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 15 days.
Here is how the transition is unfolding. All times Eastern:
Jan 05, 11:51 am
Ossoff dismisses Trump’s attacks, derides GOP ‘circus’ in Washington
Jon Ossoff, one of the Democratic candidates in Georgia’s Senate runoffs Tuesday, appeared on ABC’s “GMA3” and weighed in on President Trump’s campaign speech in Georgia Monday night, as well as what he called the “distraction” in Washington from the nation’s pressing problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asked about Trump describing him as an “unhinged radical leftist who supports health care that will lead to death,” and as someone who “doesn’t like police” and will “destroy the economy,” Ossoff said that the president is still trying to win the lost election and that the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are more important than the “damaged ego of a narcissist who was defeated resoundingly.”
Ossoff added that “Georgia’s own Centers for Disease Control should take the lead” on COVID-19. “We’ve got to get free testing and vaccines, as I said, to everybody — because otherwise … it will be your wealth and connections that determine whether you are protected from this virus.”
Ossoff also spoke about his relationship with the other Democratic candidate, Rev. Raphael Warnock, saying, “it speaks to just how far the state of Georgia has come and how far the American South has come that not only is Georgia the most competitive battleground in the country, not only will these two Senate runoffs determine Senate control, but the Democratic standard-bearers are the young Jewish journalist son of an immigrant mentored by John Lewis, and a Black pastor who holds Dr. King’s pulpit at Ebenezer Baptist Church.”
Asked about the expected GOP efforts to object to the Electoral College vote count in Congress on Wednesday, Ossoff dismissed it a “circus.”
“The efforts to overturn the results of this election are an attack on Georgia voters. We need to be looking forward. You know, this is all a distraction in the midst of a dire national crisis. We are losing thousands of people per day to COVID-19. Hospital systems and nursing homes are buckling under the weight of this outbreak, millions of families face the possibility of eviction or foreclosure or having difficulty putting food on the table. The circus in Washington is irrelevant. What matters is addressing the suffering of the American people.”
Jan 05, 11:05 am
Results in Georgia runoffs could take days, might show ‘red mirage’ at first
Election Day is here in the two runoff races in Georgia that will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate, but there is unlikely to be a result Tuesday night, and it could be days until there is a clear winner.
There’s a strong chance that there will be a “red mirage” — the early but misleading appearance that Republicans have won — similar to what was seen in the general election in several battleground states.
Trump was leading by tens of thousands of votes in Georgia on election night in November, a fact not unique to the state but something President Trump and his allies cite when claiming baselessly that the election was rigged against him.
It wasn’t until Clayton County, the fifth largest and the most Democratic in the state, uploaded a batch of votes in the early hours of the Friday after the election that Biden surpassed Trump and took the lead in Georgia.
In the Senate races, the six largest counties — which all lean in Democrats’ favor — are going to take longer to count their votes than small, rural counties, which lean in Republicans’ favor.
Also, absentee ballots can be received up until 7 p.m. on Election Day, and these will still need to be processed, which is time-consuming. Voters whose absentee ballots are rejected (like for a missing signature) have until 5 p.m. Friday to “cure” their ballots. Military/overseas ballots are due by 5 p.m. on Friday as well. Voters who had to cast provisional ballots because they didn’t have a photo ID also must follow up with their county election offices and prove their eligibility to vote by 5 p.m. Friday.
On election night and in the days that follow, a “red mirage” or “blue shift” is not a sign that something nefarious is happening — it just means the votes are being counted.
Jan 05, 12:23 am
Trump pressures Pence in public over electoral vote count
At a rally billed as a last-minute push to save Republicans’ control of the Senate on the eve of two crucial runoff elections in Georgia, President Donald Trump spent the majority of his time on stage Monday continuing to push baseless and debunked voter fraud claims about the presidential election, despite losing reelection over two months ago.
“I don’t concede,” Trump said Monday.
Then, he stunningly put pressure on Vice President Mike Pence ahead of Wednesday’s certification of the Electoral College vote.
“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us, I have to tell you. I hope that our great Vice President — our great Vice President comes through for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much,” Trump said Monday night. “No, Mike is a great guy. He’s a — he’s a — he’s a wonderful man and a smart man.”
Pence will be tasked Wednesday with overseeing a joint session of Congress at which the Electoral College vote will be certified, officially and finally determining former Vice President Joe Biden to be the president-elect.
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