Tag Archives: White House staff

Biden beefs up White House staff, including Big Tech critic Tim Wu

By Susan Heavey and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday rounded out his White House staff with a top adviser who has advocated for breaking up Big Tech companies along with a host of new appointments focused on COVID-19, criminal justice and the economy.

The White House announced six additional staffers to its National Economic Council, including Columbia University professor Tim Wu, who coined the term “net neutrality” and has warned against an economy dominated by a few giant firms.

Wu authored “The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age” in 2018, in which he warned about the inequalities created by extreme economic concentration.

“I think breakups or undoing of mergers are actually called for more than we have appreciated in the last few decades,” Wu has said previously about Big Tech companies.

Wu served as senior enforcement counsel to the New York Attorney General and as adviser at the Federal Trade Commission and the National Economic Council.

“Putting this twitter feed on hold for now — so long!” Wu, said in a post on Friday.

His appointment is a win for progressives, who have pushed for tougher scrutiny of Big Tech firms such as Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Google and is likely to shape the White House’s approach on tougher antitrust enforcement.

Google and Facebook have been sued by federal and state regulators for using their dominance to hurt rivals whereas Amazon and Apple are still under investigation.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Antitrust Committee, said Wu’s appointment shows the administration is serious about promoting competition in the United States. “America has a major monopoly problem that must be urgently addressed,” she said.

Congressional Democrats have already begun talks with the White House on ways to crack down on tech companies, including holding them accountable for disinformation and addressing their market power.

Several Republicans have also sought to hit back at Big Tech, including efforts to scrap a law known as Section 230 that shields online companies for liability over users’ posted content.

In the White House statement on new staff, Biden also named 13 additions to his Domestic Policy Council and two more staffers to the White House COVID-19 response team.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Nandita Bose; Editing by Frances Kerry, Aurora Ellis and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Factbox: White House staff, top Republicans who have tested positive for COVID-19

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A growing number of White House staff and senior Republicans have tested positive for COVID-19 since President Donald Trump revealed he had contracted the respiratory disease.

The infections have roiled the presidential campaign, now in its final month, rattled financial markets and slowed the work of Congress, with the Senate vowing to delay any votes now that three members of the Republican majority have tested positive.

Several people who met with the president last week said they had since tested negative, but it can take days for someone who has been exposed to the virus to develop symptoms or to test positive. Below is a list of people close to Trump who have tested positive for coronavirus in recent days:

KAYLEIGH MCENANY

White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, said in a statement on Monday that she has tested positive for COVID-19, adding that she is experiencing no symptoms and “had no knowledge of Hope Hicks’ testing positive before her briefing last Thursday.”

HOPE HICKS

Hope Hicks, a close adviser to the president who often traveled with him on the Air Force One and Marine One presidential aircraft, tested positive for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus on Thursday. The disclosure of her infection, first reported by Bloomberg, set off a wave of news.

MELANIA TRUMP

Donald Trump, who had carried out a busy week of campaigning starting with the Sept. 26 introduction of his Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett at a packed White House ceremony, said on Friday that he had his wife, Melania, had tested positive.

RONNA MCDANIEL

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel, who has had frequent contact with Trump, said on Friday she tested positive for the virus and was quarantined at home in Michigan.

SENATOR RON JOHNSON

Ron Johnson, who heads the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, a spokesman said on Saturday.

SENATOR THOM TILLIS

Senator Thom Tillis tested positive for the coronavirus, he said in a statement on Friday. A member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Tillis positive test results comes after he attended a Sept. 26 Oval Office meeting with Barrett, who Republicans are seeking to steer onto the Supreme Court.

SENATOR MIKE LEE

Mike Lee, another senator on the Judiciary Committee, also said he tested positive on Friday. He was present at the Oval Office meeting on Sept. 26.

BILL STEPIEN

Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, also tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday and will work from home, according to a senior campaign official.

GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Saturday that he was checking himself into a hospital as a precautionary measure after testing positive for coronavirus.

KELLYANNE CONWAY

Kellyanne Conway, a former counselor to Trump, said in a post on Twitter that she had tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday. She attended the Sept. 26 Rose Garden ceremony for Barrett.

NOTRE DAME PRESIDENT JOHN JENKINS

University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins, who also attended the White House ceremony, said on Friday that he had tested positive.

NICHOLAS LUNA

Assistant to Trump Nicholas Luna, a “body man” who accompanies the president day and night, has tested positive, according to a source familiar with the situation.

(Reporting by Katanga Johnson and David Lawder; Editing by Scott Malone and Lisa Shumaker)