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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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.


White House to hold press briefings on COVID-19 efforts 3 times a week

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, at her daily press briefing on Monday, said the Biden administration will "typically" hold COVID-19 briefings three times a week starting on Wednesday in an effort to be "transparent" with the public.

Asked when Biden expects to have his $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief proposal passed through Congress, as the administration pushes pandemic relief as their top priority, Psaki was careful not to promise a timeline.

"There's an urgency to moving it forward. And he certainly believes it needs to be -- there needs to be progress in the next couple of weeks," she said.

"He proposed his package. He's getting feedback. We're having conversations. We don't expect the final bill to look exactly the same as the first bill he proposed," she added, asked how Biden will get bipartisan support on the bill as some Republicans are pushing back on the price tag.

Biden last week predicted American deaths from COVID-19 will top 500,000 deaths next month. He's called on Americans to "mask up" for 100 days and has pledged to have 100 million vaccine shots into the arms of Americans in his first 100 days.