President-elect Joe Biden said he hoped, for the sake of the nation, President Donald Trump would attend his inauguration, shake his hand,...
President-elect Joe Biden said he hoped, for the sake of the nation, President Donald Trump would attend his inauguration, shake his hand, and let the country move on.
He also clarified the role his family will play in his White House and said his son Hunter will not pursue any business opportunities that would be a conflict of interest while he is president.
The president-elect sat down for his first joint interview with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and spent the hour conversation with CNN talking about the coronavirus pandemic, the role Harris will play in his administration and the current occupant of the White House.
Biden said he hopes President Trump is standing on the inauguration platform on January 20th so they can demonstrate to the world a peaceful transfer of power.
‘I think it would be important only in one sense - not in a personal sense important - in the sense that we are able to demonstrate at the end of this chaos that he's created that there is peaceful transfer of power, with the competing parties, standing there, shaking hands, and moving on,’ Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
‘I really worry about the image we're presenting to the rest of the world,’ he said.
He added that it didn’t matter to him personally if Trump came to the January 20th inauguration ceremony but said it was important for the nation.
‘I think is important but it is totally his decision, and it's no personal consequence to me. But I do think it is in the country,’ he said.
Trump still hasn’t conceded the election to Biden even as the Democrat has won the electoral college and the popular vote. Trump has claimed a 'rigged' election but shown no evidence of massive voter fraud and his many legal challenges to overturn the results have failed.
As for attending the inauguration ceremony, Trump said on Thanksgiving he knew the answer to that question but didn't want to share it yet.
'I don't want to say that yet. I mean I know the answer, I'll be honest, I know the answer, but I just don't want to say it yet,’ he told reporters at the White House.
As Trump continues to protest the election results, some Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill haven’t publicly acknowledged Biden’s victory.
Biden said he understands their position but added he’s talked to several of his former Senate colleagues privately.
‘There have been more than several sitting Republican senators who privately call me and congratulate me,’ he said. ‘And I understand the situation they find themselves in.’
Joe Biden said he hopes President Donald Trump will attend his inauguration, shake his hand and let the country move on
President Trump had refused to concede the election and won't say whether he'll attend the inauguration
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris conducted their first joint interview on Thursday; they described their working relationship as a partnership
President-elect Biden said neither his son Hunter nor any of his family would take on any business enterprises that would be a conflict of interest while he sat in the Oval Office - above the Biden family - Ashley, Joe, Jill and Hunter - on the night Biden was declared winner of the election
Biden also was asked about his son Hunter, who was accused of benefiting from business with Ukrainian and Chinese officials when Biden was vice president.
He said neither his son nor any family members would not be involved in any conflicts of interest while he sat in the Oval Office.
‘My son, my family will not be involved in any business, any enterprise, that is in conflict with or appears to be a conflict whether the appropriate distance from the presidency and government,’ he said.
Biden's son-in-law, Dr. Howard Krein, works at an investment firm overseeing health care solutions to COVID-19.
Biden also said he'd be meeting with NAACP on Tuesday and said he'd fulfill his campaign promise to have a diverse Cabinet that reflects America.
'I promise you, you'll see the most diverse cabinet representatives of all folks, Asian Americans, African Americans, Latinos LGBTQ across the board,' he said.
HARRIS ROLE AS VICE PRESIDENT
Biden said he would treat Harris the same way Barack Obama treated him when he was vice president.
‘I wanted to do the deal the president and I made,’ he said. ‘And that is that there's so many things are going to land on this President's desk.’
He said he’d ask her to take on specific problems as needed.
‘Whatever the most urgent need is that I’m not able to attend to,’ he said, that would go to Harris.
Vice President elect Kamala Harris said she and President-elect would be 'full partners' in the White House
Kamala Harris also said her husband Doug Emhoff will be known as ‘second gentleman’ but she’d call him ‘honey'
Harris described their working relationship as ‘full partners.’
‘We are full partners in this process, and I will tell you that the President Elect has been since the first day he asked me to join him on the ticket been very clear with me, and that he wants me to be the first and the last in the room,’ Harris said. ‘I will be a full partner to the president elect and the president, and whatever our priorities are, I will be there to support him.’
Biden described them as 'simpatico.'
'We are simpatico on our philosophy of government and simpatico on how we want to attach -- approach these issues that we're facing. And so I don't have -- and when we disagree, it will be just like -- so far, it has been just like when Barack and I did. It's in private,' he said.
'And like I told Barack, if I reach something where there's a fundamental disagreement we have based on a moral principle, I will develop some disease and say I have to resign,' he added.
Harris also said her husband Doug Emhoff will be known as ‘second gentleman’ but she’d call him ‘honey.’
‘Well, I think that the term has evolved into the second gentleman,’ Harris said when asked what Emhoff would be called. Her husband joked his title would be ‘second dude.’
But, she added: ‘I'll call him honey.’
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