Iran's hardline president-elect Ebrahim Raisi says he will not meet with Biden
CNN
Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi on Monday ruled out a meeting with President Joe Biden and called on the US to return to the nuclear deal, in his first international news conference since he won Iran's election over the weekend.
Raisi said he would not meet with Biden, even if both sides agreed on terms to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, under which Iran agreed to stop uranium enrichment in return for the lifting of crippling US sanctions. On Saturday, the hardline judiciary chief and staunch Western critic was declared the winner of a historically uncompetitive election in Iran. All of Raisi's serious rivals were barred from the race and overall voter turnout was 48.8%, the lowest figure since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979.Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
Donald Trump is considering a right-wing media personality and people who have served on his US Secret Service detail to run the agency that has been plagued by its failure to preempt two alleged assassination attempts on Trump this summer, sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking tell CNN.