State Dept. condemns arrests, repression in Russia

It called for the release of protesters and opposition leader Alexey Navalny.

This is the fifth day of the administration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.


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Biden administration pauses most deportations

Earlier this week, the Biden administration announced a 100-day pause on deportations of most people living in the country illegally along with a new priority system for those who will still be subject to removal.

The memo makes clear that Homeland Security will not be issuing a full stop on arrests and removals, but rather focusing on those who pose a national security or public safety risk, including anyone convicted of an "aggravated felony."

"Nothing in this memorandum prohibits the apprehension or detention of individuals unlawfully in the United States who are not identified as priorities," the DHS memo reads. The announcements came as Biden also put forward his legislative immigration proposal, which provides a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

-ABC News' Quinn Owen


Impeachment timeline allows for more confirmations of Cabinet officials

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday that the Senate trial in Trump's impeachment would begin the week of Feb. 8 -- a timeline that gives more leeway for Biden's Cabinet officials to be confirmed.

Right now, only two of Biden's appointees have been confirmed.

The House will deliver an article of impeachment against Trump on Monday, which will formally launch the impeachment trial against the former president, which could have begun as early as Tuesday.

The later date also allows Trump time to mount a legal defense.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin


Biden spoke to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico on Friday

Biden and the president of Mexico spoke over the phone on Friday.

According to the the White House's readout, the Biden administration plans on "reversing the previous administration’s draconian immigration policies." Biden said he wants to increase the number of lawful immigration pathways, reduce migration by addressing its root causes, and improve processing asylum requests at the border. The two presidents agreed to work closely to together to both stem the flow of migration as well as coordinate the fight against COVID-19.

According to Mexico's readout, the conversation unfolded in a "cordial tone."


Biden makes changes to Oval Office, removes controversial portrait hung by Trump

Biden's work in the White House and in the country is just beginning.

ABC reported that while Biden has been in office for only three days, he has already made significant tweaks to the Oval Office.

In a wall next to his desk he hung a portrait of Benjamin Franklin.

He also hung up portraits of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.

Apart from that, he added busts of Latino civil rights activist Cesar Chavez, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Eleanor Roosevelt and former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy.

The portrait of controversial President Andrew Jackson, which Donald Trump previously hung in the office, is long gone.

This Saturday, the president will hold a private meeting with advisors in his new office, according to the White House.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this entry incorrectly referred to Alexander Hamilton as a former president. He was a founding father and the first treasury secretary of the United States. The entry has been updated.

-ABC's Michelle Stoddart and Adia Robinson


Murthy on vaccine supply, distribution: There are lots of challenges

In his appearance on ABC's "This Week" Sunday, Biden’s nominee for Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said that when it comes to meeting the goal for 100 million vaccines in the first 100 days of the president's administration, there are things that could go right or wrong.

"I think President Biden fully understands there's a larger goal here, as we all do, which is that we've got to vaccinate as many Americans as possible. And that's going to take a lot of work, work dispelling this disinformation, working on the supply, increasing distribution channels," he told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos. "And that's some of what the vaccine plan that he announced over the last week is intended to -- to achieve."

Stephanopoulos pressed Murthy on whether there are ways to increase the supply and equitably distribute the vaccines.

"It appears, at least in these first vaccines that have gone out, they've been going largely to wealthier areas of the country, largely to whiter areas of the country," Stephanopoulos said.

"Well, it's the right question, George, because success has to be gauged not just by the number of vaccines we deliver but also by how fairly we deliver those vaccines -- how equitably we deliver them," he said in response. "What we've got to do here is not just, again, increase supply, which we can do using the Defense Production Act ... but we've also got to set up the kind of distribution channels, like mobile units, like strategically placed community vaccination centers, that can reach people who traditionally are hard to reach and don't have access to health care."

He added, "We have got to track our progress. We have got to make sure that we have data on where the vaccine is being administered, so that we can ensure that it, in fact, is being distributed equitably."