Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell: Transition updates
The campaign now says she's not a member of the president's legal team.
President-elect Joe Biden is moving forward with transition plans, capping a tumultuous and tension-filled campaign during a historic pandemic against President Donald Trump, who still refuses to concede the election two weeks after Biden was projected as the winner and is taking extraordinary moves to challenge the results.
Running out of legal alternatives to override the election loss, Trump invited Michigan's top Republican state lawmakers to visit the White House on Friday, as he and allies pursue a pressure campaign to overturn results in a state Biden won by more than 150,000 votes.
Despite Trump's roadblocks and his administration refusing to recognize Biden as the president-elect, Biden is forging ahead as he prepares to announce key Cabinet positions.
Though Trump has alleged widespread voter fraud, he and his campaign haven't been able to provide the evidence to substantiate their claims and the majority of their lawsuits have already resulted in unfavorable outcomes.
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Trump slams Paris climate accord at virtual G-20 summit
Trump delivered a short speech during Sunday’s G-20 summit discussing the Paris climate accord.
"I withdrew the United States from the unfair and one-sided Paris climate accord, a very unfair act for the United States," he said. "The Paris accord was not designed to save the environment. It was designed to kill the American economy. I refuse to surrender millions of American jobs and send trillions of American dollars to the world's worst polluters and environmental offenders and that's what would have happened."
Biden has openly expressed his plans to re-join the accord after taking office.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a written statement that during the G-20 summit Sunday, the president also “discussed the economic model he has enacted," talked about “investing in women and called on all countries to do more.”
Later Sunday morning, Trump departed the White House to go to his Virginia golf course.
-ABC News' Ben Gittleson
Michigan Dem party chair urges state canvassing board certify results
A day after the GOP sent a letter to the state board of canvassers, Lavora Barnes, the chair of the Michigan Democratic Party, submitted her own letter calling for the four appointed members -- two Republicans and two Democrats -- to "carry out" their responsibility and "certify the results" of the election.
Barnes blasts Trump and his Republican allies for sowing doubt in the integrity of the election with "recycled claims that have already failed in court."
"The certification process must not be manipulated to serve as some sort of retroactive referendum on the expressed will of the voters. That is simply not how democracy works," she writes. "The incumbent President and his political party have decided to use the weeks following the election to spread falsehoods and to sow doubt about our state’s democratic process. Their fundamental concern, of course, is not with the process at all, but instead with its result."
She also takes to task the GOP's hyper-focus on Detroit and efforts to cast the "out of balance" precincts as something of concern. The reality, Barnes explains, is that the number of votes at issues are "at most 450" which is not nearly enough to change the outcome of the election. Biden's lead is currently at more than 154,000 votes.
-ABC News' Kendall Karson
Loeffler tests negative, but will continue to self-isolate
Following inconclusive and positive COVID-19 tests, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., tested negative overnight, according to her campaign communications director.
The senator has been actively campaigning with Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., ahead of their runoff races in January. Their efforts have drawn several Republicans to the state, including Vice President Mike Pence on Friday. Loeffler and Pence appeared on stage in close proximity without masks on Friday. Perdue was also at the rally and in close proximity without a mask.
Loeffler had passed two rapid COVID tests on Friday morning before starting a day of campaigning, but found out at night she had tested positive in a PCR test, which generate fewer false positives or false negatives.
"She was informed later in the evening after public events on Friday that her PCR test came back positive, but she was retested Saturday morning after conferring with medical officials and those results came back inconclusive on Saturday evening," campaign spokesperson Stephen Lawson said late Saturday.
In his statement Sunday afternoon, Lawson said, "Out of an abundance of caution, she will continue to self-isolate and be retested again to hopefully receive consecutive negative test results. We will share those results as they are made available. She will continue to confer with medical experts and follow CDC guidelines."
-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan, Mark Osborne and Benjamin Siegel
Biden's 1st cabinet picks coming on Tuesday
Incoming White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said Sunday that President-elect Joe Biden will soon announce his first cabinet picks, a sign that he is moving swiftly forward with his transition despite President Donald Trump's refusal to concede the race.
"You're going to see the first of the president-elect's cabinet appointments on Tuesday of this week," Klain told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview on "This Week."
-ABC News' John Verhovek
Trump campaign requests recount in Georgia
The Trump campaign announced Saturday night that it’s requesting a recount in Georgia, a state that certified its results on Friday showing Joe Biden won the state.
The move follows a hand-count audit that reaffirmed the results of the machine tabulation were accurate. The Trump campaign says in the statement they filed for the recount on Saturday.
The campaign claims in the statement "without signature matching, this recount will be a sham" -- but the signature-matching process has already taken place. Under state law, the recount would use high-capacity scanners and would not be conducted by hand.
"We are focused on ensuring that every aspect of Georgia State Law and the U.S. Constitution are followed so that every legal vote is counted," the campaign said in a statement. "President Trump and his campaign continue to insist on an honest recount in Georgia, which has to include signature matching and other vital safeguards."
While the signatures were not matched during the hand audit, signatures were already matched twice because they are first verified upon receipt of the voter's application, and then again when the ballot is received.
Trump supporters rallied at the Georgia state Capitol on Saturday. Biden won the state by 12,284 votes following the audit, which is under the 0.5% of total votes necessary to request a recount. The Trump campaign had until Tuesday to request the recount.
-ABC News' Will Steakin