By LIBBY CATHEY, ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 51 days.
Here is how the transition is unfolding. All times Eastern:
Nov 30, 11:51 am
Trump discredits Georgia voting system ahead of Senate runoffs
Trump continues to discredit the voting system in Georgia, slamming GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — and in doing so, risks undercutting GOP efforts there by discouraging Republican voters ahead of two runoffs on Jan. 5 that will determine the balance of power in the United States Senate.
Referring to Kemp as “hapless,” Trump called on him via Twitter Monday morning to use his “emergency powers… to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State” and do signature matching for the absentee ballots again.
It’s unclear what emergency powers the president is referring to that the governor could execute, but signature matching for absentee ballots has already been conducted twice.
Signatures are matched first when a voter applied for an absentee ballot and then again when the voter returned their absentee ballot. Once the signature accompanying the returned ballot is verified, the ballots are separated from the envelopes and there is no way to re-match them because, under the Georgia state Constitution, a voter is entitled to a secret ballot. However, the envelopes are kept on file for two years.
It comes ahead of Trump traveling to Georgia on Saturday to campaign for the Republican candidates in the Senate runoffs.
-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan
Nov 30, 10:08 am
Overview: Biden to get first Presidential Daily Brief, Trump legal team challenging Arizona certification
Biden is slated to receive his first Presidential Daily Brief Monday marking a milestone for the president-elect following a nearly three-week delay in the Trump administration recognizing him as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
It comes after Biden, who has pressed forward with his transition despite Trump’s roadblocks, announced he’ll enter the White House with an all-female communications team and unveiled his economic team Monday morning, naming former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as his nominee for Treasury Secretary, the first woman to hold the top job if confirmed.
In another challenge to his transition, the president-elect fractured his right foot while playing with his dog, Major, over the weekend, and is expected to wear a walking boot for several weeks.
Trump, meanwhile, isn’t acknowledging the loss even after appearing to come to terms with it on Thanksgiving and saying he would leave the White House if the Electoral College affirms Biden’s win.
In a defiant interview with Fox Business Sunday, Trump fired off false claims to sow doubt in the electoral process and vowed to continue legal battles with his team on Monday targeting Arizona’s certification deadline. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and campaign adviser Jenna Ellis are expected to appear from D.C. at another non-official “hearing” of state GOP lawmakers at a Phoenix hotel Monday.
The day also brings a certification deadline in Wisconsin, where a recount paid for by the Trump campaign wrapped over the weekend brought Biden 87 additional votes.
Nov 30, 9:48 am
Biden rolls out economic team leaders
Biden has formally announced his economic team, including nominee Janet Yellen, who would be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department, and the first person to have served as Treasury Secretary, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and chair of the Federal Reserve if confirmed.
Neera Tanden, nominated to to lead the Office of Management and Budget, would be the first woman of color in the role, if confirmed.
Here’s a breakdown of the economic positions announced Monday:
- Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury
- Neera Tanden, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
- Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
- Cecilia Rouse, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Jared Bernstein, member of the Council of Economic Advisers
- Heather Boushey, member of the Council of Economic Advisers
Nov 30, 8:52 am
Biden transition launches Presidential Inaugural Committee
The Biden transition is launching its Presidential Inaugural Committee, led by Tony Allen, president of Delaware State University, to organize activities around his swearing-in on Jan. 20. Several campaign officials including senior adviser Maju Varghese, national political director Eric Wilson and Nevada State Senator Yvanna Cancela, who also served as a senior adviser, will serve on the committee.
The team announced the following positions on Monday:
- Tony Allen, Ph.D., chief executive officer
- Maju Varghese, executive director
- Erin Wilson, deputy executive director
- Yvanna Cancela, deputy executive director
“This year’s inauguration will look different amid the pandemic, but we will honor the American inaugural traditions and engage Americans across the country while keeping everybody healthy and safe,” Allen said in a statement.
The committee says it will work with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) to prioritize keeping people safe in the pandemic while engaging the public in the historic event.
Nov 30, 8:56 am
Deadlines and dead ends pile up losses for Trump
President Donald Trump could not be more clear in what he’s looking for — what he now needs — to hang on to power.
“It will take a brave judge or a brave legislature,” the president said on Fox News Sunday morning.
What Trump is pleading for is as improbable as it is breathtaking. But there appears to be just enough political bravery of a different sort, coming from state and federal judges as well as state lawmakers, to put the presidency where the voters delivered it early in this long month.
The weekend brought an end to Wisconsin’s partial recount — as funded by the Trump campaign — with Biden actually netting 87 additional votes, in results scheduled to be finalized Monday. The Trump campaign also lost yet another court challenge in Pennsylvania, this time with the state Supreme Court tossing out a challenge to absentee ballots.
Much attention has rightly focused on the unwillingness of Republican members of Congress to state what’s obvious — that Biden won and Trump lost.
But something profound has been happening at other levels of government. Lawmakers and judges from both political parties have rejected the president’s increasingly outlandish claims that he should be awarded a second term.
Those claims have expanded even as Trump’s losses pile up in courthouses and state houses. It has not been pretty, but the system continues to hold.
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