Senate holds hearings for 5 Biden nominees on Trump’s last full day in office

Washington – The Senate is holding confirmation hearings for five of the nominees for President-elect Joe Biden’s office on Tuesday, while Democrats rush to approve key officials shortly after Biden becomes president on Wednesday.

Senators met for the first time since Trump was impeached a second time. They are holding confirmation hearings for five crucial candidates: Janet Yellen at the Treasury, Antony Blinken at State, Lloyd Austin at Defense, Alejandro Mayorkas at Homeland Security and Avril Haines as director of national intelligence.

Mr. Biden is planning to arrive in Washington on Tuesday afternoon and attend a ceremony in honor of the victims of COVID-19 at the Lincoln Memorial in the evening.

The hearings take place on President Trump’s last full day in office. He is to issue 100 pardons or commutations in the final hours of his president, a senior administration official and a senior White House official to CBS News.

It is not yet known who Trump plans to forgive, although a source said the president should not forgive himself.

Mr. Trump stayed out of the public eye on Monday, while First Lady Melania Trump issued a farewell video. She made no direct reference to the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill, but said, “Be passionate about everything you do, but always remember that violence is never the answer and will never be justified.”

Breaking with tradition, Melania Trump did not take a walk to the entrance of First Lady Jill Biden, and the Trumps will be the first President and First Lady to skip the inauguration of the new President in over 150 years.

Security is tightened up before Wednesday’s inauguration. The Pentagon has authorized more than 25,000 National Guard soldiers to protect the event, and the FBI is examining all members of the Guard. The head of the National Guard office, Daniel Hokanson, told David Martin of CBS News that he “is absolutely not” concerned about the reliability of his troops.

With the military focused on protecting possession, Trump will not receive the great military honors he wanted in his farewell. Instead, he will have a reduced expulsion at 8 am on Wednesday, before heading to Mar-a-Lago.