Pelosi elected to 4th term as House speaker

She’s the third speaker in the last 25 years to win with less than 218 votes.

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 17 days.


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Trump tweets false conspiracy claim about Georgia’s secretary of state’s nonexistent brother

President Trump, who has spent a lot of time over the past week at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, took to Twitter to attack Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s brother -- except that Raffensperger doesn’t have a brother.

In a tweet Tuesday evening just before midnight, the president called Raffensperger and Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp a “complete disaster” as he peddled his baseless claims of election fraud.

“Now it turns out that Brad R’s brother works for China, and they definitely don’t want ‘Trump’” he wrote in a tweet. “So disgusting! #MAGA”

Trump’s tweet bolsters a popular theory in far-right conspiracy circles in recent days -- that the Georgia's secretary of state is related to a Huawei Enterprise Storage Solutions executive with the same name. Huawei has been blacklisted by the Trump administration for its ties China.

Raffensperger, however, does not have a brother. He has two sisters and neither work for Huawei.

The White House has not responded to multiple requests for comment on the tweet, and has not responded to whether the president plans to take it down, issue a correction or has apologized to the Georgia secretary of state.

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Adam Kelsey


GBI director reaffirms no fraudulent absentee ballots were identified during signature audit in Cobb County, Georgia

Vic Reynolds, the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, participated in a press conference Wednesday morning at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta where he reaffirmed that the signature match audit conducted in Cobb County using GBI investigators found there were only two ballots out of approximately 15,000 that shouldn't have been accepted as they were.

"The results of that audit confirmed the accuracy of the initial determination of the Cobb County election department in all but two cases. In other words, out of the 15,118 absentee ballot oath envelopes that were randomly audited, all of those were appropriately counted with the exception of two. Two were allowed that should not have been," Reynolds said.

But even though election officials should have initiated the "cure" process for those absentee ballots, they were still not fraudulent.

While the absentee ballots were randomly selected, Reynolds said that every ballot that was rejected due to a signature mismatch or a missing signature were automatically included in the audit.

"I would also note for the record as well that during the course of the audit, there were no fraudulent absentee ballots identified in the process," Reynolds added.

Reiterating what the secretary of state's previously said, Reynolds said the audit found Cobb County had a 99.99% accuracy rate with envelopes GBI audited.

-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan


Sen. Hawley, R-Mo, says he will object during Electoral College certification process 

Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said Wednesday that he will object during the Electoral College certification process on Jan. 6.

"Following both the 2004 and 2016 elections, Democrats in Congress objected during the certification of electoral votes in order to raise concerns about election integrity. They were praised by Democratic leadership and the media when they did. And they were entitled to do so. But now those of us concerned about the integrity of this election are entitled to do the same,” Hawley said in a statement.

Hawley alleged that Pennsylvania failed to follow state election laws, though he did not cite any specifics. He also accused big tech companies of interfering in the election, also without evidence.

-ABC News’ Mariam Khan


Biden announces nominees for deputy secretary of defense, under secretary of defense for policy

The president-elect announced Wednesday that he was nominating Kathleen Hicks as the deputy secretary of defense and Colin Kahl as the under secretary of defense for policy.

“These respected, accomplished civilian leaders will help lead the Department of Defense with integrity and resolve, safeguard the lives and interests of the American people, and ensure that we fulfill our most sacred obligation: to equip and protect those who serve our country, and to care for them and their families both during and after their service,” Biden said in a statement. “Dr. Kath Hicks and Dr. Colin Kahl have the broad experience and crisis-tested judgment necessary to help tackle the litany of challenges we face today, and all those we may confront tomorrow.”


Hicks currently leads the Biden-Harris Transition’s Defense Agency Review Team and is the senior vice president and director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. During the Obama-Biden Administration, she served as deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces and was confirmed by the Senate to serve as principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy.

Kahl is currently a co-director of the Center for International Security and Cooperation, a Steven C. Házy Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and a professor of political science at Stanford University.

-ABC News’ Molly Nagle


Schumer to try to pass House-approved $2,000 emergency checks in Senate

In a statement, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would try to get the House-approved bill to provide $2,000 emergency checks passed in the Senate on Tuesday.

"Following the strong bipartisan vote in the House, tomorrow I will move to pass the legislation in the Senate to quickly deliver Americans with $2,000 emergency checks. Every Senate Democrat is for this much-needed increase in emergency financial relief, which can be approved tomorrow if no Republican blocks it – there is no good reason for Senate Republicans to stand in the way," he said in the statement. "There's strong support for these $2,000 emergency checks from every corner of the country -- Leader McConnell ought to make sure Senate Republicans do not stand in the way of helping to meet the needs of American workers and families who are crying out for help."