Regular Joes: Biden and Manchin, whose old relationship faces new test
CNN
When President Barack Obama was in office and the White House needed to reach Sen. Joe Manchin, one person was always tasked with making the call: then-Vice President Joe Biden.
Manchin arrived in Washington as a former governor, filling the seat of the legendary Robert C. Byrd. He had little interest in talking to staff -- even if they worked in the West Wing. "(Biden) was the only one who called that mattered," a person familiar with the dynamic between Manchin and Biden said, recalling the early days of the relationship between the senator and the former vice president. "Biden is the only person from the administration Manchin would listen to."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.