with health experts each week in an effort to be more transparent in their response. Biden is also branding his COVID-19 response team an "equity" task force, chaired by Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith.

In another change promised by the Biden White House, an American Sign Langauge interpreter was also present for the briefing.

After a bit of a rocky start, with Fauci and other speakers having microphone issues, the briefing proceeded for nearly an hour and focused largely on vaccine distribution.
The president's advisers wouldn't entertain questions on what they will do if Congress doesn't give them the money they need -- insisting it is absolutely critical.

Unlike the predictions given by former President Donald Trump, theirs were not rosy, citing death forecasts that could climb past half a million next month and vaccines still in short supply even as the daily numbers of shots have climbed to 1.6 million.

"It will be months before everyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one," said Andy Slavitt, another Biden adviser. "Any stockpile that may have existed previously, no longer exists."

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, testified in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during her nomination hearing Wednesday. During the hearing, Thomas-Greenfield said her three key priories, if confirmed, would be leadership rooted in core values, reforms at the UN, and having a close relationship with lawmakers.

"I've learned that effective diplomacy means more than shaking hands and staging photo ops," Thomas-Greenfield said. "It means developing real robust relationships, it means finding common ground and managing points of differentiation, it means doing genuine old-fashioned, people-to-people diplomacy."

Over her 35-year career, Thomas-Greenfield has been posted Switzerland, Pakistan, Nigeria, Jamaica and elsewhere. Thomas-Greenfield grew up in segregated Baker, Louisiana. If confirmed, she will be only the second Black woman to ever hold the post.

"When we exert our influence in accordance to our values, the United Nations can be an indispensable institution for advancing peace, security and our collective well-being. If instead we walk away from the table and allow others to fill the void the global community suffers, and so do American interest," Thomas-Greenfield said.