Michigan state legislature closes offices due to 'credible threats of violence'
Law enforcement recommended the Michigan legislature close its offices.
President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 39 days.
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Vivek Murthy says nation must overcome fear and mistrust amid pandemic
Biden's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, who served in the same role in Obama administration, reminded in his remarks that COVID-19 is not the only health crisis devastating families and shortening life spans in America while warning that even with the best policies, the nation must overcome the fear and distrust that many are feeling amid the pandemic.
"In my new expanded role, I will work to bring a health focus to our policies across government so that our schools, our workplaces and our communities can be forces for strengthening our health and wellbeing, but the truth is that the very best policies, and even the best vaccines and treatments, will not heal our nation unless we also overcome the fear, anxiety, anger and distrust that so many Americans are feeling right now," Murthy said.
"So more than anything, I will come to this role as a doctor, one who learned the most important lessons about medicine not in medical school, but from the clinic that my parents opened when they first came to America as immigrants decades ago," he added.
Drawing from personal experience, Murthy went on to say he is "endlessly grateful to serve one of the few countries in the world where the grandson of a poor farmer in India could be asked by the president-elect to look out for the health of an entire nation."
Xavier Becerra says human services will 'stand tall' in the Biden administration
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Biden's nominee to lead the Health and Human Services Department who would be the first Latino in the position if confirmed, said the incoming Biden administration will elevate the knowledge of medial professionals and build a country where health care is a right, not a privilege.
"At HHS, tackling pandemics, saving lives, keeping us healthy, should be our calling card. And we won't forget that there is a second "H" in HHS, the human services: the work we do for our children, the seniors and and disabled. They will stand tall in a Biden-Harris HHS," Becerra said.
Becerra also shared a personal story, of his father passing away peacefully at home on New Year's Day, contrasting it to the present moment.
"No one should ever have to die alone in a hospital bed, loved ones forced to stay away. That seems so contrary to the values of a great nation, the values that drew my parents like generations before and after them to come to America," he said.
Becerra led the states' defense of the Affordable Care Act after the Trump administration sued to dismantle the program earlier this year.
Biden lays out 3 key health objectives for 1st 100 days in office
Ahead of introducing his health care picks, Biden made his mask campaign official and called on all Americans to wear a mask for the first 100 days of his presidency as part of three key objectives he's asking his health care team to complete in his first 100 days in office.
"My first 100 days won’t end the COVID-19 virus. I can't promise that," Biden said. "We didn’t get into this mess quickly. We're not going to get out of it quickly. It's going to take some time. But I'm absolutely convinced that in 100 days we can change the course of the disease and change life in America for the better."
Biden said his team's second initiative is to have "at least 100 million COVID vaccine shots into the arms of the American people in the first 100 days." The initiative comes as the Biden team has said it's seen "no detailed plan" on vaccine distribution from the Trump administration.
Finally, Biden said getting children back to school and keeping them in school will be a "national priority" for the team in the first 100 days, saying Congress can help make this happen with the appropriate funding.
"I'm encouraged by the bipartisan efforts in Congress around a $900 billion economic relief package which I've said is critical, but this package is only a start for more action early next year," Biden added.
Biden introduces his health care picks
Biden is introducing a slate of health care experts and officials who will lead his administration's response to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
"Today, I’m very proud to be announcing our health care and COVID team at a critical time, as we near the end of one of the toughest years we've faced as a nation," Biden said, adding this group of "world class experts" will be "ready on day one."
California attorney general and former California congressman, Xavier Becerra, is Biden's nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services. If confirmed, he would be the first Latino to lead the department.
Vivek Muthy has been nominated to be U.S. surgeon general, a role he served in during the Obama administration.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, a leading expert on virus testing, prevention and treatment, is nominated to serve as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, one of the country’s foremost experts on health care disparities, will serve as the COVID-19 equity task force chair.
As Biden said last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci will stay on in his current role as as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and will take on the elevated role of Biden's chief medical adviser on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jeff Zients will serve as coordinator of the COVID-19 response and counselor to the president, and Natalie Quillian will serve as deputy coordinator of the COVID-19 response.
Georgia secretary of state to recertify Biden's win Monday
Up against Tuesday's "safe harbor" deadline, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that he will recertify that Biden won Georgia's election sometime Monday following the state's third recount of the presidential vote there which has Biden ahead by nearly 12,000 votes.
"It's been a long 34 days since the election on Nov. 3. We have now counted legally cast ballots, three times, and the results remain unchanged," Raffensperger told reporters.
As he did in his WSJ op-ed this morning, the secretary equated how former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams acted after her 2018 loss and Trump's behavior in 2020.
"Whether it's the president of the United States or a failed gubernatorial candidate ... disinformation regarding election administration should be condemned and rejected," he said. "All this talk of a stolen election, whether it's Stacey Abrams, or the president of the United States is hurting our state."
Raffensperger also said that "the focus on Nov. 3 is drawing energy away from" the state's goals of job growth, efficient COVID-19 vaccine distribution and "getting back to normal."
"I know there are people that are convinced the election was fraught with problems, but the evidence -- the actual evidence, the facts -- tell us a different story," he said.
Gabriel Sterling, the voting system implementation manager in Raffensperger's office, came to the podium afterward to fact check some of the misinformation that the president has helped spread. In one example, he directly called out the president's legal team for how they've tried to "mislead" people about a video from counting occurring in State Farm Arena in Fulton County that Trump played at his rally in Valdosta on Saturday night.
"What's really frustrating is the president's attorneys had this same videotape. They saw the exact same things the rest of us could see, and they chose to mislead state senators and the public about what was on that video," he said, debunking the notion that there were "magic ballots" that showed up in the state's largest county.
"They knew it was untrue and they continue to do things like this," Sterling said. "We continue to see people who are put in positions of responsibility, sending out this disinformation and undermining the electoral system," he added later.Minutes after Raffensperger told reporters he would receritfy the vote Monday, Trump continued his attacks on election officials in the state on Twitter, targeting GOP Gov. Brian Kemp for signature verification saying he'd have an "easy win" were it conducted -- but signature verification was already done twice for absentee ballots in the state, and the vote was recounted three times affirming Biden's win.
-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan