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

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., emailed his Republican colleagues in the House and Senate Wednesday morning, rounding up support for an amicus brief for the Texas attorney general’s attempt to get the Supreme Court to intervene in the presidential election, according to an email obtained by ABC News.

The source who provided the email said he believed it was sent to all congressional Republicans, though that couldn't be confirmed by the text of the email.

Johnson wrote that he spoke to Trump on Tuesday night and that the president asked him to reach out to other members.

“He specifically asked me to contact all Republican Members of the House and Senate today and request that all join on to our brief,” Johnson wrote in large, underlined red letters.

“He said he will be anxiously awaiting the final list to review,” he added.

“The simple objective of our brief is to affirm for the Court (and our constituents back home) our serious concerns with the integrity of our election system,” Johnson wrote in the email. “We are not seeking to independently litigate the particular allegations of fraud in our brief (that is not our place as amici).”

“We will merely state our belief that the broad scope of the various allegations and irregularities in the subject states merits careful, timely review by the Supreme Court,” he added.

The president and his allies have mounted more than four dozen lawsuits in state and federal courts, most of which have been defeated.

-ABC News’ Rick Klein

Cobb County, Georgia, announced Wednesday it will add two more early voting locations during the last week of advance voting before the Senate runoffs there, bringing the total of open locations open during that time to seven.

 The county will also no longer have early voting at the Ward Recreation Center, moving it to the Ron Anderson Community Center in Powder Springs. A spokesperson for the county said they thought this was a better/more accessible location. 

The changes follow a letter from several organizations, including Georgia NAACP, Black Voters Matter, All Voting is Local Georgia and ACLU Georgia outlining the importance of maintaining 11 advance voting locations for the January runoff elections. 

Stacey Abrams' organization, Fair Fight, joined those organizations' call Monday afternoon. Early voting in Georgia’s runoff elections begins Monday.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan

While some elections officials in Georgia grapple with difficult logistics surrounding the upcoming Senate runoff races, the state's GOP appears to be in full swing with its poll watcher recruitment efforts.

According to Abigail Sigler, a spokesperson for the Georgia Republican Party, Republicans across the state -- including the Georgia Republican Party, sitting Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee – have over 4,000 volunteers signed up to serve as poll watchers during the early voting period. This number was also confirmed to ABC News by the NRSC.

Sigler said it is "the largest number in Georgia history and many more than during the general election."

The state's Senate runoffs on Jan. 5 will determine which party holds the majority in the incoming Congress' upper chamber.

-ABC News Alisa Wiersema

When retired four-star Gen. Lloyd Austin took the lectern for brief remarks, he stressed the importance of civilian leadership at the Pentagon in an attempt to squash looming concerns that it hasn't been seven years since he hung up his uniform as required by law for the post.

"When I concluded my military service four years ago, I hung up my uniform for the last time and went from being General Lloyd Austin to Lloyd Austin. It is an important distinction. And one that I make with utmost seriousness and sincerity,” he said. 

"I come to this new role as a civilian leader. With military experience to be sure, but also with a deep appreciation and reverence for the prevailing wisdom of civilian control of our military,” he continued. "As secretary of defense, my priority will always -- always -- be the men and women, military and civilian, who make up the department, and their families.”

Austin spoke of his prior relationship with Biden as he was in charge of operations in Iraq leading the withdrawal of all American troops from that country in December 2011, when Biden served as vice president.

"We've gotten to know each other under some intense and high-pressure situations. And sir, you can expect that, as secretary of defense, that I will give you the same direct and unvarnished counsel that I did back then," he said.

He also took the time to thank the leaders who have come before him, including the Tuskegee Airmen and the Montford Point Marines, as well as those who have mentored him throughout his career, including former Secretary of State and fellow retired four-star Gen. Colin Powell. He also referenced his time commanding Biden's late son Beau when he served in the military.