Biden Cabinet pick hyped dossier, promoted conspiracy about Russian hackers changing votes

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Biden knocked for nominating 'team of Democrats' amid calls for unity

Former Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. discusses the president-elect's Cabinet picks on 'Bill Hemmer Reports'

Neera Tandem, one of President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet picks, has vigorously upheld the results of the November election, yet past tweets show her promoting the anti-Trump Steele Dossier as well as conspiracies about Russian hackers influencing the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Biden announced on Monday that Tanden, a former Clinton and Obama adviser, would serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Neera Tanden, president of Center for American Progress, speaks during an introduction for New Start New Jersey at NJIT in Newark, NJ, Monday, Nov. 10, 2014. (AP)

Since Biden’s presidential victory over President Trump, Tandem has tweeted multiple times in defense of the outcome – going so far as to suggest it was a win for “defenders of democracy.”

Yet Tanden struck a noticeably different tune after Trump’s presidential victory in 2016. In the weeks after, she promoted an article that argued that “members of the electoral college should not make Donald Trump the next president unless he sells his companies and puts the proceeds in a blind trust.”

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Tanden also perpetuated allegations that Russians played a direct role in Trump's 2016 win, tweeting just before his inauguration that "Russians did enough damage to affect more than 70k votes in 3 states." 

And despite the infamous “Steele Dossier” being debunked, Tanden continued defending its findings well after it had been discredited.

In February 2018, Tanden insisted that the Steele Dossier had “been mostly proven to be true.” Nearly a year later, Tanden hadn’t been swayed, tweeting: “What parts of the dossier have been disproven? I will wait.”

Ex-British spy Christopher Steele compiled the dossier as part of opposition research paid for by the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party through the firm Fusion GPS.

Tanden’s nomination has already ruffled feathers in GOP circles. Senate Republicans are signaling they’ll oppose confirmation.

A spokesman for Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said on Sunday that Tanden “stands zero chance of being confirmed.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., claimed Tanden's rhetoric was "filled with hate & guided by the woke left."

At OMB, Tanden would be responsible for preparing Biden's budget submission and would command several hundred budget analysts, economists and policy advisers with deep knowledge of the inner workings of the government.

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If Democrats should win runoff elections for Georgia's two GOP-held Senate seats, Tanden's job would become hugely important because the party would gain a slim majority in the chamber. That would allow them to pass special budget legislation that could roll back Trump's tax cuts, boost the Affordable Care Act and pursue other spending goals. OMB would have a central role in such legislation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.