Lael Brainard [National Economic Advisor, White House press conference]: Mortgage rates have actually come down over the last few months.

[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-11/us-mortgage-rates-climb-for-second-straight-week-hitting-6-66]

Reporter: Each of these principals [officials], I assume, is issued a mobile phone…

John Kirby [White House press conference]: Let me stop you right there- we're not going to track the GPS coordinates on somebody's mobile phone in the administration, and we're not going to plant a microchip in their neck like they are a poodle. They check in every day, and we know where they are.

Reporter: Secretary Austin; you didn't know where he was. You didn't know where he was for days, and you're telling me these daily check ins are the best that can be done at this point?

Kirby: We had no indication that he was outside the DC area.

"Charnelle Bjelkengren and Marian Gaston have asked the Biden administration to withdraw their nominations for federal trial judgeships in Washington state and California, respectively. Bjelkengren was tapped for the Eastern District of Washington, and Gaston for the Southern District of California. Their requests to withdraw from consideration follow that of Colleen Holland, who was tapped for the Western District of New York.

In an email, Bjelkengren said that the nomination process was “taxing on both a personal and professional level” and that the uncertainty of her confirmation led to her decision.

Bjelkengren’s nomination drew heavy Republican opposition after she failed to answer questions at her January 2023 confirmation hearing from Senate Judiciary Committee member John Kennedy about the scope of Articles V and II and a legal theory about statutory interpretation. Article V deals with amendments and Article II is about the executive branch. The blunder attracted immediate ire from Republicans, who questioned whether she was competent enough to be a federal judge.

Bjelkengren, Gaston, and Holland, a career law clerk for federal judges in upstate New York, were all left off the White House’s renominations list Monday. Their nominations had expired at the end of last year. Two other trial court nominees who didn’t make the Monday list but who could be renominated at a later date include Scott Colom for the Northern District of Mississippi and Todd Edelman for the District of Columbia."

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/two-biden-trial-court-picks-withdraw-from-consideration