Among first acts, Biden to call for 100 days of mask-wearing

(NewsNation Now) — President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping just short of the nationwide mandate he’s pushed before to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The president-elect has frequently emphasized mask-wearing as a “patriotic duty” and during the campaign floated the idea of instituting a nationwide mask mandate, which he later acknowledged would be beyond the ability of the president to enforce.

Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Biden said he would make the request of Americans on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

“On the first day I’m inaugurated, I’m going to ask the public for 100 days to mask. Just 100 days to mask — not forever, just 100 days. And I think we’ll see a significant reduction” in the virus, Biden said.

The president-elect reiterated his call for lawmakers on Capitol Hill to pass a coronavirus aid bill and expressed support for a $900 billion compromise bill that a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced this week.

“That would be a good start. It’s not enough,” he said, adding, “I’m going to need to ask for more help.”

Biden has said his transition team is working on its own coronavirus relief package, and his aides have signaled they plan for that to be their first legislative push.

The president-elect also said he asked Dr. Anthony Fauci to stay on in his administration, “in the exact same role he’s had for the past several presidents,” as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert.

He said he’s asked Fauci to be a “chief medical adviser” as well as part of his COVID-19 advisory team.

Regarding a coronavirus vaccine, Biden offered credit for the work Trump’s administration has done in expediting the development of a vaccine but said that planning the distribution properly will be “critically important.”

“It’s a really difficult but doable project, but it has to be well planned, ” he said.

Part of the challenge the Biden administration will face in distributing the vaccine will be instilling public confidence in it. Biden said he’d be “happy” to get inoculated in public to assuage any concerns about its efficacy and safety. Three former presidents — Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton — have said they’d also get vaccinated publicly to show that it’s safe.

“People have lost faith in the ability of the vaccine to work,” Biden said, adding that “it matters what a president and the vice president do.”

President Donald Trump was asked this summer if he would consider being the first to take the vaccine to send a message that it was safe. The president said that going first could also lead to accusations that he was being selfish, but that he would take it if recommended to do so.

“I would absolutely, if they wanted me to, if they thought it was right. I would take it first or I would take it last,” Trump said during a July interview with Fox News. “You know that if I take it first, I will be, either way, I lose on that one, right?”

Asked if he’d personally be taking a vaccine, Pence gave a thumbs up and replied, “Absolutely.”

In the same interview, Biden also weighed in on reports that Trump is considering pardons of himself and his allies.

“It concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice,” Biden said.

Biden committed that his Justice Department will “operate independently” and that whoever he chooses to lead the department will have the “independent capacity to decide who gets investigated.”

“You’re not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons, nor are you going to see in our administration the approach to making policy by tweets,” he said.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris added that any decision coming out of the Department of Justice “should be based on facts, should be based on the law — it should not be influenced by politics.”

https://www.newsnationnow.com/...

Georgia’s Kemp urges signature audit after ‘smoking gun’ surveillance video emerges from vote count

Gov. Brian Kemp, the Georgia Republican who has been fiercely criticized by President Trump over his approach to allegations of voter fraud in his state, said Thursday that new testimony has raised additional questions and a signature audit should be performed.

Kemp, who was interviewed on "The Ingraham Angle," was referring to surveillance video that allegedly showed poll watchers being led out of a room at State Farm Arena, the state's largest vote-counting center, after being told that the vote count was complete for the night. Once they left, a woman could be seen pulling out suitcases from underneath a table that allegedly contained ballots. The votes were allegedly counted for hours, with no election supervisors present, CBS46.com reported.

Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump's lawyers, tweeted, "SMOKING GUN FROM GEORGIA.'

Kemp told Ingraham that he has called for a signature audit, but the power in the state to make the order lies with the secretary of state's office.

"I think it should be done. I think especially [given] what we saw today... it raises more questions," he said.

Jenna Ellis, one of the lawyers on the Trump campaign's legal team, responded to the Kemp interview on Twitter, "@TrumpTeam requested signature verification FIVE TIMES."

Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the Republicans in the Georgia runoff, backed the president's signature-matching demands last month and and have called for the resignation of Raffensperger. Raffensperger's office did not immediately respond to an email from Fox News.

Trump took to Twitter late Thursday and said the best way for the two Republicans to win in the runoff election in the state on Jan. 5 is to “allow signature checks in the Presidential race,” which would ensure his own in the state.

Kemp told Ingraham, "I think in the next 24 hours, we will see a lot more from the hearings that the legislature had today and we will be able to look and see what the next steps are. That's where we are now."

Kemp has been severely criticized by Trump who said he was “ashamed” for endorsing him for governor. Kemp reflected in the interview on the intense criticism figures including the president and high-profile attorney Lin Wood Jr.

"Look, I'm frustrated like [Trump] is, a lot of people are," said Kemp, who added he still supports the president and his policies. "Like he said, he's a fighter, we had a few battles but nobody worked harder for Donald Trump before Nov. 3 and I continued to help his efforts in the legal campaign and I will continue to do that."

Last week, Sidney Powell took to Twitter to post an open letter to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger to request the Zoom meeting where state officials decided not to “perform a real audit” during the election recount.

The Trump team has questioned the validity of absentee ballots on the state that helped propel Joe Biden to a 12,670 vote victory in the Peach State, where 5 million ballots were cast.

By contrast, Kemp blasted Wood for opening the door to "give Democrats everything they want" by suppressing Republican turnout in the critical Jan. 5 elections.

"[Georgia] is literally the firewall," he said. "I think we all have to pull together and figure out what we have got to do to ensure people that their votes are going to come. I believe it will and that's why I'm working so hard for David [Perdue] and Kelly [Loeffler] and I will continue to do that."

https://www.foxnews.com/politi...