Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) slammed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden over a handful of picks to guide a potential Biden administration, saying the names cut against Biden’s calls for “unity.”
Cotton has been an outspoken critic of a number of Biden’s proposed picks to hold high posts in his potential administration. Cotton on Sunday said that Biden’s administration that is taking shape indicates that the former vice president has no intention of unifying around key issues such as China.
“Biden said he wanted to unify the country. But he’s picked a national security team that is weak on China, a DHS nominee who sold visas for powerful political friends, and a partisan hack who called Susan Collins “the worst” for OMB,” Cotton said in a tweet. “So much for unity.”
Biden said he wanted to unify the country.
But he’s picked a national security team that is weak on China, a DHS nominee who sold visas for powerful political friends, and a partisan hack who called Susan Collins “the worst” for OMB.
So much for unity.
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) November 30, 2020
Biden’s pick for national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, advocated for an approach toward Chinese relations that would encourage “China’s rise” during a 2017 lecture on behalf of the Lowy Institute. Sullivan advised Biden when he served as vice president and Hillary Clinton when she served as secretary of state.
“We need to strike a middle course – one that encourages China’s rise in a manner consistent with an open, fair, rules-based, regional order,” Sullivan said. “This will require care and prudence and strategic foresight, and maybe even more basically it will require sustained attention. It may not have escaped your notice that these are not in ample supply in Washington right now.”
Biden’s pick to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, was found by the department inspector general to have sold EB-5 visas, reserved for foreigners who invest significant sums into growing U.S. businesses, to Chinese nationals with connections to wealthy Democratic donors. Mayorkas denied the report’s findings, but Cotton said that the inspector general report should disqualify Mayorkas from the cabinet slot.
“Alejandro Mayorkas was found by Barack Obama’s Inspector General to be guilty of selling Green Cards to Chinese nationals on behalf of rich, democratic donors. He is disqualified from leading the Department of Homeland Security,” Cotton said on Twitter on Nov. 25.
Biden tapped Neera Tanden on Monday to head the White House Office of Management and Budget. Tanden is the president of The Center for American Progress and a close friend of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her nomination elicited sharp criticism from across the political aisle. As The Daily Wire reports:
Sen. John Cornyn, (R-TX) said Tanden “stands zero chance of being confirmed.”
USA Today noted that Tanden has issued 87,000 tweets since joining Twitter in March 2010. Garrett Ventry, who served as a communications aide to the committee chaired by Sen. Charles Grassley,(R-IA), noted, “Watching @neeratanden delete all her negative tweets about Republican Senators is hilarious. Her nomination is already a funeral.”
Brianna Joy Gray, the former press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, said Tanden was “a woman who is openly disdainful of Bernie Sanders and his coalition, but who is friendly with extreme bigots online.” She added, “Everything toxic about the corporate Democratic Party is embodied in Neera Tanden.”
Tanden also attacked Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing.