WASHINGTON (AP) – The latest on President-elect Joe Biden (always local):
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.
___
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
___
HERE’S MORE:
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.”