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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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
Biden, Harris to visit Georgia ahead of Senate runoffs
Biden and Vice President-elect Harris will travel to Georgia to campaign on behalf of Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock starting this weekend.
Harris will be in Savannah on Sunday and Biden will visit Atlanta on Monday, the eve of the Tuesday runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.
This is Biden and Harris’ second trip to Georgia ahead of the runoff. Biden will also be in the Peach State at the same time as Trump, who will be holding a rally on the same day to support Republican candidates Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Trump asks Georgia secretary of state to 'find' enough votes to win state
In a stunning hour-long phone call, President Donald Trump ranted about the election and asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" exactly enough votes to win the Peach State.
The call, originally published by the Washington Post, starts with the president spending about 12 minutes uninterrupted decrying his electoral loss, which he claimed multiple times during the call was “impossible,” and spewing election conspiracy theories that the secretary of state’s office and local election officials have repeatedly disputed and debunked.
"All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state and flipping the state is a great testament to our country ..." Trump reportedly told Raffensperger during the call.
In an extraordinary exchange, the president tells Raffensperger there would be “nothing wrong” if the secretary “recalculated” the results of the election, leading to Raffensperger pushing back.
“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.” Raffensperger said.
"It's just not possible to have lost Georgia. When I heard it was close, I said there's no way," Trump stated on the call.
Despite the president’s persistence, the secretary maintained the reported vote count was accurate.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also spoke at times during the call, and Ryan Germany, the general counsel in Raffensperger’s office, did as well.
-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan