A native of Tallahassee, Fla., Williams currently works as the trip director for the transition team, a role she held on the Biden-Harris campaign. Angela Ramirez, Special Assistant to the President and House Legislative Affairs Liaison, Dana Shubat, Senior Legislative Affairs Advisor, Lee Slater, Special Assistant to the President and House Legislative Affairs Liaison, Chris Slevin, Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, Cynthia Bernstein, Director of Management and Administration for the Office of the Vice President, Karen Andre, Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, Jamie Citron, Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, Corina Cortez, Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, Matt Dannenberg, Senior Associate Director, Dani Durante, Director for Leadership & Training, Katie Petrelius, Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, Jacob Sztraicher, Senior Associate Director, Rachel Wallace, Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the Office of Presidential Personnel, Thomas Zimmerman, Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, Stephen Goepfert, Personal Aide to the President of the United States, Ashley Williams, Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations. Subscribe to ‘Here's the Deal,’ our politics newsletter. A number of cabinet level positions remain open, including attorney general and the secretaries of Commerce and Labor. Am I going to keep pushing? President Joe Biden has reportedly removed military flags sitting in the Oval Office during the administration of President Donald Trump. “There are still some gaps for the Latino community and if those aren’t filled during this first set of appointments, I would hope that they would be certainly a goal for later on in the administration.”. 7. What kind of vice-president will Harris be? President Trump had promised to restore the bust to the Oval Office after it was removed by his predecessor Barack Obama. “It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president,” Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations, told The Washington Post during an exclusive tour. “Building a diverse team will lead to better outcomes and more effective solutions to address the urgent crises facing our nation. Other busts around the room include another key figure in the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks. “This Oval is an Oval for Day One,” Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations said to The Washington Post. Correction: An earlier version of this story said that Mr Biden had replaced the curtains used by Mr Trump in the Oval Office. Portraits of two other celebrated former presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, have also been paired. This time, his spokesman, said: "The Oval office is the president's private office and it's up to the president to decorate it as he wishes". When Obama removed the Oval Office Churchill bust, Boris Johnson, then mayor of London, suggested the president had an … Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. We were not even in the arena to push with Trump.”. “I would have to give him an incomplete at this point just because there are some very critical positions still open,” Saenz said of Biden. Yamiche Alcindor is the White House correspondent for the PBS NewsHour and a political contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. Facebook is showing information to help you better understand the purpose of a Page. Moving forward together, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”. Incoming presidents bring their own personal touch to the Oval Office and much is being read into the way Joe Biden has chosen to decorate his new place of work. It is not unusual for a new president to add their unique touch to the Oval Office and redecorate everything from carpets to artworks upon arrival. She often tells stories about the intersection of race and politics as well as fatal police encounters. The curtains have not been changed. Yamiche Alcindor Every incoming president gets to redecorate the Oval Office… “However, the Biden administration must ensure its policy priorities sustain the intention behind such diverse appointments amid other pressing challenges.”. Ashley At The Oval Office. President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team plans to announce Wednesday a new slate of staffers for their incoming administration and to celebrate hitting their goal of 100 diverse appointments by the end of 2020. Biden Ditches Military Flags In Oval Office Makeover. Biden notably removed a portrait of Andrew Jackson that once hung in Trump’s Oval Office. Meanwhile, according to the transition team, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders make up about 12 percent of all White House staffers and LGBTQ appointees account for 11 percent of all White House staff. Not a total bust. Photographers were invited into the Oval Office to document the president’s first day in office, and that first look at the new White House was crucial in setting the tone for Biden’s presidency. In a statement released to NewsHour, Harris said she was proud to introduce the new staffers. The room has been filled with portraits and busts of some of the most iconic and influential leaders of American history. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. Please check your inbox to confirm. “I am thrilled that we have accomplished our goal of naming 100 staff members by the end of 2020 — and I could not be more proud of the talented and diverse team we will put to work for the American people.”, For Lauren Buita, who created Girl Security, a program that gets young women and girls interested in national security and foreign affairs, the appointments are a first step, but they must be reinforced with the political will and support required to achieve systemic change. The announcements, which PBS NewsHour is the first to report, come as Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who is the first Black person and first South Asian American to hold that position, continue to stress that their administration will be the most diverse in history and as advocates pressure them to keep that promise both with cabinet level picks and with lower level aides. “To meet the unprecedented challenges facing the American people, we must build an administration that reflects the very best of our country,” she said. Gone is the portrait of Andrew Jackson, the 7th president and a populist with whom President Trump frequently identified and who also faced censure although he was never impeached. The other women in Kamala Harris' college photo. https://people.com/politics/joe-biden-president-oval-office-tour-photos His advocacy group is part of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, a coalition of more than 40 national Latino civil rights organizations, that has been pushing for more Hispanics to be included in the administration. Sharpton said he would give Biden a higher grade on his picks if the incoming president chose a Black person or someone with “an extensive civil rights record” to be the next attorney general. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-team-announces-new-staff-picks-highlighting-effort-to-build-an-administration-that-looks-like-america, How Biden’s Education Department will tackle pandemic and Trump-era policies, WATCH: President-elect Biden criticizes pace of coronavirus vaccine rollout, Biden picks Miguel Cardona as education secretary, Biden introduces his climate team, says ‘no time to waste’. The portrait of another former president, Thomas Jefferson, has been paired with a man he frequently disagreed with, the former Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton as "hallmarks of how differences of opinion, expressed within the guardrails of the Republic, are essential to democracy", the Post quotes Biden's office as saying. “The real metric for me, for the NAACP, is how we will do racial equity in this administration’s policy implementation,” he said. Yes. Take a Tour of Biden's Transformed Oval Office, and Learn More About Its Symbolic Decor Read about our approach to external linking. “Beyond changing the optics of our federal government, it demonstrates the administration’s commitment to appointing qualified leadership,” she said. That is our job. Meanwhile Oval Office operations deputy director Ashley Williams said it was key for Biden to walk into an Oval Office that “looked like America”. "It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as … 159 likes. The Post said Franklin's portrait was intended to represent President Biden's interest in following science as he attempts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. Flags of the different branches of the military have also been replaced with an American flag and another with a presidential seal. "This Oval is an Oval for Day One," Ashley Williams, deputy director of Oval Office operations, also told the publication during a tour of the space. No. His bust sits alongside framed photos of Mr Biden's family. “At the end of the day, having a really diverse team is important. PBS NewsHour’s Ali Rogin contributed reporting for this story. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images), By Collin Binkley, Alexandra Jaffe, Jonathan Lemire, Associated Press. Marantz NR1711. “Compared to where we were, he’s doing alright,” longtime civil rights leader Rev. Josh Hsu, who serves as the director of judicial nominations on the transition and once served as the national policy director for Harris’ own presidential campaign, will be counsel to the vice president. As the group waits to see if Biden, who has already created new positions on climate, will follow through on their request, NAACP president Derrick Johnson is praising Biden for keeping “much of his promise of having the most diverse cabinet” and doing so “in the face of much criticism and concern from the Black community who are not getting some of the things that are being demanded.”, READ: Biden introduces his climate team, says ‘no time to waste’. We pushed with [President Barack] Obama. The then foreign secretary Boris Johnson - now UK prime minister - had at the time accused Mr Obama of having an "ancestral dislike of the British empire". There is also an Allan Houser sculpture depicting a horse and Chiricahua Apache rider once belonging to the Hawaii Democrat Senator Daniel Inouye, the Post reports. But the real question is, what are you assigning them to do? Kate and Rio Ferdinand donate £1,000 to Ashley Cain's cancer-stricken baby girl . From his desk, Mr Biden will look up to see, flanking the fireplace, busts of Rev Martin Luther King Jnr and Robert F Kennedy - two men whose impact on the civil rights movement Biden is said to have frequently referenced. The Biden team would not provide a breakdown of White House staffers by more specific race and ethnicity categories. Thank you. © 2021 BBC. A controversial bust of Britain's wartime leader Sir Winston Churchill has also gone. “I look forward to working with them to get this virus under control, safely and responsibly reopen our economy and our schools, and build back our country in a way that lifts up all Americans.”. “It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president.” “Am I giving him an A? Another advocate who is waiting to see more of Biden’s picks to fully assess how well he’s done is Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. A number of officials told NewsHour that while the Biden-Harris administration is on the right path, more needs to be done. "It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president," Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations, told The Washington Post during an exclusive tour. The deputy director of Oval Office operations, Ashley Williams, tells The Washington Post, " [The Biden] Oval is an Oval for Day One. Jessica Hertz, the current general counsel for the Biden-Harris transition, who held a number of roles during the Obama-Biden administration including principal deputy counsel in the vice president’s office, will be staff secretary once the administration gets started. Still, civil rights groups have been pushing Biden and Harris to make their appointments and cabinet level picks even more diverse. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. He understands that we are going to keep pushing. The NAACP has been urging Biden to create a new position– the national advisor to the president on racial justice, equity and advancement, to make sure racial equity is a priority across the administration. Product/Service. Oval Office operations deputy director Ashley Williams said it was “important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president,” according to The Daily Mail. Biden’s statement echoes past comments he’s made when announcing aides as well as cabinet level picks, including his selection of Rep. Deb Haaland, D-N.M., as the first Native American to head the Department of the Interior, General Lloyd Austin as the first Black man to head the Defense Department, Janet Yellen as the first woman nominated to be Treasury secretary, and Pete Buttigieg, who as Biden’s nominee for Transportation, could become the first Senate-confirmed LGBTQ cabinet secretary. According to 2019 Census estimates, roughly 18 percent of the U.S. population is Hispanic or Latino. He said that is our job. But like Buita, Johnson stressed that representation isn’t enough, and said the real challenge will be actually implementing change using all of the people working in the incoming administration. Incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain celebrated the picks in a statement to NewsHour. "It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as Many on social media noted, on the table behind Mr Biden, a bust of César Chávez, the Mexican-American labour leader who fought for the rights of farm workers in the 1960s and 70s. FILE PHOTO: US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris listens while US President-elect Joe Biden speaks about a foreign policy and national security virtual briefing he held earlier at the Queen Theater December 28, 2020, in Wilmington, Delaware. Angela Ramirez, a senior transition staffer who was once chief of staff to Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., will be Biden’s House legislative affairs liaison. Al Sharpton, who heads up the National Action Network, said of Biden and his picks. As part of the roll out, the transition team will call attention to the first set of 100-plus White House staffers, which they said is made up of 61 percent women, 54 percent people of color, and nearly 20 percent first-generation Americans. It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he is going to be as president." All Rights Reserved. Page Transparency See More. Ashley Williams, who has worked for the Biden family in a number of roles for the past decade, will be the first Black woman to be deputy director of Oval Office Operations. Stephen Goepfert, another Obama administration alumni who worked as personal aide to Biden during the campaign and the transition, will continue that role when Biden is sworn in as president. “This Oval is an Oval for Day One,” Ashley Williams, deputy director of Oval Office operations told the Washington Post on Inauguration Day. Ashley Williams, who has worked for the Biden family in a number of roles for the past decade, will be the first Black woman to be deputy director of Oval Office Operations. by Damjan Tutarkov. - Blending and fading since 2018 - Professionally trained under American Crew - Certified to Straight Razor Shave “From the beginning, Vice President-elect Harris and I have sought to build an administration that looks like America,” Biden said. Read about our approach to external linking. © 1996 - 2021 NewsHour Productions LLC. But at least [with Biden] you’ve got somebody that you can meet with and deal with to push. “The president-elect and vice president-elect have been committed to building a White House team that is filled with crisis-tested experts who will hit the ground running on day one,” he said. And the assignment for them should be to ensure racial equity is the part of the policy priorities that they are pursuing in their everyday activities.”, Zephranie Buetow, Special Assistant to the President and Senate Legislative Affairs Liaison, Kaitlyn Hobbs Demers, Special Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the Office of Legislative Affairs, Christopher Garcia, Senior Legislative Affairs Advisor, Ashley Jones, Special Assistant to the President and House Legislative Affairs Liaison, Alicia Molt-West, Special Assistant to the President and House Legislative Affairs Liaison In a statement released to NewsHour, President-elect Biden celebrated the new staffers and said a diverse team will be critical to tackling the challenges he and Harris will face when they come into office in a few weeks. Left: Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations, said that the pieces were chosen to foreshadow how the nation's 46th president will make decisions going forward. “It was important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America and started to show the landscape of who he’s going to be as president,” Ashley Williams, deputy director of Oval Office Operations, told The Washington Post during a recent tour. She is currently covering the administration of President Joe Biden and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. January 21, 2021. Karen Andre, who served as a senior advisor to the campaign in Florida and for national faith outreach, will be special assistant to the president for presidential personnel. Wednesday’s announcements include a number of longtime Biden aides and Democratic party aides who come from a broad array of backgrounds and who will be working closely with the president and vice president to jump start-their goals. In the past, Andre, who also worked in the Obama administration, served as senior advisor to Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for governor of Florida who lost his bid in 2018. President Biden’s new Oval Office decorations feature numerous portraits and busts of American icons. … But, a NewsHour tally of publicly released names found that about 40 percent of the staffers are women of color, about 20 percent are African Americans and roughly another 20 percent are Hispanic. Yamiche Alcindor. His portrait, to the left of the seat of the Resolute Desk, has been replaced with one of Benjamin Franklin, a founding father who was also a leading writer, scientist and philosopher. President Joe Biden has made some significant style changes in the Oval Office.Evan Vucci/AP. Above the fireplace hangs a large portrait of Franklin D Roosevelt, the president who led the country through the Great Depression and World War Two. President Biden’s personal touches in the Oval Office include replacing a portrait of Andrew Jackson and adding a bust of labor icon Cesar Chavez behind the Resolute Desk, The new aides, who will focus on tasks like implementing policies and working with Congress, will work in a number of offices at various levels, including the White House Presidential Personnel Office, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of the Vice President, Office of the Staff Secretary, and Oval Office Operations. Ashley Williams, the deputy director of Oval Office operations said it was “important for President Biden to walk into an Oval that looked like America”. The appointees named today will draw from their expertise and life experiences to help us build the country back better. 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