Trump announces new impeachment legal team

The former president's trial is scheduled to start the week of Feb. 8.

This is Day 12 of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.


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Biden signs executive order aimed at strengthening US manufacturing

Ahead of signing a "Made in America" executive order Monday, Biden delivered remarks on how he was fulfilling a long-time campaign promise to increase the amount of federal spending that goes to American companies.

"The previous administration didn't take it seriously enough," Biden began. "The result: Tens of billions of American taxpayer dollar supporting foreign jobs and foreign industries."

"I'll be signing an executive order in just a moment tightening the existing buy-American policies and go further," he continued. "That starts with stopping federal agencies from waiving buy-American requirements with impunity as has been going on. If an agency wants to issue a waiver to say, 'We're not going to buy an American product as part of this project, we're going to buy a foreign product,' they have to come to the White House and explain it to us."

The federal government spends about $600 billion on contracting per year, and there are already rules in place governing how taxpayer dollars can be spent, how much foreign products can be purchased, and how many foreign components can be brought to the U.S. and assembled here. However, waivers and loopholes allow even more foreign product to be purchased than the rules state.

Biden’s executive order aims to close those loopholes and cut down on the waivers, as well as order an increase in domestic content. It will also redefine what can count as domestic content, create a public website so U.S. companies can more easily see government contract business and determine whether they could make a more competitive bid for it.

The executive order also creates a new senior role at the Office of Management and Budget to oversee the implementation of these new efforts.

Biden signed the order after brief remarks and opened the floor to reporter questions.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle


Leahy issues statement on presiding over Trump's impeachment trial

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., president pro tempore of the Senate, has posted a public statement confirming he will preside over former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

"When I preside over the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, I will not waver from my constitutional and sworn obligations to administer the trial with fairness, in accordance with the Constitution and the law," Leahy wrote.

Asked earlier on Capitol Hill about his ability to be impartial as he's been a frequent critic of Trump, Leahy said, "I’m not presenting the evidence."

"I am making sure that procedures are followed. I don’t think there’s any senator who over the 40 plus years I’ve been here that would say that I am anything but impartial in ruling on procedure," he added.

Leahy will still get a vote on whether to convict the former president.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts presided over Trump's first impeachment trial, but now that Trump is no longer the sitting president, Democrats argue Roberts is not obligated to preside. It will be the first time Congress has ever put a former president on trial.

-ABC News' Trish Turner and Allison Pecorin


Biden imposes, reinstates travel bans in effort to curb COVID-19

Biden’s has imposed a new travel ban into the U.S. for most non-citizens who have recently visited South Africa and reinstated bans affecting travel from Britain, Brazil, Ireland and much of Europe, as the coronavirus continues to rage across the nation a year after the first reported case on U.S. soil.

The White House announced the travel bans in a proclamation on Monday.

Biden last week predicted American deaths from COVID-19 will top 500,000 deaths next month.

-ABC News' Justin Gomez


Treasury Dept. exploring ways to 'speed up' putting Harriet Tubman on $20 bill

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, asked whether the Biden administration had a timeline for putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill -- an Obama administration effort stalled throughout the Trump administration -- said the Treasury Department is exploring ways to "speed up" the process.

"The Treasury Department is taking steps to resume steps to put Harriet Tubman on the new $20 notes," Psaki told reporters.

"It's important our note -- our money -- reflect the history and diversity of our country, and Harriet Tubman's image gracing the new $20 note will reflect that," she added. "We're exploring ways to speed up that effort, but any specifics would come from the Department of Treasury."

Former President Donald Trump called the effort to put an image of Tubman -- an African American woman celebrated for her work freeing slaves during the Civil War -- on the $20 bill as "pure political correctness."

In 2016, the Treasury Department announced Tubman would replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, as part of an effort to get more women on U.S. currency.