Giuliani says he won’t be on Trump impeachment defense team

Trump was impeached by the House for a second time last week.

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in three days.

The House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump last Wednesday on an article for "incitement of insurrection" for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol -- making him the only president to be impeached twice.


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Maria Zuber to serve on 4th White House administration 

In addition to Frances Arnold, Maria Zuber will co-chair the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

This will be her fourth time serving in a White House administration.

"I look forward to continuing to advocate for science and a nonpartisan manner in this new role," said Zuber, who is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s vice president for research and E. A. Griswold professor of geophysics. "I am thrilled with the challenge and the opportunity to work together with the scientific leadership of this administration to restore trust in science and pursue breakthroughs that benefit all people."

Zuber said that the work is critical "as the pandemic continues to rage."

Beyond the pandemic, she highlighted other areas of focus for the team, including the "transition to a zero-carbon energy system, our need to create good-paying jobs of the future and other aspects of our existential fight against climate change."

Zuber grew up in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, which she described as once being coal country. Both of her grandparents mined and died of black lung, she said, while noting that communities like hers still haven't recovered long after mining jobs have left.

"I could not be more excited for the efforts of this administration to deploy science to help breathe new life into these places, into so many communities large and small that are hurting today," she said. "Bold scientific leadership will be a critical component of building back better, guarding our health and safety, helping spark new, clean industries, and keeping America competitive in the race for those well-paying jobs of the future."

Zuber was the first woman to lead a NASA spacecraft mission and the first woman to lead a science department at MIT.

In 2004, former President George W. Bush appointed her to the Presidential Commission on the Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. In 2013, former President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Science Board, and President Trump reappointed her in 2018.


Francis Arnold to co-chair President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology

During remarks on Saturday, Biden introduced Francis Arnold as co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology and part of the first all-women team to lead the council. Arnold is the first woman in American history to receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry and is currently the Linus Pauling professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering, and biochemistry and director of the Rosen Bioengineering Center at the California Institute of Technology. Arnold has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Known for her contributions to renewable energy, Arnold co-founded three biotechnology companies in sustainable chemistry and agriculture.

"My belief has grown that our highest responsibility in each generation is to preserve our fragile planet, prepare our economy and our workforce for the future and pass on a better world," Arnold said in her remarks Saturday.

"When we put science back to work for the benefit of all people, revitalizing our economy, fueling our climate response, broadening our perspective as we rebuild around greater equity and opportunity, we are making a society that is worth passing on to our children and our grandchildren. It is an act of love. I am honored by the opportunity to help nurture this effort," Arnold said.


Alondra Nelson says she will focus on science and tech that 'reflects us all'

As deputy director for science and society for the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Alondra Nelson said she wants to promote scientific research that is "honest and inclusive."

"As a Black woman researcher, I am keenly aware of those who are missing from these rooms," Nelson said Saturday during a press briefing introducing key members of the Biden administration's science team. "I believe we have a responsibility to work together to make sure that our science and technology reflects us and when it does, that it reflects all of us. That it reflects who we are together."

Nelson, president of the Social Science Research Council and a Princeton University professor, is known for her research at the intersection of science, politics and social inequality.

"There has never been a more important moment for scientific development -- to get scientific development right or to situate that development in our values of equality, accountability, justice, and trustworthiness," Nelson said.


Biden's presidential science adviser will be elevated to a cabinet-level position

Eric Lander is Biden's nominee for presidential science adviser, a position Biden announced Saturday he is elevating to a Cabinet-level position for the first time in U.S. history.

Lander served as the co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) during the Obama-Biden administration. He currently serves as president and the founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Landon is also one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project.

"It's not hyperbole to suggest that Dr. Lander's work has changed the course of human history. His role in helping us map the genome, pull back the curtain on human disease, allowing scientists ever since and for generations to come to explore the molecular basis for some of the most devastating illnesses affecting our world," Biden said.

In his remarks Saturday, Lander said, "The President-Elect knows that science and technology will be crucial in meeting this moment," adding that "America's greatest asset, I think, is our unrivaled diversity. After all, scientific progress is about seeing something that no one’s ever seen before. Because they bring a different lens, different experiences, different questions, different passions. No one can top America in that regard. But we have to ensure that everyone not only has a seat at the table, but a place at the lab bench."


Emotional exchanges from House Dems debating resolution on 25th Amendment

The House Rules Committee is in recess for a meeting to tee up a resolution that will be voted on the House floor later Tuesday which seeks to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office.

While Pence has not indicated publicly what he intends to do, and it's not expected he will take action -- making the resolution's expected passage largely symbolic -- House Democrats will go forth in considering a single article of impeachment Wednesday.

Democrats in the committee rehashed painful, devastating memories to highlight their concerns and rage and exasperation, explaining why they want to make sure Trump is held fully accountable for inciting the riot.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md,, said he was there with his daughter and son-in-law. His family showed up to support him just one day after burying Raskin's son.

"This is not just a crisis and an emergency. It is a continuing crisis and emergency. It is not over yet," Raskin said. "Can we say that we feel safe being in the hands of this president, with the horror and the threats returning to our nation's Capitol?"

Rep. Norma Torres, D-Calif., described cowering in the House chamber. Hiding under her chair, struggling to put on an escape hood, she called her daughter, telling her, "I'm running for my life" before quickly hanging up.

"Trump incited this attack and there should be no question as to what Vice President Pence needs to do right now," she said. "I heard the shots being fired. I saw the smoke from the tear gas being been deployed. And I watched one officer with no equipment face a raging mob just outside the chamber. We crawled across the entire length of that balcony."

Democrats repeatedly implored Republicans to admit the election was fair and free, and Republicans scolded Democrats for, they say, seeking to divide the country further with a second impeachment.

-ABC News' Mariam Khan