State Dept. condemns arrests, repression in Russia

The nation's top expert on infectious diseases and Biden's chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci offered a glimmer of hope at a White House press briefing on Thursday, saying that despite "a very, very high rate" of new infections, he thinks that cases may be hitting a plateau.

"Right now, it looks like it might actually be plateauing in the sense of turning around," Fauci said. "Now, there's good news in that, but you have to be careful that we may not be seeing perhaps an artifact of a slowing down following the holidays."

Fauci also said he felt like he had "deja vu," as around this time last year he was talking about the acceleration of cases in late winter into early spring.

Fauci's presence at the White House marks a return from a months-long absence, after Trump soured on Fauci for not hewing to Trump's false claims about the pandemic, including frequent repetitions that the virus would simply "go away."

The president thanked law enforcement officers and National Guard members for providing security at his inauguration during “an unprecedented situation.” Of the more than 25,000 National Guard members who came to Washington to provide security for the inauguration, 15,000 will be leaving in the coming five to 10 days.

"Let me take a few moments to thank all the law enforcement folks for all they did, and the military personnel, from all across the federal, state, and local agencies to secure yesterday’s inaugural activities,” Biden said. “And a special thanks to the members of the National Guard from around the country.”

Even as security measures are being relaxed in D.C. following the inauguration, there are still concerns over safety.

“The threat of right-wing extremism is here and it will continue to be a real threat to the District of Columbia and to the region as well,” D.C. Homeland Security Director Chris Rodriguez said at a press conference Thursday.

Rodriguez said the D.C. mayor has requested that his agency and other public safety agencies draft security postures to counter ongoing threats. The National Guard said in a statement Thursday that 7,000 National Guard troops will remain in D.C. through January.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson, Dee Carden and Luis Martinez

Biden's pick for secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, faced some tough questions in a confirmation hearing Thursday.

If confirmed, Buttigieg would make history as the first openly gay member of the cabinet, and at 38 year old, he would be the youngest member of President Biden's cabinet.

Buttigieg fielded questions about Biden's executive order halting the Keystone XL pipeline. In response to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas about whether the president's halting of the pipeline would eliminate jobs, Buttigieg said Biden's vision is to create more jobs by focusing on climate issues.

"Doing this right means ensuring there are more good, paying, union jobs for all Americans delivered to that infrastructure vision," Buttigieg told Cruz. "The answer is we will continue to see those workers employed in union jobs, even if they are different ones."

Buttigieg also expressed concern with the "antiquated" gas tax and said all options are on the table when it comes to adjusting the tax. He also expressed the need for predictability and stability.
--ABC News' Sam Sweeney, Amanda Maile and Mina Kaji

With his first full day in office focused on the coronavirus pandemic, Biden delivered afternoon remarks on his administration's plan to combat COVID-19 and faulted the Trump administration for a vaccine rollout he called a "dismal failure." He also called on Americans to mask up.

"Things will get worse before they get better," Biden said, expecting 500,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19 by next month. "While the vaccine provides so much hope. Rollout has been a dismal failure thus far. So I understand the despair and frustration, so many Americans and how they're feeling."

Biden went on to deliver what he called a "brutal truth" -- that it will take "months" before the majority of Americans can get vaccinated, so in the meantime, he's putting the "full force of the federal government" into slowing the spread of the virus and calling on the public to mask up for the next 99 days.

"The fact is that the single best thing we could do -- more important in the vaccines -- because they take time to work," Biden said of the practice of wearing a facial covering, adding that experts tell him the united effort could save "more than 50,000 lives going forward."

Biden officials say the president has entered office hamstrung by lack of coordination from the Trump White House and limited insight to where supply levels and chains on resources including N95 and high qualified quality surgical masks, isolation gowns, and test reagents stand throughout the country.