Biden names top White House aides, meets with national security advisers

US President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday named several top advisers from his election campaign and a Democratic congressman as senior White House aides, sticking with a tight inner circle as he transitions to the White House.

Biden has been preparing to take over the presidency on Jan. 20, meeting with advisers and mapping out his policy plans, despite President Donald Trump's increasingly tenuous effort to reverse the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.

Biden presidential campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon, the first woman to lead a winning Democratic presidential bid, will be named a deputy chief of staff, Biden said in a statement released by his transition team.

Longtime close advisers Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti will join the White House as senior advisor to the president and counselor to the president, respectively. Dana Remus, the campaign's top lawyer, will be counsel to the president.

Another close adviser, Ron Klain, was already named chief of staff.

US Representative Cedric Richmond, who was a national co-chair of Biden's campaign and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, will vacate a House seat in Louisiana to join as a senior adviser and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. The five-term lawmaker has some experience bridging gaps between the parties, which could help Biden advance his priorities in Congress.

Biden, who may name more staff soon, could still be weeks away from naming his Cabinet appointees.

The former vice president met virtually with a panel of national security experts on Tuesday, including several advisers under consideration for foreign policy posts, such as former Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, former Deputy National Security Adviser Avril Haines and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

Trump's refusal to concede has stalled the normal transition to a new administration, including funding and office space to ensure a smooth handover. Biden is also not receiving the classified intelligence briefings normally accorded to an incoming president, a point Biden noted during a brief glimpse of the meeting offered to reporters.

After noting he had predicted the next president would "inherit a divided country and a world in disarray," Biden said, "Just stating the obvious. You know that I've been unable to get the briefings that ordinarily would have come by now. And so I just want to get your input on what you see ahead."

Biden said he had spoken to 13 foreign heads of state thus far, telling them, "America's back. And it's no longer America alone." He had a "warm conversation" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, according to Netanyahu's office.

Biden also warned on Monday that stalling the transition much longer would cost lives in the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 247,000 in the United States and is intensifying daily.

CLEAR BIDEN VICTORY

Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence he is the victim of widespread voter fraud, and his campaign has filed a flurry of lawsuits in battleground states. Election officials in both parties have said they see no evidence of serious irregularities.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine on Tuesday defended the campaign's effort, even as courts in multiple states have rejected their legal challenges.

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