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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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."
Biden administration will 'lead with science and truth'
Addressing the coronavirus pandemic, confronting the climate crisis and building public trust in science and technology will be among the Biden administration's key areas of focus, the president-elect said during a press briefing introducing four key members of his science team.
Building back the economy "to ensure prosperity is fully shared all across America" and ensuring the U.S. "leads the world in technologies and industries that the future" will also be a focus, Biden said Saturday during an address in Wilmington, Delaware.
Helping lead those initiatives will be Eric Lander, the presidential science advisor-designate, a position that for the first time will be a cabinet rank, Biden noted.
"I've always said that the Biden-Harris administration will lead with science and truth," Biden said. "We believe in both. This is how we're going to, God willing, overcome the pandemic and build our country back better than it was before. That's why for the first time in history, I'm going to be elevating the presidential science advisor to a Cabinet rank, because we think it's that important."
Frances Arnold and Maria Zuber will be at the helm of the first all-women team to lead the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
Alondra Nelson will also be deputy director for science and society for the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Dr. Francis Collins, who was not present at the event, will also continue in his role as director of the National Institutes of Health.Biden thanked him for "being willing to stay on," saying that it wasn't his original plan.
"I've known Dr. Collins for many years. I worked with him closely," Biden said, accling him "brilliant, a pioneer, a true leader."
"This is the most exciting announcement that I have gotten to make in the entire Cabinet," Biden said of his picks. "These are among the brightest, most dedicated people, not only in the country but the world."
Mike Lindell’s meeting with Trump
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on Friday was pictured outside of the Oval Office with a document appearing to detail drastic actions just days away from Biden's inauguration. The pillow inventor, who previously called for “martial law” in a now-deleted tweet, confirmed to ABC News that he met with Trump and presented him with a separate document filled with theories regarding election hacking.
The theories are related to repeatedly discredited claims that Trump had actually won the election.
The photograph went viral on Twitter after users speculated the document showed mentions of “martial law” and the “insurrection act.”
White House sources stressed that nothing Lindell presented was taken seriously nor would it be acted upon by administration officials.
In an interview with ABC News, Lindell, a fierce supporter of the president, said his meeting with Trump was brief ("it was real fast") and said White House lawyers who reviewed the documents after his meeting with the president seemed “disengaged” and “disinterested,” which he said was “disturbing.”
“There was no mention of martial law,” Lindell said regarding the document photographed by the Washington Post, which he claims comes from one of the attorneys he said he has hired to investigate election fraud but would not identify to ABC News.
Another section of the notes appears to read, "Move Kash Patel to CIA Acting" and "Make clear this is China/Iran." Much of the notes are not visible in the photo.
When asked if he read that document, Lindell told ABC News, “I glanced at it.”
“I'm going to be honest. I read that -- I don't know the names. I don't understand half the stuff on there," Lindell said. "...I don't know the names on there. I think there were suggestions on who to move."
Lindell said the photographed document was just a part of the bigger packet he had brought to the White House, and that his main intention was to show the president an article that alleges multiple foreign countries hacked the 2020 U.S. election. He said during the brief time he had with the president, he spoke to him about this article.
-ABC News’ Will Steakin, Soorin Kim and John Santucci
House Dems introduce article of impeachment charging Trump with 'incitement of insurrection'
During Monday's brief session, Republicans blocked an effort by Democrats to get unanimous consent to force Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and House Democrats introduced one article of impeachment against President Trump for "incitement of insurrection" in the wake of a pro-Trump mob breaching the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday.
The "incitement of insurrection" article of impeachment was introduced by Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and David Cicilline, D-R.I., along with more than 210 Democratic co-sponsors.
The measure says that Trump has "demonstrated that he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office and has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self-governance and the rule of law."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told Democrats they will move forward with an impeachment vote immediately if Pence and the Cabinet do not invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power.
Hoyer told reporters this morning that "there very well could be" an impeachment vote as early as Wednesday.
-ABC News' Mariam Khan