Trump-Biden transition updates: Trump continues to tout he won election at Ga. rally

The president was in Georgia to campaign for the senatorial runoff races.

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 45 days.


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Congressional inaugural committee to begin working with Biden inaugural team

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC), tasked with executing the inaugural ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol and currently chaired by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who has not yet called Biden the president-elect, released a statement Monday afternoon saying that it would work with the Biden team but stopped short of recognizing the election results as decided.


“While the electoral process is still playing out, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is moving forward with plans for the swearing-in ceremonies that will be held on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021," a spokesperson for the JCCIC said in a statement. "Now that Vice President Biden has announced his Presidential Inaugural Committee, we will begin coordination with the PIC at a staff level to continue planning for Inaugural Ceremonies that are traditional, safe, and inclusive."

Though Blunt referred to Trump as "president-elect" in a statement released the day after the 2016 election, the Missouri Republican has deflected on using the term with Biden, telling CNN Sunday, "The president-elect will be the president-elect when the electors vote for him. There is no official job of president-elect."

Earlier on Monday, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced the formation of their Presidential Inaugural Committee, responsible for organizing inauguration-related activities.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel


Arizona certifies election results, affirming Biden’s win

Arizona has certified the results of the 2020 presidential election, affirming Biden’s victory and officially granting him the state’s 11 electoral votes.

Secretary of State Kathy Hobbs, a Democrat, certified the vote in the presence of Republican Gov. Doug Ducey and GOP Attorney General Mark Brnovich, on Monday morning.

“This election was conducted with transparency, accuracy and fairness in accordance with Arizona’s laws and election procedures -- despite numerous unfounded claims to the contrary," Hobbs said.

Ducey added he'll be signing the official documentation "today" to also make way for Arizona's Senator-elect Mark Kelly, who beat GOP Sen. Martha McSally in a special election, to be sworn into office "as swiftly as possible" with the certification of his victory being hand-delivered to the U.S. Senate.

As Hobbs certified the vote, Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani vowed in an ongoing "hearing" to continue contesting results in the state.

-ABC News' Meg Cunningham


Georgia's secretary of state slams 'dishonest actors,' announces investigations into third-party groups 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spoke before reporters Monday morning at the state capitol building in Atlanta and announced that his office has opened investigations into four third-party groups that he claimed are "working to register people in other states to vote here in Georgia."

However, Raffensperger also maintained the 2020 presidential election was the most secure election in the state's history and slammed against those peddling misinformation surrounding it.

"Once this recount is complete, everyone in Georgia will be able to have even more confidence in the results of our elections, despite the massive amounts of misinformation that is being spread by dishonest actors," Raffensperger said, adding the state's machine recount is on schedule to finish by the midnight Wednesday deadline.

"There are those who are exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims, half-truths, misinformation, and frankly, they're misleading the president, as well, apparently," he added.

Ahead of Senate runoffs Jan. 5, Raffensperger also warned, "Anyone telling you to boycott an election is not on your side."

Gabriel Sterling, the statewide voting system implementation manager, blasted lawsuits questioning the credibility of the state's electoral process as "fever dreams"and shot down the conspiracies about the election including that Dominion's voting machines flipped votes.

"The ridiculous things claimed in these lawsuits are just that, they're insanities, fever dream, made up, internet cabal," he said. "Nothing was shipped from overseas. No votes were switched. We did a hand audit that proved no votes were switched."

Sterling said he feels like he's "playing a game of Whac-A-Mole"-- that every time they shoot down one unfounded claim, another "new crazier one" pops up.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Trump discredits Georgia voting system ahead of Senate runoffs 

Trump continues to discredit the voting system in Georgia, slamming GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger -- and in doing so, risks undercutting GOP efforts there by discouraging Republican voters ahead of two runoffs on Jan. 5 that will determine the balance of power in the United States Senate.

Referring to Kemp as "hapless," Trump called on him via Twitter Monday morning to use his "emergency powers... to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State" and do signature matching for the absentee ballots again.

It’s unclear what emergency powers the president is referring to that the governor could execute, but signature matching for absentee ballots has already been conducted twice.

Signatures are matched first when a voter applied for an absentee ballot and then again when the voter returned their absentee ballot. Once the signature accompanying the returned ballot is verified, the ballots are separated from the envelopes and there is no way to re-match them because, under the Georgia state Constitution, a voter is entitled to a secret ballot. However, the envelopes are kept on file for two years.

It comes ahead of Trump traveling to Georgia on Saturday to campaign for the Republican candidates in the Senate runoffs.

-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan