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 headlines final night rally in Georgia Senate runoffs

Just 16 days before he's set to leave office, President Donald Trump will headline a rally for Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Dalton, Georgia.

The rally comes on Jan. 4, the night before the two sitting senators face separate Democratic opponents -- Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively -- in two runoffs that could determine control of the Senate. The makeup of the Senate is currently projected to be 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats and left-leaning independents. If Warnock and Ossoff win, pushing the balance to 50-50, the Democrats would control both the House and Senate, due to Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote in the upper chamber.

Dalton is in Georgia's 14th Congressional District, which makes up the northwest corner of the state and is perhaps the state's most conservative district. Its congresswoman-elect, Marjorie Taylor Greene, has supported QAnon conspiracies in the past and has fully embraced, defended and perpetuated Trump's false narrative about the election.

The 14th Congressional District is also doing the worst of the 14 districts in terms of turnout for the runoff, according to Georgia Votes, which is analyzing the secretary of state's data.

Trump made his one and only appearance in Georgia during the runoff campaign on Dec. 5, when he spent nearly two hours ticking off baseless conspiracies about the presidential election and went on a tangent about how he didn't want to come to appear at the rally.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Biden adds members to COVID response team

Continuing Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' focus on the worsening coronavirus pandemic Tuesday, the transition team announced nine additional members of the White House COVID-19 response team.

The new members will help focus on the "three crucial aspects of the COVID-19 response strategy: supply chain management, vaccinations, and testing," the transition team said.

"To recover from this pandemic, we must take aggressive action to manufacture, distribute, and administer vaccines, testing, and personal protective equipment in an equitable way. These individuals are deeply qualified and will restore public trust in the pandemic response by leading with facts, science, and integrity,” Biden said in a statement announcing the new members.

-ABC News' Beatrice Peterson


Biden paints dire picture of pandemic, vaccine distribution, in address to nation

Following a meeting with his COVID-19 task force, Biden delivered remarks on the state of the worsening coronavirus pandemic and slammed the Trump administration for falling behind its goal in distributing vaccines to Americans.

"As I long feared and warned, the effort to distribute and administer the vaccine is not progressing as it should," Biden said. "If it continues to move as it is now, it's going to take years, not months, to vaccinate the American people."

The president-elected noted how officials working on "Operation Warp Speed," the federal government's vaccine program, had predicted this month 20 million vaccinations by the end of the year, but with just a few days left in 2020, the Centers for Disease Control has recorded about 2.1 million Americans as having received a dose.

"This will take more time than anyone would like and more time than the promises from the Trump administration have suggested. This is going to be the greatest operational challenge we've ever faced as a nation," Biden said. "And we're going to get it done."

Biden repeated his intention to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel companies in the private sector to accelerate the production of materials needed for vaccines and testing, as well as protective gear. He also announced that his administration will launch a public education campaign to promote vaccine acceptance and equity.

"We're also going to make sure vaccines are distributed equitably, so every person who wants a vaccine can get it no matter the color of their skin or where they live. We're going to ensure vaccinations are free of charge," he said.

Biden, overall, painted a bleak picture of soaring infections and deaths in the coming weeks, acknowledging the "grim milestone" of the U.S. crossing 330,000 deaths and saying the county may not see improvement until March. He implored Americans to wear a mask and social distance in the meantime -- and called on Trump to set an example.

"It would make a huge difference for President Trump to say 'wear masks.' I hope the President will clearly and unambiguously urge all Americans to take the vaccine once it's available," he said.


Trump tweets 'unless Republicans have a death wish' they must meet his demands

After golfing in West Palm Beach, Trump lashed out at Republicans on Twitter Tuesday in response to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocking two efforts to pass $2,000 relief checks with a unanimous vote, saying those in his party have a “death wish” for opposing the House-passed measure.

“Unless Republicans have a death wish, and it is also the right thing to do, they must approve the $2000 payments ASAP. $600 IS NOT ENOUGH! Also, get rid of Section 230 - Don’t let Big Tech steal our Country, and don’t let the Democrats steal the Presidential Election. Get tough!” Trump said on Twitter.

It’s unclear at this point how McConnell plans to proceed, but if he does intend to tie those three issues together into one bill, as he suggested he might on the Senate floor earlier Tuesday citing the president's demands, it’s unlikely to pass.

-ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas and Mariam Khan


Trump boasts about accomplishments in Twitter video

In a previously recorded campaign-style video posted to Twitter Thursday, President Donald Trump touted what he views as his many presidential accomplishments: producing COVID-19 vaccines, repairing the economy and stopping "endless foreign wars" in the Middle East.

When it comes to vaccines, Trump said, "Our most vulnerable citizens are already receiving the vaccine and millions of doses are quickly being shipped all across our country."
The president promised that "by early next year the vaccine will be available to every American."

The Trump administration had promised that 20 million people would be vaccinated by the end of the year. As of Wednesday morning, 2,794,588 Americans had received vaccine doses and 12.4 million doses had been distributed, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump also boasted about the economy, saying, "Through the Paycheck Protection Program, we saved or supported more than 51 million American jobs, and we're doing numbers now like nobody's ever seen before, including having the highest stock market in the history of the world."

"We have slashed the unemployment rate from 14.7%, all the way down to 6.7%," Trump said. "Our economy is growing at the most rapid rate ever recorded. ... Nobody can compete with us in terms of going down less, and going up by far the fastest and the best. Whenever America's challenged, we always rise to the occasion."

Many economists, however, have argued that the economy is rebounding in a K-shape, as opposed to a V-shape, with the rich getting richer and the working class still struggling.

The president also touched on foreign affairs.

"We have secured our borders and paused immigration to protect American workers," Trump said. "And after years of endless foreign wars we are signing historic peace deals in the Middle East. It's all ending in the Middle East. We have to hope it keeps going. It's so easy if you know what you're doing."

While Trump has successfully pushed to normalize relations between Israel and many Middle Eastern countries, it's not accurate to say they are "peace deals" and they have come at the expense of Palestinians and aligned the countries against Iran. Iran, and its nuclear ambitions, continues to be a thorn in America's side. Trump has drawn down forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, but promised negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban fell apart and ISIS and al-Qaida affiliates are taking advantage of the insecurity in Syria, Northern Africa and elsewhere.

ABC News' Elizabeth Thomas contributed to this report.