Trump-Biden transition updates: At least 20 arrested, 1 stabbed at DC protests

To rekindle an infamous discussion, taking Trump literally at this precarious moment means the president believes the election was rigged against him; that he believes he received more lawful votes than his opponent; that he believes the vote count in a series of battleground states is flawed and corrupt; and that there are election officials and state and federal judges that are ready to deliver him a second term.

But this election was not particularly close -- and, the above falsehoods notwithstanding, this period is exceedingly unlikely to end in any way other than with Biden being sworn in Jan. 20.

While Biden may have more reason than most to be offended by the behavior of Trump and Republicans in his Cabinet and in Congress, he isn't sounding particularly concerned about the hold-up.

Asked by ABC News senior congressional correspondent Mary Bruce Tuesday for his message to Trump, Biden responded, "Mr. President, I look forward to speaking with you."

It's a revealing response -- not just because Biden and his team know the White House and transitions well. Biden is keeping his faith in the processes and systems that govern elections, in state capitals and in Washington.

Some Democrats may bristle at Biden's refusal to condemn Republicans who are backing Trump.

Ugly as this moment is, and awful as it may get, Biden's team sees this as the system holding its ground. Biden's faith in a sturdy middle drove his campaign from the start and looks like a defining feature of what will become his presidency.

-ABC News’ Political Director Rick Klein

A Pennsylvania postal worker has recanted claims that supervisors attempted to backdate ballots mailed after the election, according to congressional aides. The false allegations were cited by the Trump campaign and top Republicans as examples of voter fraud impacting the results of the presidential election.

Richard Hopkins, a Postal Service worker from Erie, Pennsylvania, alleged that he overheard supervisors discussing a plan to backdate mail-in ballots for Election Day.

The Trump campaign, which, like the president, has rejected the results of the election and alleged widespread -- and unsubstantiated -- voter fraud, passed Hopkins' account to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, who referred the matter to the Justice Department and FBI for investigation.

But Hopkins walked back his assertions when questioned by federal investigators with the Postal Service Inspector General's office, the leader of the watchdog agency told the House Oversight Committee staff on Tuesday.

"IG investigators informed Committee staff today that they interviewed Hopkins on Friday, but that Hopkins RECANTED HIS ALLEGATIONS yesterday and did not explain why he signed a false affidavit," committee Democrats said in a statement posted to Twitter.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel, Alexander Mallin, Katherine Faulders, Lucien Bruggeman and Will Steakin

In the days since Biden was projected as the president-elect, Trump has remained out of sight except for trips to his Virginia golf course. But the president is working the phones with aides and allies demanding they save his presidency, multiple sources told ABC News.

At the same time, sources told ABC News the president wants every legal option exhausted, even though privately aides and members of the first family admit there is no path forward at this point.

While some top aides have cautiously approached the president to tell him it may be time to come to terms with the fact that he has lost the election, sources said they don't expect Trump to publicly concede he lost this race fairly, predicting he will continue to sow division between his supporters and Biden by trumpeting a false claim that the president-elect's victory was "fraudulent" and "stolen" from Trump.

After Election Day, Trump's campaign quickly shifted its focus to fighting the results and searching for evidence of widespread voter fraud to defend the president's baseless claims that the election was being stolen from him.

But according to multiple sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, the team's post-election efforts have run into some of the same problems that plagued them down the final stretch of the campaign: money woes and mismanagement.

-ABC News' John Santucci, Katherine Faulders and Will Steakin

The Pennsylvania Department of State announced Tuesday evening that "approximately 10,000 mail ballots" were received from the time polls closed last week through the Friday 5 p.m. deadline by which they needed to arrive in order to be counted.

These are the ballots at the center of the Trump campaign lawsuit filed prior to Election Day, which seeks to overturn a September Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision allowing the ballots to arrive up to three days after Election Day, provided they were postmarked before the polls closed.

Though that case may have ramifications for local races and future elections, it has been rendered moot in the presidential contest given Biden's current 45,673 advantage over Trump in the Keystone State. Even if all 10,000 ballots came in for Trump, he'd still trail Biden outside of the automatic recount threshold of ~34,000. The Trump campaign would also be in the awkward position of suddenly trying to argue for their inclusion following weeks of demands that they be excluded.

The state also noted a provisional ballot count of 94,000 on Election Day -- a backtrack from an earlier 101,000+ number it gave ABC News a few days ago -- of which only about 17,000 have been approved and counted thus far; and another 27,650 military and overseas votes, which had until Tuesday to arrive. None of the outstanding ballots of either type are expected to make a significant dent into Biden's margin.

-ABC News' Adam Kelsey