President-elect Joe Biden speaks Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):
7:35 p.m.
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he thinks President Donald Trump should attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration because it would be “good for the country.”
The South Carolina senator said he spoke with the president over the weekend and encouraged him to pursue his legal challenges to the election results.
Graham said Monday: “He’s going to fight for every vote and push systems to get better and I said, ‘Keep it up.’”
But Graham says after the Electoral College formally confirms Biden as president-elect on Dec. 14, Trump should agree to attend the new president’s inauguration.
“I think it’s good for the country, would be good for him,” Graham said. “We’ll know in December. I hope Biden would come to his.”
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN’S TRANSITION TO THE WHITE HOUSE:
President-elect Joe Biden will have an all-female senior communications team at his White House.
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON:
5:30 p.m.
President-elect Joe Biden spent Monday at home accepting congratulatory calls from foreign leaders, a day after being diagnosed with stress fractures in his foot.
The Biden transition team says he spoke with President Alberto Fernández of Argentina, President Carlos Alvarado of Costa Rica, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. The COVID-19 pandemic was a top agenda item in the calls, Biden’s office says, with regional stability issues and climate change also brought up.
Biden also received the President’s Daily Brief, the highly classified intelligence summary, for the first time Monday.
Biden’s doctor said Sunday evening that the president-elect will likely wear a walking boot for the next several weeks as he recovers from breaking his right foot while playing with one of his dogs.
4:45 p.m.
Joe Biden’s victory in battleground Wisconsin has been confirmed following a partial recount that only added to his 20,600-vote margin over President Donald Trump, who has promised to file a lawsuit seeking to undo the results.
Confirmation of the results by the Democratic chairwoman of the Wisconsin Elections Commission started a five-day window for Trump to file a lawsuit. Trump on Saturday promised to file a lawsuit either Monday or Tuesday, a longshot attempt to overturn the results by disqualifying as many as 238,000 ballots. Trump’s attorneys have alleged without evidence that there was widespread fraud and illegal activity.
Biden’s campaign has said the recount showed that Biden won Wisconsin decisively and there was no fraud. Even if Trump were successful in Wisconsin, the state’s 10 Electoral College votes would not be enough to undo Biden’s overall victory.
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1:50 p.m.
Arizona officials have certified Joe Biden’s narrow victory over President Donald Trump in the state.
Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs and Republican Gov. Doug Ducey stood up for the integrity of the election even as lawyers for Trump were across town Monday arguing without evidence to nine Republican lawmakers that the election was marred by fraud.
Ducey says, “We do elections well here in Arizona. The system is strong.”
Biden won Arizona by 0.3% of the nearly 3.4 million ballots cast, a margin of just under 10,500 votes. He’s the second Democrat in 70 years to win the state.
The certification also paves the way for Democrat Mark Kelly to take his seat in the U.S. Senate, formalizing his victory in a special election to replace the late John McCain. Kelly is scheduled to be sworn in on Wednesday in Washington.
___8:46 a.m.
President-elect Joe Biden is taking the first formal preparations for his Jan. 20 inauguration, unveiling the inaugural committee that will lead arrangements for the day he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris assume their posts.
Biden is naming Delaware State University president Tony Allen to serve as CEO of his presidential inaugural committee and campaign chief operating officer Maju Varghese as the group’s executive director.
The inaugural committee works in coordination with Congress’ planning group around arrangements for the Capitol ceremony, and organizes inaugural balls and other events surrounding the swearing-in. The format of those events is up in the air amid the global coronavirus pandemic, which has surged across the country.
In a statement Monday, the inaugural committee said it will work on “prioritizing keeping people safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19 while engaging all Americans” in the festivities.
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