WASHINGTON (AP) – The latest on President-elect Joe Biden (always local):
10:45 h
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has acknowledged for the first time that Joe Biden has been elected president.
The Kentucky Republican broke the silence on the Democrat victory in November after weeks in which he and other Republican Party leaders refused to contradict President Donald Trump’s failed statements that he was the winner in an election marked by fraud.
McConnell made his statements on the Senate floor on Tuesday, a day after the Electoral College formally claimed Biden’s victory. On Monday, several other Senate Republicans said it was time to acknowledge that Biden had won.
State and federal courts across the country have dismissed cases filed by Trump alleging fraud. Trump has presented no evidence to support his claims and state officials on both sides have said they have no merit.
Attorney General William Barr and election officials across the country have confirmed that there has been no widespread election fraud.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRANSITION OF JOE BIDEN’S ELECTED PRESIDENT TO THE WHITE HOUSE:
The Electoral College has decisively confirmed Joe Biden as the next president of the nation. Biden criticized him punctually President Donald Trump to threaten the basic principles of democracy, even when he told Americans that his form of self-government finally “prevailed.”
Read more:
– At first, the main Republicans call Biden elected president
– Biden returns to Georgia as Ossoff’s validator, Warnock
– Trump says Barr resigns, will leave before Christmas
– Under Trump’s attack, institutions bend but do not break
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HERE’S MORE:
10:10 h
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has returned to work in the Biden administration, including the consideration of high-level diplomatic posts. According to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press.
The person says transition officials see a possible adjustment for a position in the administration, even in the face of fierce opposition to any Emanuel appointment by members of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party because of his experience as chief of staff of the White House during President Barack Obama’s administration. The person spoke on Tuesday on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
Emanuel is a former three-term congressman and two-term Chicago mayor. He had pressed for the post of transport secretary which had yet to be filled.
A second person familiar with the matter told the AP last week that Emanuel’s chances of landing a senior cabinet official were increasingly unlikely after he appeared as a source of controversy for President-elect Joe Biden , who had been considering Emanuel as transportation secretary.
Emanuel faced criticism during his time as mayor for police in Chicago’s black neighborhoods.
Rev. Al Sharpton raised concerns about Emanuel during a meeting with Biden and other civil rights leaders. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York publicly stated that she opposes Emanuel having any role in a Biden administration.
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By AP writer Aamer Madhani.
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9:50 h
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to meet this week with his designated successor, Antony Blinken, in what could be the first face-to-face transition at cabinet-level transition between the outgoing Trump administration and the incoming national security team of President-elect Joe Biden.
Two people familiar with the plans say Pompeo and Blinken are scheduled to meet Thursday at the State Department. Neither person had permission to discuss the matter publicly and spoke Tuesday with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The news of the closed-door meeting comes just a day after the Electoral College certified Biden’s victory in the November election, even when President Donald Trump has still refused to accept the results.
Pompeo has been one of Trump’s strongest supporters in the administration and has been criticized for saying shortly after the Nov. 3 vote that he was preparing for “a second Trump administration.” Pompeo’s decision to meet with Blinken reflects a growing acceptance among Republicans that Biden won the election and that Trump’s challenges to the outcome will fail.
Pompey claimed he was appointed to replace his fired predecessor, Rex Tillerson, to speak and seek advice from all of his living predecessors, including Hillary Clinton and John Kerry.
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By AP diplomatic writer Matthew Lee.
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8:40 p.m.
Now two foreign leaders who had not congratulated President-elect Joe Biden have done so. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Polish President Andrzej Duda congratulated Biden on Tuesday, a day after the Electoral College claimed Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump.
A statement from the Kremlin says Putin wishes Biden “all the best” and expresses confidence that Russia and the United States “can, despite the differences, really contribute to solving many of the problems and challenges the world currently faces.”
In a letter, Duda wishes Biden “a very successful term.”
Unlike other Western leaders, Putin and Duda had withheld their congratulations to Biden after his November election.
Doubt is part of a conservative Polish leadership accused by the European Union of eroding democracy. He has been a strong ally of Trump and once suggested calling a military base “Fort Trump.” Duda received a endorsement from Trump this year in his own re-election campaign, with a last-minute invitation to the White House on the eve of the election.
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7:30 p.m.
The leading infectious disease expert in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, says President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris should be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible.
Speaking to ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday, Fauci said, “For safety reasons, I am firmly convinced to vaccinate them as soon as possible.” He adds that he would like to see Biden “fully protected when he enters the presidency in January.”
Fauci says that while President Donald Trump probably still has antibodies to the virus that will protect him for at least a few months, he should also get the vaccine to be “doubly safe.” Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19 in early October.
Fauci says Vice President Mike Pence should also be vaccinated. He says, “You still want to protect the people who are now very important to our country.”