Lindsey Graham calls Joe Biden's OMB pick Neera Tanden 'a nut job' as Republicans step up pressure on her (and also says he hopes Donald Trump comes to Joe Biden's inauguration)

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he thinks President Donald Trump should attend President-elect Joe Biden´s inauguration because it would be 'good for the country.'

He also attacked one of Biden's economic picks as a 'nut job.' 

The South Carolina senator said he spoke with the president over the weekend and encouraged him to pursue his legal challenges to the election results.

Graham said Monday: 'He´s going to fight for every vote and push systems to get better and I said, `Keep it up.''

But Graham says after the Electoral College formally confirms Biden as president-elect on Dec. 14, Trump should agree to attend the new president's inauguration.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham attacked Biden's pick to run the federal agency the Office of Management and Budget a 'nut job'

President-elect Joe Biden will introduce his economic team in Wilmington on Tuesday

'I think it´s good for the country, would be good for him,' Graham said. 'We´ll know in December. I hope Biden would come to his.'

Biden spent Monday at home accepting congratulatory calls from foreign leaders, a day after being diagnosed with stress fractures in his foot.

The Biden transition team says he spoke with President Alberto Fernández of Argentina, President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. The COVID-19 pandemic was a top agenda item in the calls, Biden´s office says, with regional stability issues and climate change also brought up.

Biden also received the President´s Daily Brief, the highly classified intelligence summary, for the first time Monday.

Biden´s doctor said Sunday evening that the president-elect will likely wear a walking boot for the next several weeks as he recovers from breaking his right foot while playing with one of his dogs.

The president-elect also unveiled his picks for several top economic positions on Monday, including former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his nominee for Treasury Secretary, setting the stage for a more diverse White House.

Biden will formally present them to the public during an event in Wilmington on Tuesday. 

Yellen would be the first woman to run the Treasury Department. 

Neera Tanden, his pick to run the Office of Management and Budget, is likely to draw strong opposition in the Senate, whether or not Republicans maintain control. 

Both liberals and conservatives found fault with her and were quick to voice it. 

Graham called her a 'nut job' and expressed doubt she'd be able to get a confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill.

'If we win both seats in Georgia, I'll be the budget chairman,' Graham said Monday night to Fox News' Sean Hannity. 'The OMB director has to come before the budget committee for hearings to be confirmed. I think I would ask different questions than Bernie Sanders, who would be the budget chairman if Democrats win in Georgia.'

 'If you want to make sure this nut job Tanden doesn't become the director of the budget, in charge of the Office of Management and Budget, then make sure we win in Georgia,' added Graham.

Republicans need to win both Georgia Senate seats up for grabs in a January special election in order to keep their majority. 

OMB is the power agency that runs the federal budget. 

Controversy: Longtime Hillary Clinton aide Neera Tanden is already under fire from Republicans who would have to vote for her confirmation if Democrats do not win in Georgia

Tanden, meanwhile, also has fired off tweets and emails that have agitated her party's liberal wing – along with conservatives and the Senate's most prominent centrist. 

The missives could pose a threat to her nomination if Republicans gain control of the Senate – or perhaps even if Democrats secure the narrowest of majorities.

One immediate strain to emerge is with the Democratic Party's progressive left, in particular those loyal to Sanders, who challenged Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Biden in 2020.

Tanden is a longtime Clinton ally and head of the liberal Center for American Progress.

'Everything toxic about the corporate Democratic Party is embodied in Neera Tanden,' tweeted former Sanders campaign press secretary Brianna Joy Gray. 

In another tweet, she wrote: 'To foster unity, Biden taps Republicans and Neera Tanden, a woman who is openly disdainful of Bernie Sanders and his coalition, but who is friendly with extreme bigots online,' she tweeted. 

Although Sanders himself hasn't commented on the pick, the Democrats' best hope is to obtain a 50-seat majority. Otherwise, Republicans will be in control of her nomination.

In that event, her posture toward Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the chamber's most prominent remaining centrist, is problematic. She once called Collins 'the worst.' 

Collins, who backed President Trump on impeachment and Brett Kavanaugh's nomination but not on Amy Coney Barrett's, is one of just a few relative moderates who could be key to Biden nominations should Republicans hold control. She was heavily endangered this year but survived her reelection. 

Tanden was unflinching when Collins voted to confirm Kavanaugh despite allegations of rape and sexual assault that he denied.

Tanden is a longtime ally of Hillary Clinton. She is pictured with Center for American Progress co-founder John Podesta

An aide to Sen. John Cornyn bashed Tanden, while Tanden in the past has gone after Sen. Susan Collins

Tanden has feuded with Sen. Bernie Sanders, who ran a left-wing challenge to Hillary Clinton in 2016

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) attacked the Tanden nomination

'Sen. Susan Collins stepped forward as the chief advocate for Judge Kavanaugh, offering a pathetically bad faith argument as cover for President Trump's vicious attacks on survivors of sexual assault,' she wrote. 'Collins also revealed herself as a fake defender of Roe v. Wade, parroting ridiculous and debunked talking points.'

It has also been revealed Tanden has deleted thousands of tweets from her personal account since the beginning of November, according to The Daily Beast.

A number of the tweets were directed at powerful lawmarkers on both sides of the aisle.  It's unclear when she deleted them, but it included missives aimed at Collins, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Joni Ernst.

If Democrats win a pair of run-off elections in Georgia, they could confirm cabinet nominees without Republican support. 

Tanden also hasn't won many allies in the conservatives who make up the core of the Senate GOP. 

The communications director for GOP Sen. John Cornyn blasted Tanden after her name got floated Sunday night, saying she has 'an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators' whose votes she'll need.' 

The aide, Drew Brandewie, tweeted that she 'stands zero chance of being confirmed.'

Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton called her a 'partisan hack.' 

Days ago, she tweeted that President Trump's refusal to concede the race to Biden, who beat him by more than 6 million votes, was an 'attack on democracy.'

BIDEN'S ECONOMIC TEAM

JANET YELLEN - Treasury Secretary

Would be first female Treasury-secretary, chaired the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017

WALLY ADEYEMO - Deputy Treasury Secretary 

Nigerian-born Yale law grad  and Obama Treasury official. Currently president of the Obama Foundation

NEERA TANDEN - Director of the Office of Management and Budget

Veteran Clinton aide who is close personal friend of Hillary. Runs Center for American Progress, voice of Democratic liberal wing although also a sworn enemy of Bernie Sanders 

CECELIA ROUSE - Chair of Council of Economic Advisors

Dean of Princeton School of Public and International Affairs - which had Woodrow Wilson removed from its name this year - and former Obama economic aide. Daughter-in-law of the late Toni Morrison  

HEATHER BOUSHEY - Member of the Council of Economic Advisors 

Economist who is CEO of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, a Democratic-linked think tank. See as part of progressive party wing and has worked with Tanden

JARED BERNSTEIN -  Member of the Council of Economic Advisors

 Prominent progressive economist who has taught at Howard, Columbia and NYU. Was critical of Obama's trade policy

'A lot of people worked really hard to counter Trump's attacks on democracy before, during and after the elections while some people sat on the sidelines. Because defenders of democracy won out does not mean there was no battle,' she said. 

Back in January 2017, she retweeted a tweet by president-elect Trump stating there was not Russian hacking of voting systems – although U.S. intelligence did assess that Russia hacked Clinton emails and ran a disinformation campaign.

Wrote Trump: 'Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. Voting machines not touched!'

Her response, as Fox News reported, was: 'Why does he lie about this? Because he knows people have intuitive sense Russians did enough damage to affect more than 70k votes in 3 states.'

For Tanden, the Russian hack was personal: some of her own emails to Clinton were made public and posted on WikiLeaks. Clinton's campaing chair John Podesta had his account hacked during the campaign.

In some of those emails, she heaped praise on Clinton, as when she called her 'the strongest person on the planet' after an injury. 

In one, she dismissed Biden at a time when he was considered a possible candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2016.   

'The good thing about a Biden run,' she wrote Podesta in 2015, 'is that he would make Hillary look so much better.' 

Tanden's mom once described her as 'aggressive,' a term any of her male adversaries would be wise to avoid. 

Maya Tanden told the New York Times last year her daughter 'can be very aggressive.'

'She's not going to let anyone rule over her,' she said, 'and she has loyalty to Hillary because Hillary is the one who made her.'

In 2008, while accompanying Clinton on her first presidential campaign to an interview, she punched reporter Faiz Shakir - the chief editor of ThinkProgress website - in the chest after he asked her a question about the Iraq war - an issue that dogged her candidacy because she supported it. 

In an interview later, Tanden said: 'I didn't slug him, I pushed him.'

With her nomination already under fire Tanden wrote about her time growing up on food stamps.

'After my parents were divorced when I was young, my mother relied on public food and housing programs to get by. Now, I'm being nominated to help ensure those programs are secure, and ensure families like mine can live with dignity. I am beyond honored,' she wrote.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer defended Tanden in a floor speech, another sign of potential trouble.  

'The Republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels to explain their reflexive opposition to these outstanding selections,' he said. 'Neera Tanden, who would be the first woman of color to ever run the Office of Management and Budget, is so eminently qualified that some on the Republican side—grasping at straws—have taken issue with comments made on twitter criticizing the policy positions of Republicans in Congress,' he continued.

'Honestly, the hypocrisy is astounding. If Republicans are concerned about criticism on Twitter, their complaints are better directed at President Trump, who has made a hobby out of denigrating Republican Senators on Twitter.'

Collins commented briefly on Tanden, but did not tip her hand. 'I did not know her — much about her — but I've heard that she's a very prolific user of Twitter,' she said. 'I really don't have anything further to say.'

The Biden transition announced Tanden's pick as well as former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his nominee for Treasury Secretary.

Yellen would be the first woman to run the Treasury Department.  

Biden also said he would nominate Wally Adeyemo as Yellen's deputy. Adeyemo had been a deputy national security adviser under President Barack Obama, then was the president of the Obama Foundation, which is overseeing the planning for the Democratic former president´s library.

Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen would be the first woman to run the Treasury Department if she is confirmed by the Senate

Also on the team: Cecilia Rouse is Biden's pick to be chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, while Wally Adeyemo is nominee to be Deputy Treasury Secretary

Biden selected Cecelia Rouse, dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, to chair the Council of Economic Advisers. She was a member of the council under Obama from 2009 to 2011.

Heather Boushey, an economist focused on economic inequality and the president, chief executive and co-founder of the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, will serve on the council.  

While Biden's transition to the White House appeared to be hitting its stride, the president-elect was hobbling after fracturing his foot while playing with his dog on Saturday.

The incoming administration has been hampered for weeks by President Donald Trump who has refused to concede claiming, without evidence, that Biden's Nov. 3 electoral victory was due to fraud.

Biden named leading members of an economic team that will have to combat the crushing blows to U.S. workers and businesses from the coronavirus pandemic.

'This crisis-tested team will help President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris lift America out of the current economic downturn and build back better — creating an economy that gives every single person across America a fair shot and an equal chance to get ahead' the Biden transition said in a statement.  In contrast to Trump, who largely picked white men for key positions, Biden's early appointments were shaping up to be highly diverse, including an all-women communications team unveiled on Sunday night.