Month: December 2020

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a potential crime involving bribery and presidential pardons, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.The document released by the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is heavily redacted with the names of the people involved blacked out.It describes federal prosecutors seeking access in late August to the contents of digital devices seized by the government.The court’s permission was needed because the contents of the devices included email conversations with a lawyer and may have been protected by attorney-client privilege. The prosecutors argued that that privilege was breached when the materials were shown to third parties.The prosecutors told the court they expected to find evidence that certain individuals illegally “acted as lobbyists to senior White House officials … to secure a pardon or reprieve of sentence’” for someone whose name is also redacted in the document.The document also cites “a related bribery conspiracy scheme” involving offering “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a pardon or reprieve of sentence.”The document indicates the prosecutors were given permission to access the devices in order to use the material to confront any subject or target of the investigation. However there has been no public reporting to date to suggest anyone has been charged with a crime related to the probe.  The White House declined a VOA request for comment on the matter. Hours later, Trump tweeted, “Pardon investigation is Fake News!”Pardon investigation is Fake News!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 2, 2020Separately Tuesday, the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump has discussed with advisers the prospect of granting preemptive pardons to his sons Eric and Donald Jr., as well as his daughter, Ivanka, and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. ABC News also reported Tuesday that Trump aides have discussed such pardons. In a tweet, Giuliani denied having discussed a potential preemptive pardon for himself with Trump. “NYT lies again. Never had the discussion they falsely attribute to an anonymous source,” Giuliani posted. Neither Giuliani nor any of the Trumps have been charged with a federal crime, and it is unclear how exactly a preemptive pardon would hold up legally.  A president can issue pardons for federal crimes, but not for state or local crimes. Trump has issued a few high-profile pardons and commutations for his allies. Trump Has Granted Fewer Pardons, Commutations Than Previous Presidents Trump’s pardoning of Michael Flynn Wednesday was the 45th time the President has used his clemency power Last week, he pardoned Michael Flynn, who briefly served as national security adviser at the beginning of Trump’s term.  In July, Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime adviser Roger Stone.
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Healthcare workers and nursing home residents should be among the first Americans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, members of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee determined Tuesday. The panel voted 13-1 to give a vaccine, as soon as it’s approved, to the some 24 million Americans who are healthcare workers or nursing home residents, while supplies are still limited as production ramps up. The decision from the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices comes as the U.S. records record numbers of coronavirus cases across the country. The U.S. recorded 4.36 million cases of COVID-19 in November — roughly double the number from a month earlier. The state of Florida surpassed 1 million cases Tuesday. The Trump administration has said that 20 million people could be inoculated by the end of this year. The FDA is considering an emergency request from Pfizer to authorize the use of its vaccine. Moderna said Monday it also would apply for emergency use authorization of its vaccine.  FILE – A nurse prepares a shot that is part of a possible COVID-19 vaccine developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., in Binghamton, New York, July 27, 2020.Hours after Moderna’s announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the agency would announce its decision up to a week after it decides on Pfizer’s application. Dr. Larry Corey of the University of Washington, who leads vaccine clinical trials in the U.S., has said once Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are approved, they could make 50 million doses in January. The advisory committee met one day after nearly 139,000 new coronavirus cases and 826 deaths were reported in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. As it has for months, the U.S continues to lead the world in coronavirus infections, with nearly 13.7 million of the world’s 63.6 million cases. Over 270,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S., more than any other country, according to Johns Hopkins, which reports over 1.4 million deaths worldwide. In Europe, which is also experiencing surges in coronavirus infections and related deaths, BioNTech and Moderna have applied to the European Union for approval of their vaccines, the EU said on Tuesday. EU officials are expected to decide on at least one of the vaccines by the end of December. BioNTech has already filed a similar application with the FDA. Its vaccine is under review in Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries. Since it began nearly a year ago, the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased the number of people who are experiencing extreme poverty, according to the United Nations. The U.N. said in its annual humanitarian report that 235 million people, or one in 33 people, will require basic needs like food, water and sanitation in 2021, a 40% increase from this year. The report said the greatest need for humanitarian assistance next year is in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. The U.N. contributed a record $17 billion in 2020 for humanitarian response worldwide, the report said.  
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Healthcare workers and nursing home residents should be among the first Americans to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, members of a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory committee determined Tuesday. The panel voted 13-1 to give a vaccine, as soon as it’s approved, to the some 24 million Americans who are healthcare workers or nursing home residents, while supplies are still limited as production ramps up. The decision from the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices comes as the U.S. records record numbers of coronavirus cases across the country. The U.S. recorded 4.36 million cases of COVID-19 in November — roughly double the number from a month earlier. The state of Florida surpassed 1 million cases Tuesday. The Trump administration has said that 20 million people could be inoculated by the end of this year. The FDA is considering an emergency request from Pfizer to authorize the use of its vaccine. Moderna said Monday it also would apply for emergency use authorization of its vaccine.  FILE – A nurse prepares a shot that is part of a possible COVID-19 vaccine developed by the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc., in Binghamton, New York, July 27, 2020.Hours after Moderna’s announcement, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the agency would announce its decision up to a week after it decides on Pfizer’s application. Dr. Larry Corey of the University of Washington, who leads vaccine clinical trials in the U.S., has said once Pfizer’s and Moderna’s vaccines are approved, they could make 50 million doses in January. The advisory committee met one day after nearly 139,000 new coronavirus cases and 826 deaths were reported in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University. As it has for months, the U.S continues to lead the world in coronavirus infections, with nearly 13.7 million of the world’s 63.6 million cases. Over 270,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the U.S., more than any other country, according to Johns Hopkins, which reports over 1.4 million deaths worldwide. In Europe, which is also experiencing surges in coronavirus infections and related deaths, BioNTech and Moderna have applied to the European Union for approval of their vaccines, the EU said on Tuesday. EU officials are expected to decide on at least one of the vaccines by the end of December. BioNTech has already filed a similar application with the FDA. Its vaccine is under review in Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries. Since it began nearly a year ago, the coronavirus pandemic has dramatically increased the number of people who are experiencing extreme poverty, according to the United Nations. The U.N. said in its annual humanitarian report that 235 million people, or one in 33 people, will require basic needs like food, water and sanitation in 2021, a 40% increase from this year. The report said the greatest need for humanitarian assistance next year is in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia. The U.N. contributed a record $17 billion in 2020 for humanitarian response worldwide, the report said.  
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U.S. women’s national team players and the U.S. Soccer Federation have settled their long-running lawsuit over inequitable working conditions with the men’s team while leaving their dispute over unequal pay for additional litigation. The parties filed a redacted public notice of the settlement with the federal court in Los Angeles on Tuesday while providing the complete agreement to U.S. District Judge R. Gary Klausner. The deal with the world champion American women and the sport’s U.S. governing body calls for charter flights, hotel accommodations, venue selection and professional staff support equitable to that of the men’s national team. Players sued the USSF in March 2019 claiming they have not been paid equitably under their collective bargaining agreement compared to what is received by the men’s team, which failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The women asked for more than $66 million in damages under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Klausner dismissed the pay claim in May, ruling the women rejected a pay-to-play structure like the men’s agreement and accepted greater base salaries and benefits. Pay still an issueBut Klausner allowed aspects of their allegations of discriminatory working conditions to be put to trial. Those issue were settled, and players may now ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to restore the wage claims. “We are pleased that the USWNT players have fought for — and achieved — long overdue equal working conditions,” players’ spokeswoman Molly Levinson said. “We now intend to file our appeal to the court’s decision, which does not account for the central fact in this case that women players have been paid at lesser rates than men who do the same job. “We remain as committed as ever to our work to achieve the equal pay that we legally deserve. Our focus is on the future and ensuring we leave the game a better place for the next generation of women who will play for this team and this country.” Following the U.S. victory in last year’s World Cup final in Lyon, France, the crowd chanted “Equal Pay!” as players celebrated on the field.  Biden weighs inThen-presidential candidate Joe Biden posted to Twitter: “To @USWNT: don’t give up this fight. This is not over yet. To @ussoccer: equal pay, now. Or else when I’m president, you can go elsewhere for World Cup funding,” referring to the 2026 men’s World Cup, set to be co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. After the USSF argued in court documents that women lacked the skills and responsibilities of their male counterparts, sponsors criticized the federation. Federation President Carlos Cordeiro resigned in March and was replaced by former national team player Cindy Parlow Cone. “We hope today’s positive step forward will result in the USWNT accepting our standing offer to discuss contract options,” Cone said in a statement. “As a former USWNT player, I can promise you that I am committed to equality between the USWNT and USMNT. My goal is, and has always been, to come to a resolution on all equal pay matters and inspire a new era of collaboration, partnership and trust between the USWNT and the federation.” The federation has argued that unequal bonus structures are the result of vastly dissimilar bonus payments for men’s and women’s tournaments from FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. FIFA awarded $400 million in prize money for the 2018 men’s World Cup, including $38 million to champion France, and $30 million for last year’s Women’s World Cup, including $4 million to the U.S. after the Americans won their second straight title. FIFA increased the total to $440 million for the 2022 men’s World Cup and FIFA President Gianni Infantino has proposed FIFA double the women’s prize money to $60 million for 2023. 
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A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday proposed a $908 billion coronavirus relief package in a new attempt to help unemployed workers and boost the flagging American economy as the number of virus infections soars by tens of thousands a day.Congress and the White House approved $3 trillion in relief early this year, but since then, despite lengthy negotiations, Republican and Democratic lawmakers have been unable to agree on the size of a new aid package or who would get the assistance.The new aid proposal unveiled by centrist senators is closer to the $500 billion deal that Republicans had sought and well short of the $2.2 trillion Democrats had been advocating.It is unclear whether the plan can be passed through both the Senate and House of Representatives before the current Congress’ term expires and a new Congress is seated on Jan. 3.Republican President Donald Trump had pushed for a new package larger than even Democrats had called for, but that was before Trump lost his bid for re-election a month ago to Democratic challenger Joe Biden.As president-elect, Biden has called for more federal coronavirus relief aid, but not spelled out the details of what he supports. Trump has stopped talking about new aid, instead focusing on his long-shot legal effort to overturn his electoral defeat to keep Biden from being inaugurated for a four-year term January 20.The new aid proposal would provide a $300-a-week federal boost in unemployment assistance to tens of millions of unemployed workers for four months on top of less generous state jobless aid. National $600 weekly assistance favored by Democrats expired at the end of July and has not been renewed.People line up in their cars in the parking lot of St. James Presbyterian Church in Littleton, Colorado, to receive food donations from Food Bank of the Rockies ahead of Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, 2020.The bipartisan agreement attempts to bridge past aid disagreements, calling for $240 billion in funding for state and local governments that Democrats want although it is opposed by most Republicans. The accord envisions a six-month moratorium on some coronavirus-related lawsuits against businesses and other entities — a Republican plank opposed by most Democrats.Small businesses would get $300 billion while $50 billion would help pay for distribution of coronavirus vaccines after they are approved by health regulators.Economists are warning of new dire problems for the economy if more aid is not approved. Several relief programs are set to expire at the end of the year, with 12 million Americans on pace to lose their jobless benefits. Eviction protections for renters and loan payment delays for student borrowers are also set to end.One of the lawmakers pushing for a compromise, Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, told CNBC, “If there’s one thing I’m hearing uniformly, it’s Congress, do not leave town for the holidays leaving the country and the economy adrift” as the remaining aid ends.Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine told reporters, “We recognize that families all across America are struggling, that businesses are closing, that hospitals are overwhelmed. It is absolutely essential that we pass emergency relief.” 
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Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.  His comments come despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen, and his refusal to concede his loss to President-elect Joe Biden.  In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they have received but uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.”To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the AP.  The comments are especially direct coming from Barr, who has been one of the president’s most ardent allies. Before the election, he repeatedly raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially vulnerable to fraud during the coronavirus pandemic, as Americans feared going to polls and instead chose to vote by mail.  Last month, Barr issued a directive to U.S. attorneys across the country allowing them to pursue any “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they existed, before the 2020 presidential election was certified, despite no evidence at that time of widespread fraud.  That memorandum gave prosecutors the ability to go around long-standing Justice Department policy that normally would prohibit such overt actions before the election was certified. Soon after it was issued, the department’s top elections crime official announced he would step aside from that position because of the memo.The Trump campaign team led by Rudy Giuliani has been alleging a widespread conspiracy by Democrats to dump millions of illegal votes into the system with no evidence. They have filed multiple lawsuits in battleground states alleging that partisan poll watchers did not have a clear enough view at polling sites in some locations and therefore something illegal must have happened. The claims have been repeatedly dismissed, including by Republican judges who have ruled the suits lacked evidence. Local Republicans in some battleground states have followed Trump in making similar unsupported claims.Trump has railed against the election in tweets and in interviews, though his own administration has said the 2020 election was the most secure ever. Trump recently allowed his administration to begin the transition over to Biden but has still refused to admit he lost.  The issues Trump’s campaign and its allies have pointed to are typical in every election — problems with signatures, secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small number of ballots miscast or lost.  But they have also requested federal probes into the claims. Attorney Sidney Powell has spun fictional tales of election systems flipping votes, German servers storing U.S. voting information and election software created in Venezuela “at the direction of Hugo Chavez” — the late Venezuelan president who died in 2013. Powell has since been removed from the legal team after an interview in which she threatened to “blow up” Georgia with a “biblical” court filing.  Barr did not name Powell specifically, but said, “There’s been one assertion that would be systemic fraud, and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that,” Barr said.  He said people were confusing the use of the federal criminal justice system with allegations that should be made in civil lawsuits. He said such a remedy for those complaints would be a top-down audit conducted by state or local officials, not the U.S. Justice Department.”There’s a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don’t like something they want the Department of Justice to come in and ‘investigate,'” Barr said.  He said first, there must be a basis to believe there is a crime to investigate.  “Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct. They are not systemic allegations. And those have been run down; they are being run down,” Barr said. “Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on.”
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Some establishment Republicans are sounding alarms that President Donald Trump’s conspiratorial denials of his own defeat could threaten the party’s ability to win a Senate majority and counter President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. The concerns come ahead of Trump’s planned Saturday visit to Georgia to campaign alongside Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who face strong Democratic challengers in Jan. 5 runoffs that will determine which party controls the Senate at the outset of Biden’s presidency.  Republicans acknowledge Trump as the GOP’s biggest turnout driver, including in Georgia, where Biden won by fewer than 13,000 votes out of about 5 million cast. That means every bit of enthusiasm from one of Trump’s signature rallies could matter. But some Republicans worry Trump will use the platform to amplify his baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud — arguments roundly rejected in state and federal courts across the country. That could make it harder for Perdue and Loeffler to keep a clear focus on the stakes in January and could even discourage Republicans from voting. “The president has basically taken hostage this race,” said Brendan Buck, once a top adviser to former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Especially fraught are Trump’s continued attacks on Georgia’s Republican state officials and the state’s election system, potentially taking away from his public praise of Loeffler and Perdue. “Trump’s comments are damaging the Republican brand,” argued Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who added that the president is “acting in bad sportsmanship and bad faith” instead of emphasizing Republicans’ need to maintain Senate control.  Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump participate on a ‘Stop the Steal’ protest at the Georgia State Capitol.The GOP needs one more seat for a majority. Democrats need Jon Ossoff to defeat Perdue and Raphael Warnock to defeat Loeffler to force a 50-50 Senate, positioning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking majority vote. Trump on Monday blasted Gov. Brian Kemp as “hapless” for not intervening to “overrule” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s certification of Biden’s win. A day earlier, Trump told Fox News he was “ashamed” he’d endorsed Kemp in his 2018 GOP primary for governor. Kemp’s office noted in response that state law gives Kemp no authority to overturn election results, despite Trump’s contention that Kemp could “easily” invoke “emergency powers.” Meanwhile, Raffensperger, a Trump supporter like Kemp, has accused the president of throwing him “under the bus” for doing his job. Perdue and Loeffler have attempted to stay above the fray.  They’ve long aligned themselves with Trump and even echoed some of his general criticisms of the fall elections, jointly demanding Raffensperger’s resignation. But the crux of their runoff argument — that Republicans must prevent Democrats from controlling Capitol Hill and the White House — is itself a tacit admission that Biden, not Trump, will be inaugurated Jan. 20. And at one recent campaign stop, Perdue heard from vocal Trump supporters who demanded that he do more to help Trump somehow claim Georgia’s 16 electoral votes. Republicans see three potential negative outcomes to Trump fanning the flames. Some GOP voters could be dissuaded from voting again if they accept Trump’s claims that the system is hopelessly corrupted. Among Republicans more loyal to Trump than to the party, some could skip the runoff altogether out of anger at a party establishment the president continues to assail. Lastly, at the other end of the GOP spectrum are the moderate Republicans who already crossed over to help Biden win Georgia and could be further alienated if the runoff becomes another referendum on Trump. FILE – White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany speaks during a press briefing at the White House, in Washington, July 13, 2020.White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, in an appearance Tuesday on “Fox & Friends,” again hammered home the president’s unproven claims that the election was fraudulent, reiterating that Trump for months warned about the dangers of mail-in ballots. She said Trump believes it’s still important “to turn out and vote.” Josh Holmes, a top adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said Republicans “haven’t seen any evidence of lack of enthusiasm in the Senate races.” But none of those potential bad effects would have to be sweeping to tilt the runoffs if they end up as close as the presidential contest in Georgia.  “We’ll see how it plays out. It changes day by day and week by week. But so far, so good,” Holmes said. In Georgia, any Republican concerns are more circumspect. Brian Robinson, a former adviser to Kemp’s Republican predecessor as governor, said Trump should “drive a strong, forward-looking message” about what’s at stake for a Republican base that “is fervently devoted to him.”  “The best thing he can do for the party,” Robinson said, “is to talk about the importance of having a Republican Senate majority to project his policy legacy and to make sure the Democrats can’t reverse a lot of what he has put in place that Republicans support.” Asked what Trump should avoid, Robinson circled back to what he believes the president should say. Former U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, a Trump ally, downplayed the potential for GOP splintering, framing an “inner-family squabble” as a sideshow to the “incredible” consequences that define the runoffs. “Followers of Trump will follow Trump, but they’re not blind to the huge stakes. And neither is he,” Kingston said. “He knows to keep his legacy. He’s got to get these people reelected.” Trump, Kingston argued, is “keeping the base interested,” a necessary component of any successful runoff campaign since second rounds of elections often see a drop-off in voter participation. Robinson added that Democrats face their own challenge in replicating record turnout for Biden. “What’s the best motivator? Fear,” he said. Before November, Democrats dreaded a second Trump term more than Republicans feared Trump losing, Robinson reasoned. “Republicans have reason to be scared now,” he said, because of the prospect that Democrats could control both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.  “That could make a difference in turnout” beyond anything Trump says, Robinson concluded.  Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Sen. Kelly Loeffler gestures to supporters at a campaign rally in Marietta, Ga., Nov. 11, 2020.For their parts, the senators continue their public embrace of all things Trump ahead of the visit. “I couldn’t be more excited to welcome” the president “back to Georgia,” Loeffler wrote on Twitter after Trump confirmed his plans. Perdue’s campaign quickly retweeted the comment, which Loeffler punctuated with a reminder that the runoffs are “an all-hands-on-deck moment.”  It’s not clear, though, if all Republicans will be on hand at all. Kemp, the governor who appointed Loeffler upon Sen. Johnny Isakson’s retirement last year, has on previous Trump visits greeted the president as he disembarks from Air Force One. Asked Monday whether Georgians will see a similar scene Saturday, Kemp spokesman Cody Hall said he could not comment “yet.”  
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Dr. Scott Atlas, a science adviser to President Donald Trump who was skeptical of measures to control the coronavirus outbreak, is leaving his White House post.A White House official confirmed that the Stanford University neuroradiologist, who had no formal experience in public health or infectious diseases, resigned at the end of his temporary government assignment. Atlas confirmed the news in a Monday evening tweet.Honored to have served @realDonaldTrump and the American people during these difficult times. pic.twitter.com/xT1hRoYBMh— Scott W. Atlas (@ScottWAtlas) December 1, 2020Atlas joined the White House this summer, where he clashed with top government scientists, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, as he resisted stronger efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 267,000 Americans.Atlas has broken with government experts and the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community to criticize efforts to encourage face covering to slow the spread of the virus. Just weeks ago on Twitter he responded to Michigan’s latest virus restrictions by encouraging people to “rise up” against the state’s policies.His views also prompted Stanford to issue a statement distancing itself from the faculty member, saying Atlas “has expressed views that are inconsistent with the university’s approach in response to the pandemic.””We support using masks, social distancing, and conducting surveillance and diagnostic testing,” the university said Nov. 16. “We also believe in the importance of strictly following the guidance of local and state health authorities.”Atlas defended his role in his resignation letter, saying, “I cannot think of a time where safeguarding science and the scientific debate is more urgent.”Atlas was hired as a “special government employee,” which limited his service to government to 130 days in a calendar year — a deadline he reached this week.
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Joseph Varon, a doctor treating coronavirus patients at a Texas hospital, was working his 252nd day in a row when he spotted a distraught elderly man in the COVID-19 intensive care unit. Varon’s comforting embrace of the white-haired man on Thanksgiving Day was captured by a photographer for Getty Images and has gone viral around the world. Varon, chief of staff at United Memorial Medical Center in Houston, told CNN he was entering the COVID-19 ICU when he saw the elderly patient “out of his bed and trying to get out of the room.” “And he’s crying,” Varon said. “So I get close to him and I (ask) him, ‘Why are you crying?'” “And the man says, ‘I want to be with my wife.’ So I just grab him and I hold him,” Varon said. “I was feeling very sorry for him. I was feeling very sad, just like him.” “Eventually he felt better, and he stopped crying,” Varon told CNN on Monday. “I don’t know why I haven’t broken down,” the doctor said. “My nurses cry in the middle of the day.” Varon said the isolation of the COVID-19 unit was difficult for many patients, particularly the elderly. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus. “You can imagine,” he said. “You are inside a room where people are coming in spacesuits. “When you are an elderly individual, it’s more difficult because you are alone,” he said. “Some of them cry. Some of them try to escape,” he said. “We actually had somebody who tried to escape through a window the other day.” Varon said the elderly man in the picture is “doing much better.” “We are hoping that before the end of the week he’ll be able to get out of the hospital,” he said. Take precautions, doctor saysVaron also had a message for people who are not taking precautions amid the pandemic. “People are out there in bars, restaurants, malls,” the doctor said. “It is crazy. People don’t listen and then they end up in my ICU. “What people need to know is I don’t want to have to be hugging them,” he said. “They need to do the basic things — keep your social distance, wear your masks, wash their hands, and avoid going to places where there are a lot of people,” he said. “If people would do that, health care workers like me could hopefully rest.” 
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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has begun naming picks for his new Cabinet, as well as other top-level administration officials. Biden has pledged to choose a Cabinet that reflects the diversity of the American population. His selections will be scrutinized by the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and must win confirmation in a narrowly controlled Senate, whose majority party will be determined by two Georgia Senate runoffs in January. Here are Biden’s selections so far.Janet YellenSecretary of the TreasuryYellen, 74, is a familiar face in financial circles, having been the chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, as well as the top economic adviser to President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to head the Treasury Department. She previously was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010 and was Fed vice chair from 2010 to 2014 alongside then-Chairman Ben Bernanke. As head of the Fed, Yellen kept interest rates near zero until late 2015, when she lifted them very slowly to encourage employment gains.FILE – In this July 27, 2016, file photo, Neera Tanden speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.Neera TandenDirector of the Office of Management and BudgetTanden is president of the liberal Center for American Progress research group and has previously worked in both the Clinton and Obama administrations. She was director of domestic policy for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and helped craft the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration’s sweeping health care bill popularly known as Obamacare. Tanden was also policy director for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. If confirmed, Tanden, 50, a South Asian American, would be the first woman of color to lead OMB, the agency that oversees the federal budget.President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for Secretary of State Tony Blinken speaks at The Queen theater, Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Antony BlinkenSecretary of StateBlinken was deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration and has close ties with Biden. A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, Blinken, 58, has long served in foreign policy positions during Democratic administrations, including as a member of the National Security Council during the Clinton administration and deputy national security adviser during the Obama administration. He was also staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was chair of the panel, and later was then-Vice President Biden’s national security adviser.Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to be director of Homeland Security, speaks in Wilmington, Del., Nov. 24, 2020.Alejandro MayorkasSecretary of Homeland SecurityMayorkas is a former deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security and will be the first Latino and immigrant nominated to head the agency. Born in Havana, Cuba, Mayorkas, 60, came to the United States as a political refugee with his family when he was a child. Following a career as a lawyer, he joined the Obama administration in 2009 as director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, where he implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, granting protection to immigrants brought to the United States illegally as children.Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, speaks as President-elect Biden announces his national security nominees.Linda Thomas-GreenfieldUnited Nations AmbassadorThomas-Greenfield is a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service who has served on four continents. She was President Obama’s top diplomat on Africa from 2013 to 2017, leading U.S. policy in sub-Saharan Africa during the West Africa Ebola outbreak. After leaving the State Department, Thomas-Greenfield took a senior leadership position at former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s global strategy company. Biden plans to elevate the position of U.N. ambassador to Cabinet level.President-elect Joe Biden’s climate envoy nominee former Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at The Queen theater, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.John KerrySpecial Envoy for ClimateKerry is a prominent and longtime figure in the Democratic Party — a former secretary of state in the Obama administration; a former senator from Massachusetts for more than 25 years; and the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. The special envoy for climate is not a Cabinet position, but Kerry will sit on the National Security Council, the first time the NSC will include an official dedicated to climate change. Kerry tweeted after the announcement of his selection, “America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is.”President-elect Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence nominee Avril Haines speaks at The Queen theater, Nov. 24, 2020, in Wilmington, Del.Avril HainesDirector of National IntelligenceHaines is a former deputy director of the CIA and a former deputy national security adviser in the Obama administration. She will be the first woman nominated to lead the U.S. intelligence community. Haines, 51, is a lawyer and has previously worked with Biden while serving on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations as deputy chief counsel when Biden was the committee’s chairman. After leaving the Obama administration in 2017, she held several posts at Columbia University.Former State Department Director of Policy Planning Jake Sullivan speaks during a hearing on Iran before the House Foreign Affairs Committee at Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 11, 2017.Jake SullivanNational Security AdviserSullivan was Biden’s national security adviser during the Obama administration. He was also deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At age 44, Sullivan will be one of the youngest people to serve in that role in decades, according to the Biden transition team.
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