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

David Marchick, director of the Center for Presidential Transition, a nonpartisan group that helps candidates and presidents prepare for the transition of power, told ABC News Live’s “The Breakdown” Wednesday afternoon it’s “absolutely imperative” Biden’s transition goes smoothly and that it's is a matter of national security.

“What history shows is that transitions are a time of vulnerability where our adversaries seem to take advantage of the United States, and this is perhaps the most important transition the United States will experience since 1932 when we were in the depth of the Great Depression,” Marchick said. 

His comments come as the Biden transition team is in a standoff with the General Services Administration (GSA) which, typically, recognizes a candidate that has clearly won the election to allow the winning ticket's team to access federal resources available to aid the transition process.

GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, has made no such determination.

"This act called ascertainment has never been politicized,” Marchick added. “It's always been granted within 24 hours of the outcome of an election being clear.”

Marchick said the one exception was in 2000 with Bush vs. Gore, but stressed that delay was only caused by one state and 537 votes. In 2020, he said, Biden’s winning margins in several key states surpass Trump by more than 10,000 votes. 

“Here the outcome, as former President Bush himself said, is clear and it's critical that the ascertainment go forward,” he added.

On a Trump campaign press call Wednesday, Rep. Doug Collins touted the announcement of a hand recount in Georgia as a "victory for transparency," while the campaign claimed it was a step "closer to our goal and that is the president winning these states and ultimately being reelected" -- despite Biden's apparent win.

Collins, who is leading the Trump team’s recount efforts in the state, hinted that the recount would allow it to continue to look for evidence of fraud, saying "it allows us to, again, be looking for the concerns."

Trump campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh, when asked if the campaign's legal efforts are enough to change the election results as Trump would need to overturn results in multiple states to beat Biden -- openly suggested “[overturning] the entire election” will be a “methodical” “process.”

"It is going to be methodical and it may be somewhat lengthy, but we have the time to get there. If everyone is looking for one single action that will be the silver bullet that overturns the entire election, it's going to be a process," he said.

Notably, a Georgia judge has already denied and dismissed the campaign's lawsuit in the state. The suit had sought to force Chatham County to separate out late-arriving ballots over a concern that the county may have been mishandling ballots, an allegation based on an incident involving just 53 ballots. The judge said he saw "no evidence" to back up that claim. Judges in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada have also thrown out Trump campaign lawsuits.

-ABC News' Will Steakin, Olivia Rubin, Terrance Smith and Justin Gomez

Aside from a brief public appearance to commemorate Veterans Day, Biden is meeting with transition advisers in Wilmington, Delaware, Wednesday as his transition team is in a standoff with the Trump administration over whether the General Services Administration (GSA) should recognize Biden as the president-elect, which would allow him access to federal resources for his transition. 

Though the GSA is continuing to slow-walk its ascertainment of Biden, the Biden team is moving forward with its efforts, launching agency review teams and warning legal action is not off the table should the GSA administrator, a Trump appointee, continue to refuse to act. 

Biden is also moving ahead, holding calls to world leaders, to tell them “America’s back,” and criticizing the president’s refusal to concede as “an embarrassment" that "will not help the President's legacy."

Meanwhile, Trump has stayed largely hidden in the White House following his apparent defeat -- other than weekend golf outings and a Veterans Day event in Arlington Wednesday -- but he and his allies are digging into legal battles and recounts as he maintains, “We will win.”

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Ahead of a visit to the Philadelphia Korean War memorial at Penn's Landing Wednesday morning, Biden issued a lengthy statement on Veterans Day, pledging his commitment to the “sacred obligation” the country has to those who serve and their families.

While Biden’s go-to line on the trail was slamming Trump on his "suckers" and "losers" comments reported in The Atlantic, Biden focused his statement on unity, pledging to “never treat you or your families with anything less than the honor you deserve.”

Trump, meanwhile, broke his five-day stretch of no public appearances when he ventured out of the White House to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. He also issued a proclamation in recognition of Veterans Day.