‘America is back’, says Biden

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President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday introduced a slate of veteran diplomats and policy-makers who will make up his national security and foreign policy team, saying: “America is back, ready to lead the world.”

Biden, 78, at an event in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, presented his picks for secretary of state, national security advisor, homeland security secretary, intelligence chief, UN ambassador and climate change envoy.

“These public servants will restore America’s global leadership and moral leadership,” Biden said as the six men and women stood behind him wearing face-masks on the stage of the Queen theater.

Biden said that after he is inaugurated on January 20, 2021 and Donald Trump leaves the White House, the United States will “once again sit at the head of the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies.”

“It is a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it,” the former vice president said in a jab at President Trump’s go-it-alone “America First” policies.

Biden’s remarks came shortly after Trump suffered further setbacks in his unprecedented effort to overturn the results of an American presidential election with unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

The GSA determination that Biden is the apparent winner gives him access to classified briefings on national security threats and will allow his aides to coordinate with health officials on addressing the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

Biden, in an interview with NBC Nightly News, said intelligence briefings were expected to begin soon and cooperation is being worked out in other areas.

“We’ve gotten outreach from the National Security shop,” he said. “We’re already working out meeting with the Covid team in the White House.

“The outreach has been sincere,” Biden said. “There’s not been begrudging so far. And I don’t expect it to be.”

Unveiling his cabinet selections, Biden said world leaders had told him they were “looking forward to the United States reasserting its historic role as a global leader.”

“This team meets this moment,” he said. “They embody my core belief that America is strongest when it works with its allies.”

source: france24