Michigan state legislature closes offices due to 'credible threats of violence'

Biden is slated to introduce his nominee to lead the Defense Department, retired four-star Gen. Lloyd Austin, from Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday.  But the nomination of the first African American to the helm the Pentagon is facing some resistance.

Because defense secretaries are legally required to have been retired from active duty for at least seven years to ensure civilian control of the U.S. military, and Austin retired in 2016, he would require a waiver to hold the position. Congress approved the waiver for retired Gen. James Mattis, Trump’s first defense secretary, but some Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal, have expressed a desire to return to normal protocols in a Biden administration despite the historic nature of Austin's nomination.

Biden is also expected to name former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack as secretary of Agriculture and Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, as secretary of Housing and Urban Development as he continues to build out his Cabinet -- one he says will be the most diverse in American history. 

Fudge’s appointment, however, would shave another slice away from House Democrats’ already razor-thin majority -- giving them just two extra votes on top of the 218 needed to pass a bill through the chamber. Special elections are expected to bump Democrats back up to 222 seats, but those take time. And if Congress can’t pass more relief aid in the lame duck session, the Biden administration will want a solid House majority to pass a package from the onset.

As the president-elect rolled out his health team Tuesday, he also spelled out specific steps toward getting the coronavirus under control in his first 100 days in the White House, including a mask campaign and executive order requiring one be worn on federal properties, at least 100 million vaccinations “into the arms of the American people" and making reopening schools a “national priority.”

While Biden is pushing forward, Trump isn’t backing down. He continued to falsely claim he won the election in key swing states where Biden actually was victorious at a self-congratulatory vaccine “summit” Tuesday. 

With the passing of the “safe harbor” deadline when Congress considers states' results conclusive and the Supreme Court’s denial of an 11th-hour attempt by Trump’s allies to block certification of the election results in Pennsylvania, time is running out for the Trump’s long-shot legal challenges with the Electoral College meeting in less than a week. The Supreme Court could still weigh in on a Texas filing against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to turn the election for Trump, but experts say it’s unlikely to gain traction.

Biden is expected to nominate former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack to reprise the role of secretary of agriculture, sources familiar with the transition told ABC News. 

Vilsack was an early supporter of Biden’s candidacy, endorsing the former vice president ahead of the Iowa caucuses and often appearing on the campaign trail with Biden in the early months of the 2020 primary. 

Vilsack served as the head of the Department on Agriculture for all eight years of the Obama administration, holding the position from 2009 to early 2017, before serving as president and CEO of the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Vilsack also previously served two terms as governor of the Hawkeye state. 

Vilsack would be the second member of the Obama administration to reprise their role in a Biden White House, joining Biden’s nominee for Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy, in returning to their former posts.

-ABC News' Katherine Faulders and Molly Nagle

Biden will nominate Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, sources familiar with the president-elect's decision told ABC News. 

Fudge, who had campaigned openly to become the first Black secretary of agriculture, would be the second member of the Congressional Black Caucus to join the Biden administration, following Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., a key Biden surrogate who will serve as a senior White House official. 

She would be Biden's third African-American cabinet nominee, after Linda Thomas-Greenfield, his pick to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, who he said Tuesday would be his nominee to lead the Pentagon. 

The move would put Fudge at the helm of the $50 billion department as the country faces a potential housing crisis in the new year -- with many Americans struggling to pay rent, and others worried they will not be able to do so in the next few months as the economy continues to languish due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Approached by reporters on Capitol Hill Tuesday, Fudge said she hadn't been formally offered the job by Biden, but said the two had spoken previously. 

"If I were to be named, certainly it's an honor and a privilege to be asked to be in a president's Cabinet," she said. "If I can help this president in any way possible, I am more than happy to do it."

Fudge, a member of the House Agriculture Committee and Committee on Education and Labor, represents the Cleveland area, as well as Akron, Ohio. 

When she was openly campaigning for the nomination to lead the department of agriculture, she lamented the possibility of leading HUD. 

"As this country becomes more and more diverse, we're going to have to stop looking at only certain agencies as those that people like me fit in. You know, it's always 'we want to put the Black person in labor or HUD,'" she told Politico last month. 

Fudge's move to the Biden administration would further tighten House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's fragile majority, making it even harder for Democrats to pass any legislation until Fudge's replacement is seated later next year. 

"I'm in a safe district," Fudge told reporters. "We're just hopeful that if this works out the way we'd like it to, that it will be OK."

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel, Katherine Faulders, Beatrice Peterson and John Verhovek

In a single, succinct order, the U.S. Supreme Court has shut down an 11th-hour attempt by allies of Trump in Pennsylvania to block its slate of certified electors and toss out 2.5 million mail-in ballots. 

"The application for injunctive relief presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is denied," the court said. 

The appeal -- brought by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, a Pennsylvania Republican, along with another GOP candidate for Congress -- alleged that the state legislature did not legally pass the law allowing for expanded mail-in voting during the pandemic. They sought the justices to order all mail-in ballots thrown out along with the state's official certification of election results, which was signed by Gov. Tom Wolf last week.

The Supreme Court's denial comes on the same day the state of Texas filed suit against four battleground states alleging that they "exploited the COVID-19 pandemic" to improperly loosen election rules and skew the contest's outcome. Justices have not yet said whether they will hear the case.

The actions come on the Dec. 8 "safe harbor" deadline by which states must lock in the slate of electors they intend to send to Congress to affirm the election results -- selections that are intended to match the will of the voters.

-ABC News' Devin Dwyer, Alex Hosenball, Olivia Rubin and Matthew Mosk