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.


0

Trump called Pennsylvania Republican House Speaker last week

Trump reached out to Pennsylvania State Speaker of the House Brian Cutler last week asking about the legislature possibly overturning the election as part of his ongoing and apparent pressure campaign to have GOP-controlled legislatures flip results in his favor in battleground states he lost.

Mike Straub, a spokesman for Cutler, confirmed to ABC News reporting in The New York Times that Trump asked what options were available to the legislature on the phone call.

“Cutler made it very clear what power the legislature has and does not have," Straub told ABC News, adding he is "not aware of the President explicitly asking to turnover [sic] the election results."

Straub separately told ABC News that he was not present for the conversations between Cutler and the president, but he was briefed.

"The president wanted to know what options were available to the legislature to address those concerns... Speaker Cutler was very clear in explaining what power the legislature has and does not have within our state Constitution," Straub said. "One remedy the Trump campaign is seeking in a court case involves the legislature seating electors -- Speaker Cutler explained the legislature does not have that authority."

Cutler separately signed onto a resolution last week imploring Pennsylvania Republicans in Congress to officially contest the election results in January. While this has happened in the past, including over the election of George W. Bush, it is highly unlikely to overturn the election results.

The Supreme Court may decide Tuesday to take up a challenge by Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Mike Kelly over the constitutionality of mail-in voting, but legal experts have told ABC News that is a long shot. With Tuesday being the constitutionally mandated "safe-harbor" deadline for electors, all legal challenges are meant to be resolved by the end of the day, thus ensuring the correct electors will cast their votes in statehouses on Dec. 14.

-ABC News' Alex Hosenball


Former Trump admin official sues Trump campaign lawyer for defamation

Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs has sued Trump campaign lawyer Joe diGenova and Newsmax over comments the Trump campaign lawyer made on the TV network calling for Krebs to be "taken out at dawn and shot."

Krebs’ lawyers say that the Trump campaign and “diGenova, spread, stoked, and instigated unfounded allegations of system-wide voter fraud, abuse, and interference—without proffering any evidence deemed credible by any state or federal court—in a naked and politically motivated effort to undermine public confidence in the election,” according to a complaint filed in Montgomery County, Maryland, court.

Trump fired Krebs last month after he repeatedly rebuked unfounded claims made by Trump and his campaign about widespread voter fraud, which the complaint also hits on.

The lawsuit says Krebs has received death threats through email and on Twitter by, in some cases, “angry Newsmax viewers," with people calling Krebs a traitor who should be hung. These threats were so serious, according to the lawsuit, that Krebs’ 10-year-old child asked, “Daddy’s going to get executed?”

“Seeing the pain and fear in those closest to him has only elevated his own pain and fear,” the lawsuit says. Because of this, Krebs has had to leave his house, retain private security and reported threats to law enforcement.

Krebs is seeking Newsmax to remove the clip as well as monetary damages, with the suit saying that diGenova and the network have a “symbiotic relationship.”

-ABC News' Luke Barr


Jenna Ellis says she's positive for COVID-19: Sources

Trump campaign legal adviser Jenna Ellis has informed associates she’s tested positive for coronavirus only days after attending a Christmas party at the White House, igniting panic in the West Wing, multiple sources tell ABC News.

Ellis attended a senior staff Christmas party at the White House on Friday, where she was photographed not wearing a mask.

The news comes just days after it was revealed that Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. Ellis has spent the last month traveling the country with Giuliani working to overturn the 2020 election results in states including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona on behalf of the president. Both have attended hearings without wearing a mask.

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


Clyburn says majority of Biden inauguration will be virtual 

Democratic Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, whose primary endorsement in South Carolina helped put Biden on a path to victory and who was tapped this week to chair Biden’s presidential inaugural committee, began to paint a clearer picture Tuesday of what the public can expect on Jan. 20, saying a majority of the inauguration will be virtual.

"I think the president will be sworn in in a a traditional way, but 75%, 80% of this inauguration will probably be virtual," Clyburn told CNN Tuesday morning, comparing the look to this summer’s Democratic National Convention.

"This inauguration will be an example of what a President Joe Biden would like to see the people of America do," Clyburn added, noting the worsening coronavirus pandemic. "We are not going to violate anything... We are going to discourage anything that could be a spreader."

Providing an alternative, Clyburn said he's hopeful there could be a celebration on the National Mall July 4, adding, "Hopefully things will be under control then."

As Biden is expected to name retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to lead the Pentagon at some point this week, Clyburn also offered praise for the "historic" choice of and encouraged Biden to consider more Black candidates he's suggested -- including Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms -- for other senior-level Cabinet positions. The pressure comes ahead of Biden's meeting with civil rights leaders Tuesday afternoon as they advocate for more people of color to be nominated to top spots.

"There are plenty of bodies to be found if you ask the right person," Clyburn said.


Overview: Trump holds 'vaccine summit,' Biden introduces health care team 

Trump and Biden hold dueling events on the pandemic response Tuesday with the president hosting a "vaccine summit" at the White House, just days before a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee holds a hearing on whether to authorize emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine, while the president-elect is slated to formally roll out his health care picks who will take over handling the COVID-19 pandemic in 43 days.

At his event, Trump is slated to sign an executive order touting his mantra of "America First" that would prioritize Americans’ access to COVID-19 vaccines before the United States helps other countries. But the chief science adviser to "Operation Warp Speed," the U.S. government's initiative to expedite vaccine development which Trump is also expected to tout, said Tuesday morning he doesn't know about the vaccine-related executive order Trump is expected to sign.

"Frankly, I don't know and, frankly, I'm staying out of this. I can't comment," Dr. Moncef Slaoui told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Tuesday on "Good Morning America,” when asked to explain the executive order.

The event comes as a senior administration official familiar with the matter confirmed reporting to ABC News that the Trump Administration passed when Pfizer offered in later summer to sell the U.S. more COVID-19 vaccine doses -- an approach which the White House has denied and Slaoui defended Tuesday. Representatives of Pfizer and Moderna -- the two drug companies seeking emergency-use authorization -- are not expected to attend the White House summit, nor is anyone from the Biden transition team.

Biden, meanwhile, is slated to introduce the health care team he will entrust with handling the pandemic California Attorney General Xavier Becerra as Health and Human Services secretary, the first Latino to hold the post if confirmed. Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is taking on the elevated role of chief medical adviser to Biden in the incoming administration, is expected to dial into Biden’s meeting, though not the one at the White House.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are also meeting Tuesday with several civil rights leaders including NAACP representatives to discuss policy issues around racial equity as well as diversity and representation on the incoming Cabinet. It comes after news leaked that Biden is expected to name retired four-star Army Gen. Lloyd Austin as his defense secretary, who would be the first African American in the post if confirmed, this week.

Tuesday is also the congressionally mandated "safe harbor" deadline -- the date, under federal law, by which the "final determination of any controversy or contest concerning the appointment" of electors "shall be conclusive” -- making it extremely difficult to dispute election results in the courts, where pro-Trump efforts have seen at least 39 defeats to date.