The Senate is holding hearings for 5 Biden nominees on Trump’s last full day

Washington – The Senate will hold hearings for five of President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet nominees on Tuesday as Democrats rush to approve key officials shortly after Mr. Biden’s becoming president on Wednesday.

Senators got back together for the first time since Trump was impeached for the second time. They hold confirmation hearings for five pivotal nominees: Janet Yellen at Treasury, Antony Blinken at State, Lloyd Austin at Defense, Alejandro Mayorkas at Homeland Security and Avril Haines as Director of National Intelligence.

Mr. Biden plans to arrive in Washington on Tuesday afternoon and attend an evening ceremony honoring the victims of COVID-19 at the Lincoln Memorial.

The hearings will take place on President Trump’s last full day. He is expected to give 100 pardons or commutations in his president’s final hours, a senior administrative officer and senior White House official told CBS News.

It is not yet known who Mr Trump intends to pardon, although a source said the president is not expected to pardon himself.

Trump stayed out of the public eye on Monday, while first lady Melania Trump released a farewell video. She did not refer directly to the January 6 attack on the Capitol, but did say, “Be passionate about everything you do, but always remember that violence is never the answer and will never be justified.”

In a break with tradition, Melania Trump did not give a tour of the upcoming first lady Jill Biden, and the Trumps will be the first president and first lady to skip the inauguration of the upcoming president in more than 150 years.

Security is tight in the run-up to Wednesday’s inauguration. The Pentagon has authorized more than 25,000 National Guard troops to secure the event, and the FBI is monitoring all members of the Guard. The Chief of the National Guard’s Office, Daniel Hokanson, told CBS News’ David Martin that he is “absolutely not” concerned about the reliability of his troops.

With the military focused on protecting the inauguration, Mr. Trump will not receive the great military credit he wanted for his deployment. He will instead have a scaled-down broadcast at 8am on Wednesday before heading to Mar-a-Lago.