Trump-Biden transition updates: Trump pushes voter conspiracies at Ga. rally

The president was in Georgia to campaign for the senatorial runoff races.

Last Updated: December 6, 2020, 10:42 AM EST

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 45 days.

Dec 06, 2020, 10:42 AM EST

Raffensperger: 'We as Republicans didn't turn out enough voters'

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he was disappointed that Trump didn't win in Georgia, but said there's been no evidence of systemic fraud.

"At the end of the day, we as Republicans didn't turn out enough voters. Our office, as secretary of state, is really just to look at what those votes totals were, and we report the results. And that's why it gets back to the state party (that) didn't do their job, didn't raise enough money and didn't turn out enough people," Raffensperger told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on "This Week." Sunday.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is interviewed on "This Week."
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is interviewed on "This Week."

Dec 05, 2020, 9:06 PM EST

Trump pushes Loeffler, Perdue among criticism of presidential election

In a meandering, nearly two-hour speech -- speckled with baseless claims of voter fraud, misleading statements about court cases and assertions he will be serving a second term -- President Donald Trump pushed for Georgians to get out on Jan. 5 for the runoff election that could determine control of the Senate.

With 48 Democrats (and liberal independents) and 50 Republicans, wins from Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue would lock up another two years of GOP control. If their opponents, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively, win then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote.

"Georgia patriots must show up and vote for these two incredible people," Trump said. "And I'm telling you, they're two of the finest people you'll ever meet. We can fight for the presidency and fight to elect our two great senators."

Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler look on ahead of President Donald Trump hosting a campaign event with Perdue and Loeffler at Valdosta Regional Airport in Valdosta, Ga., Dec. 5, 2020.
Dustin Chambers/Reuters

Trump spoke out against Republicans boycotting the runoff, saying the "radical left" would win if that happened.

The president tied the Democratic candidates to regular conservative targets like Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and even Beto O'Rourke. He also repeatedly attacked Stacey Abrams, a former Georgia governor candidate, who helped organize Democratic voters and swing the state blue.

At one point, Trump even went on a tangent saying he did not want to attend the rally and didn't like helping other people. Oddly, he never explained what changed his mind.

"David and Kelly called and said, 'Will you do a rally?' I said, 'Not really,'" Trump regaled the crowd, referring to staffers coming to him to ask about doing the rally. "I said -- when they asked -- I don't do it for other people. It's a lot of work to do a rally."

President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally for Senate Republican candidates, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., at Valdosta Regional Airport, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020, in Valdosta, Ga.
Evan Vucci/AP

Loeffler and Perdue were finally invited on stage to speak over an hour into the president's rally. Each spoke for only a minute or two before Trump took the microphone again.

Trump then went back to discussing the alleged transgressions against him in the presidential race. He went on to show a lengthy video of right-wing news media touting already debunked claims of fraud.

Dec 05, 2020, 8:05 PM EST

Trump continues to claim he won election at Georgia rally

In a rally meant to champion Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, it became reminiscent of his time on the campaign trail. President Donald Trump immediately claimed he was cheated out of the presidential election.

"You know, we won Georgia, just so you understand," he said, in the first words out of his mouth. "And we won Florida. And we won a lot of places."

Trump lost Georgia by just under 12,000 votes. The state certified its election results on Nov. 20, though the Trump campaign has asked for a recount.

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally for Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, ahead of their January runoff elections to determine control of the U.S. Senate, in Valdosta, Ga., Dec. 5, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

His laundry list of complaints continued, as he continued to insist he won the race: "We've never lost an election. We're winning this election."

He only occasionally mentioned the two senators in the runoff early in his remarks. He jumped from discussing an alleged war on Christmas to taking responsibility for the COVID-19 vaccine to a laundry list -- literally pulling out a paper -- to prove a number of "facts" showing he had actually won the election.

He eventually said "if" he had lost, he would concede -- and graciously.

"And I have to say -- if I lost, I’d be a very gracious loser. If I lost, I would say, 'I lost,' and I’d go to Florida and I’d take it easy and I’d go around and I’d say, 'I did a good job,'" Trump said. "But you can't ever accept, when they steal and rig and rob. You can’t accept it."

Dec 05, 2020, 5:50 PM EST

Pentagon says Biden team was not blocked from intelligence discussions

Senior Defense officials disputed reports that the Biden transition team was blocked from meeting with the Defense Department's intelligence agencies. Instead, the government officials say that mutually agreed-upon transition guidelines were not followed by the Biden intelligence transition team when they contacted the DOD intelligence agencies for meetings last weekend.

The transition guidelines specified that the requests for meetings with those agencies had to be made by Biden's Pentagon transition team. A senior defense official said that was noted early last week and by mid-week meetings had been arranged for Monday and Tuesday between the Biden intelligence transition team and the DOD intelligence agencies.

"We're moving rapidly and if they want to avoid a delay they need to go to the proper agency review teams as ... set up under the agreements that have been in place," said an official, who emphasized that any perceived delays in meetings should not be attributed to the Defense Department.

Another senior defense official noted that the meetings were arranged quickly given the amount of time it takes to deal with specific classification procedures.

In a statement, acting Defense Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller said, "The DoD and its transition leadership are fully cooperating with the Biden transition team, placing national security and the protection of the American people at the forefront of any and all discussions."

The comments from the Department of Defense came after some media outlets had reported that Biden's team was blocked from meeting with DOD intelligence agencies.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez