Page 6 - Florida Sentinel 12-11-20

Political
Kamala Harris Makes History, Announces Senior Staff Picks Are All Women
Biden Selects Dr. Anthony Fauci To Be Chief Medical Advisor
Madam Vice President- elect Harris just keeps on making history. On December 3, it was announced that all of her top aides will be women. This means that for the first time ever, the three top posi- tions in the office of the vice president will be held by women, as they serve the first Black woman to hold the posi- tion.
One of the most notable women tapped is Tina Flournoy, who will be the chief of staff to the vice presi- dent. Flournoy was also the chief of staff to former Presi- dent Bill Clinton. She is a
Madam Vice President- Elect Knows The Importance Of Lifting Up Other Women As She Ascends
founding member of the infor- mal group the “Colored Girls,” composed of 5 Black women in
the Democratic Party who ad- vocate for representation within the party.
The Biden-Harris cam- paign has made progressive strides in hiring a historic number of women of color to serve under their administra- tion. Last week, Harris se- lected two Black women to lead her communications team, and recently named a woman of color to serve as her domestic policy advisor.
Symone Sanders is now the chief spokeswoman for the vice president and Ashley Etienne is the new communi- cations director.
The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has accepted the top medical position under the Biden administration. He will serve as chief medical ad- viser and be a part of Biden’s COVID-19 response team after accepting Biden’s offer proposed on December 3.
“I asked him to stay on the exact same role he’s had for the past several presidents, and I asked him to be a chief medical adviser for me as well, and be part of the COVID team,” Biden told CNN.
Although Dr. Fauci has served under a total of six ad- ministrations, advising for- mer Presidents on other global health issues including the HIV/AIDS crisis, the cur- rent administration has made strides to undermine his ex- pertise. President Trump has discredited Fauci on sev- eral occasions, calling the medical expert “a disaster” and claimed that “people are
He Will Meet With Biden Transition Team Via Zoom To Discuss The COVID-19 Re- sponse.
tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots,” talk about the virus. Trump’s claims about Fauci have made some Americans wary of trusting his information, despite stag- gering COVID-19 mortality rates and infection numbers.
Rashida Jones Named Next President Of MSNBC
Rashida Jones will be- come president of MSNBC, and the current president, Phil Griffin, will step down after 25 years at the cable news channel, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde announced Monday.
Jones, who will take over at MSNBC on Feb. 1, is a senior vice president at NBC News and MSNBC, where she leads breaking news and major events coverage. She also over- sees MSNBC's daytime and weekend programming. She will become the most promi- nent Black woman in the cable news industry.
"Rashida knows and un- derstands MSNBC, in part be- cause it's where she started when she first joined NBCU seven years ago," Conde wrote in an email to NBC News employees. "She knows that it is the people who work here that make it great, and she un- derstands its culture. She also appreciates the impact and po- tential of the brand."
Conde noted that in the past year Jones has helped guide MSNBC's coverage of
RASHIDA JONES
the Covid-19 pandemic, the unrest and social justice protests that broke out over the treatment of Black Ameri- cans and the 2020 election. She also helped with two influ- ential series at the network, "Justice for All" and "Climate in Crisis."
Jones was part of the team that helped NBC News White House correspondent Kris- ten Welker prepare for her role as moderator in the final presidential debate of 2020.
Griffin started with NBC News 35 years ago as a pro- ducer on the "TODAY" show.
"At MSNBC, Phil has built something remarkable," Conde wrote. "He leaves the
network in the best shape it has ever been."
NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News, owns MSNBC.
The announcement follows a wave of other changes within NBCUniversal. In May, Conde took over as chairman of NBCUniversal News Group, which includes NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, as part of a restructuring that occurred after Andrew Lack an- nounced that he would be stepping down as president of NBC News Group. In January, Jeff Shell took over as CEO of NBCUniversal.
Jones' promotion, the first major executive appointment by Conde, comes after he an- nounced a goal this year for the staff of NBC News to be made up of 50 percent women and 50 percent people of color. He didn't put a deadline on the initiative.
Biden Picks Lloyd Austin As Secretary Of Defense
WASHINGTON - Presi- dent-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of de- fense, according to four people familiar with the decision. If confirmed by the Senate, Austin would be the first Black leader of the Pentagon.
Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary. Biden also had considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland de- fense.
The impending nomination of Austin was confirmed by four people with knowledge of the pick who spoke to The As- sociated Press on condition of anonymity because the selec- tion hadn’t been formally an- nounced.
As a career military officer,
LLOYD AUSTIN
the 67-year-old Austin is likely to face opposition from some in Congress and in the defense establishment who be- lieve in drawing a clear line be- tween civilian and military leadership of the Pentagon. Al- though many previous defense secretaries have served briefly in the military, only two — George C. Marshall and James Mattis — have been career officers. Marshall also served as secretary of state.
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