“Yes he does,” a close adviser who has been in contact with Trump about his legal strategy said of the President’s awareness that he’s been defeated.
One adviser said Trump will continue to pursue his legal challenges until they are exhausted. But the adviser pointed to the certification in Wisconsin and said “the writing is on the wall.”
Without the ability to override the results in a combination of states, not to mention even one state, the adviser said Trump’s election challenges are obviously doomed.
Trump is still sounding as if he could still win because he wants to believe it, the adviser said. But the adviser added Trump is fully aware that he has lost, despite his ranting and raving on Twitter and on conservative media.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, is calling on President Trump to concede.
“I think he should concede, I think the race is over,” she just told CNN’s Manu Raju.
Asked if she voted for Trump, Murkowksi wouldn’t say.
“I don’t think that’s the pertinent question of the day," she added
The Trump administration’s former special envoy for Syria and the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, James Jeffrey, participated in a briefing call Monday with President-elect Joe Biden’s team about the state-of-play in the battle against ISIS and America’s presence in Syria and Iraq, according to a current administration official and a Biden adviser.
Jeffrey offered his assessment of the political and security situation in Syria, some of the competing national interests gripping the country, as well as a broad overview of the role of US troops in the country, one of the sources said.
Jeffrey retired earlier this month after 45 years in public service in the Army and Foreign Service.
The call is one of several in-person and virtual national security briefings taking place ahead of Inauguration Day to get Biden’s team up to speed on some of the ongoing conflicts where US troops have been deployed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for confirmation hearings for President-elect Joe Biden's Cabinet nominees immediately after the Georgia runoff elections on Jan. 5.
"In the midst of this once in a century crisis, it's imperative the next administration can count on the Senate to confirm its cabinet without delay," he said on the Senate floor on Monday.
Schumer said the hearings should take place before Biden's inauguration on Jan. 20 and that staff should begin preparing for the proceedings as the President-elect chooses who he intends to nominate. Biden has already named his picks for several top administration roles, including Secretary of State and Treasury secretary.
Schumer praised many of Biden's choices, including Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary and Neera Tanden as director of the Office of Management and Budget. He slammed some of his Republican colleagues for their outcry over Biden's choice of Tanden, who has been a frequent critic of the GOP on Twitter.
"Honestly, the hypocrisy is astounding. If Republicans are concerned about criticism on Twitter, their complaints are better directed at President Trump, who has made a hobby out of denigrating Republican senators on Twitter," he said.
The top Senate Democrat said his Republican colleagues had "lined up to confirm" Trump's nominees, whom he called, "manifestly unqualified, played by ethical complaints or swimming in conflicts of interest."
"I would hope the same deference will be extended to President-elect Biden's nominees, especially considering the obvious gulf in quality, experience, ethics..." he said.
Schumer said it will be "impossible to take [Republicans'] overblown complaints" over Biden's nominees seriously, considering Trump and his party's past actions.
"Given the urgent need to address Covid-19 and its economic fallout, the Senate should follow precedent, and properly hold hearings on President led Biden's nominees in January," Schumer said, later adding, "the American people cannot afford to wait to have its government working at full force to keep them safe, defeat the virus and get our economy back on track."
Senate Majority Whip John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, was asked today why he won't call Joe Biden the President-elect.
Here's how he responded:
"Well,I mean, I don't agree. I don't think that gets decided until, whenever that is, the 14th of December, but I think as these states certify, it certainly the trajectory is in that direction for sure."
When pressed if the President Trump was undermining Americans’ faith in democracy with his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, Thune deflected, following a Republican pattern of not criticizing the President.
“Well my concern again is that the we have a transition, which is, I think, at least now you can describe as underway, and hopefully orderly and well that's, that's what's important in my view,” he said.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission finalized the state’s presidential results on Monday, affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory after a recount in the state’s two most populous counties.
Wisconsin Elections Commission chairwoman Ann Jacobs signed the official paperwork stating that Biden “received the greatest number of votes” and was entitled to Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes.
It is now up to Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, to sign the paperwork formally awarding those electoral votes to Biden. It’s unclear how fast he will act. His team has not answered CNN’s inquiries.
President Trump’s campaign has pledged to further challenge the state’s results in court.
President-elect Joe Biden’s State Department transition team electronically gained access over the weekend to all of the unclassified briefing materials prepared for them by the State Department during the last few months, according to a senior State Department official familiar with the transition process.
Today a handful of people on Biden’s transition team came into the State Department offices in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood in Washington, DC, to look at the office space provided to them there, the official said.
They are still figuring out how much of the transition process will be done virtually and how much of it will be done in person in the building. As of now, it appears that it will be some kind of a hybrid model. Classified briefings will need to take place in Foggy Bottom in the sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) setup for the transition team.
Antony Blinken, who Biden has named as his pick for Secretary of State, has not come into the building yet, the official said. It is expected that he will come in for briefings in the coming weeks – which will be important to get him up to speed, and to re-establish relationships with career officials.
Biden’s State Department transition team has given State a long list of briefings they would like and those will be scheduled in the coming weeks, the source said. They will largely be carried out by assistant secretaries and the Deputy Secretary Steve Biegun.
The State Department career transition team will not have a role in vetting the political picks for ambassadors, that process will go through the Biden White House team, which it always does. State will have a role in suggesting career foreign service officers for the posts that do not go to political appointees but that process has not yet begun.
Shapiro told the justices that the dispute is now moot and that the ballots in question had no impact on Joe Biden’s victory.
The Republicans asked the justices to reverse the lower court before the election, but the Supreme Court declined to expedite the case.
In addition, the justices have declined to act on a petition from the Trump campaign seeking to become an official party to the dispute. The court has also taken no action on an emergency petition urging the justices to order the counties to take no action on the ballots.
"The 2020 Election is now over," Shapiro told the justices, adding that Biden defeated President Trump by “over 80,000 votes” and that of the 6.9 million votes cast only 9,428 were mail in ballots received during the three-day extension.
Shapiro said that the number of challenged ballots is insufficient to change the outcome of the presidential election — or any other federal election in the state.
He charged that the pending petition comes at a time when Trump is alleging “baseless claims of fraud and illegality in elections nationwide” that threaten to “impugn the integrity of the democratic process and aim to cast doubt on the legitimacy of its outcome.”
He urged the court not to "plunge itself into the political thicket by granting a case that will not affect the outcome of any election."
Entering the chamber, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ignored a question on whether he considers Joe Biden the President-elect of the United States.
McConnell typically ignores questions in the halls but occasionally engages.