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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Biden says he’ll announce his pick to lead Pentagon on Friday

Biden confirmed more Cabinet picks are expected to come this week, saying he would announce his Defense Secretary on Friday.


While Biden rolled out a portion of his national security team as part of his first Cabinet announcement, there has been continued speculation over his choice to lead the Justice and Defense Departments. Biden in recent days has been urged to appoint a person of color, particularly a Black person at the Department of Defense and as the Attorney General.

The speculation comes ahead of Biden meeting with the NAACP on Tuesday.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle


Biden appears without larger walking boot, meets with transition advisers

Biden has arrived at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, his de facto transition headquarters ahead of his inauguration in 44 days again without a medical accessory he's donned for the larger part of the last week.

Although Biden's doctor said last Sunday he would likely be wearing a walking boot for "several weeks" after he sustained hairline fractures in his right foot, Biden was not wearing the boot when he walked into the theater Monday afternoon. While attending a Saturday Mass in Wilmington, he was also spotted without what Biden has referred to as "the big boot."

Biden has said his foot feels “good” despite sustaining the fractures just over a week ago, and addressed the boot issue during an interview with CNN Thursday, noting that the larger cast is a little clumsy and while he wears it "most of the time," he’s been given a smaller option for going out in public.

Biden will receive the President’s Daily Brief and meet with transition advisers on Monday, according to his public schedule, and pre-tape transition production elements at The Queen, his team said.

It comes ahead of Biden introducing his top health care picks to the public on Tuesday including California Attorney General Xavier Berecca to lead the Health and Human Services Department and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, as Biden's chief medical adviser to lead the country through the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle


Georgia recertifies election results, reaffirming Biden's victory

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has recertified the results of the 2020 presidential election following a second audit that entailed counties counting by hand every one of the approximately 5 million ballots cast in the race.

The Trump campaign requested a recount after votes were first certified for Biden on Nov. 20, but the machine recount, as officials said to expect, reaffirmed that Biden won Georgia's 16 electoral votes -- the first Democratic presidential victory in the state since 1992.

In a press release announcing the recertification, Raffensperger also gave a statement about the dismissal of former Trump legal team lawyer Sidney Powell's "Kraken" lawsuit by a Georgia court earlier in the day.

“Today is an important day for election integrity in Georgia and across the country,” Raffensperger said. “The claims in the Kraken lawsuit prove to be as mythological as the creature for which they’re named. Georgians can now move forward knowing that their votes, and only their legal votes, were counted accurately, fairly, and reliably.”

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Georgia court rejects Trump campaign lawsuit over self-inflicted delays

A Trump campaign lawsuit was rejected by a Georgia state court Monday because the Trump legal team failed to pay the filing fee and neglected to fill out the proper forms. It's the latest in a string of blunders and gaffes that are adding self-inflicted delays to their time-sensitive legal challenges.

Trump filed the lawsuit in Georgia Friday afternoon officially contesting the results of the election and requesting a do-over -- another in a series of long-shot legal bids that have so far met with stiff resistance from the state's Republican election officials. Pro-Trump legal efforts across the country have ended in at least 38 defeats to date, with only a single court victory -- in a case in Pennsylvania that was ultimately not consequential.


The latest rejection comes just after Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he would recertify the state’s election results, affirming Biden’s victory after a third count of presidential votes, sometime Monday.

-ABC News’ Matthew Mosk and Olivia Rubin


Trump brings GOP along in dangerous final acts: Analysis

From the technical standpoint of a transition of power, the public opinion of congressional Republicans about whether Biden will take office Jan. 20 matters almost not at all.

From the broader standpoint of democracy and faith in elections, it could not hardly matter more at this moment.

The process that so many Republicans have been saying they want to play out is rather thoroughly exhausted already. The next seven days bring significant deadlines, with Tuesday's congressional "safe harbor" deadline for state election results and next Monday's Electoral College voting the most significant.

His tweets and the 101 minutes Trump spent airing grievances and falsehoods in Georgia Saturday night made clear he will pursue his dangerous fictions right through the end of his presidency. The good of the Republican Party -- and, of course, the good of the country -- are, at best, secondary considerations for the president at this point.

Some Republicans are trying to reframe questions about Biden's legitimacy as president-elect as though they are merely asking questions. Their suggestion is that democracy is threatened if people believe election irregularities have been ignored.

But far from being brushed aside, Trump's claims have been rejected in courthouses and state houses -- including by Republicans who have found themselves targeted by the president.

Ignoring that fact only sows more doubt in election integrity and legitimacy. And continuing to give Trump space to make wildly inaccurate and irresponsible claims will only solidify his hold on a party whose best interests have already begun to diverge from the president's.

-ABC News' Political Director Rick Klein