By LIBBY CATHEY, LAUREN KING and ADIA ROBINSON, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 41 days.
Here is how the transition is unfolding. All times Eastern:
Dec 10, 11:26 am
Trump falsely says Biden would be ‘illegitimate president,’ president will meet with state attorneys general supporting election lawsuit
President Trump tweeted Thursday morning pushing the Supreme Court to rule favorably on the longshot Texas-led case to overturn the election results.
“The Supreme Court has a chance to save our Country from the greatest Election abuse in the history of the United States. 78% of the people feel (know!) the Election was RIGGED,” Trump tweeted.
While not using President-elect Joe Biden’s name, he also posted a tweet insinuating that Biden would be an “illegitimate president” because Biden “lost the election by hundreds of thousands of legal votes in each of the swing states” — a claim which is inaccurate. More votes were cast for Biden than Trump.
The tweets related to election fraud were flagged by the social media platform, with a link stating Trump’s claims were disputed.
Meanwhile, Trump on Thursday afternoon plans to have lunch with 12 state attorneys general, 10 of whom have are part of the lawsuit to overturn the election results. Texas’s attorney general, Ken Paxton, who initially filed the lawsuit, was expected to attend.
The meeting comes as the president continues to make a last-ditch effort to overturn the will of the voters and have the already-certified election results in several swing states thrown out.
Asked what would be discussed at the lunch and if the lawsuit would be addressed, White House deputy spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that “President Trump will have lunch with a dozen state attorneys general and discuss issues important to their citizens and the country, and ways to continue to advance the shared federal-state partnership.”
Per Deere, the expected attendees include attorneys general from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Mark Brnovich from Arizona and Dan Cameron from Kentucky are the only ones meeting with Trump that have not filed in support of the election lawsuit.
The attorneys general were already in Washington “for a pre-planned meeting,” and the lunch had been “planned around that meeting several weeks ago,” a White House official said. Some Republican attorneys general were already scheduled to be in Washington, D.C. for a separate meeting not affiliated with the White House.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Dec 10, 11:06 am
Biden confirms Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs secretaries
President-elect Joe Biden announced more members of his administration, confirming his picks for secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture and Veterans Affairs, along with his pick for trade representative and director of the Domestic Policy Council.
Tom Vilsack — secretary of Agriculture. Vilsack, a two-term governor of Iowa, served as secretary of Agriculture during the entire Obama-Biden administration.
Rep. Marcia Fudge — secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Fudge has represented Ohio’s 11th Congressional District for the last 12 years. If confirmed, she will be the first woman to lead the department in more than 40 years.
Denis McDonough — secretary of Veterans Affairs. McDonough served as White House chief of staff, deputy national security adviser and chief of staff of the National Security Council during the Obama administration.
Katherine Tai — U.S. trade representative. Tai currently serves as the chief lawyer on trade for the Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives and previously was chief counsel for China trade enforcement in the office of the U.S. trade representative.
Susan Rice — director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Rice served as national security adviser under President Obama from 2013-2017 and before that held the position of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009-2013.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Dec 10, 9:56 am
Overview: Trump, GOP loyalists hope SCOTUS takes up election challenge while Biden Cabinet pick raises questions
President Donald Trump and a long line of his Republican supporters are hoping the Supreme Court will agree to take up a long-shot Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate the results of the 2020 election in four key swing states.
Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed in support of Texas, as did a group of conservative lawyers and personalities.
Trump himself also sought to join the suit. He is scheduled to meet with 12 state attorneys general on Thursday, 10 of whom filed in support of the suit.
Since his Nov. 3 defeat, the president and his allies have mounted over 50 lawsuits in state and federal courts that have met with resounding and, at times, scathing defeats. On social media, Trump suggested the Supreme Court would finally give him the hearing he has been seeking.
“The case that everyone has been waiting for is the State’s case with Texas and numerous others joining. It is very strong, ALL CRITERIA MET,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of defense, Lloyd Austin, is raising questions about civilian control of the military.
In order for Austin to serve as defense secretary he will require a waiver from both houses of Congress — the waiver is needed because Austin retired from the Army four years ago, which is less than the seven-year gap any nominee to be a secretary of defense must have from the end of their military service.
If approved, Austin would only be the third to receive the waiver to take the position, but the second in four years.
Some Democratic lawmakers have expressed concerns that they will be asked to once again consider a waiver just four years after they voted to do so for retired Marine Gen. James Mattis. Being asked to give Austin the waiver places the 17 Democratic senators and 150 Democratic House Representatives who voted against the Mattis waiver in an awkward position.
-ABC News’ Devin Dwyer, Olivia Rubin, Matt Mosk and Luis Martinez
Dec 10, 7:41 am
Biden to campaign in Georgia next Tuesday
President-elect Joe Biden will travel to Georgia on Tuesday Dec. 15 to campaign for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in their Senate runoff races, the Biden transition has announced.
Biden’s visit will come during the first week of early voting in the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections that could determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the U.S. Senate.
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