The latest on Biden's transition

By Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN

Updated 8:23 p.m. ET, December 15, 2020
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12:10 p.m. ET, December 15, 2020

Schumer calls on Trump to follow McConnell's lead and "acknowledge that Joe Biden will be the next president"

From CNN's Ali Zaslav

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meets virtually with General Lloyd Austin, U.S. secretary of defense-designate, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Dec. 15.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meets virtually with General Lloyd Austin, U.S. secretary of defense-designate, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Sarah Silbiger/Bloomberg/Getty Images

After Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly recognizing Joe Biden as president-elect for the first time, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said President Trump needs to “take his cue from Leader McConnell, that it's time to end his term."

“For the sake of the country, President Trump should take his cue from Leader McConnell, that it's time to end his term with a modicum of grace and dignity, qualities that his predecessors took great pains to display during our grand tradition of a peaceful transfer of power,” Schumer said.

The New York Democrat also called on his Republican colleagues to follow suit.

“They ought to acknowledge that Joe Biden will be the next president and Kamala Harris will be the next vice president,” he said. Adding, “Our Republican colleagues, for the sake of our Democracy, for the sake of the peaceful transition of power. Should stop the shenanigans. Stop the misrepresentations and acknowledge that Joe Biden will be our next president.”

11:51 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

How Biden's inauguration will play out during the pandemic

From CNN’s Sarah Mucha

Workers construct the stage for the presidential inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on December 1, 2020.
Workers construct the stage for the presidential inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on December 1, 2020. Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

The Presidential Inaugural Committee has released initial details about how it intends to put on an unprecedented inauguration that will take place during a pandemic, confirming that the ceremony's footprint will be "extremely limited" and saying that the typical parade following the swearing-in will be "reimagined." 

Additionally, the inaugural committee is urging the public to "refrain from any travel and participate in the inaugural activities from home" as President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in.

The committee is bringing on a chief medical advisor, underscoring how seriously it intends to take health protocols during the ceremony and around the surrounding festivities.  The advisor, Dr. David Kessler, is the former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He has advised the Biden campaign on its health and safety protocol since the pandemic’s onset. Per the release, the committee will also consult with additional medical experts, and it has hired professional staff dedicated to health and safety protocols.

The committee confirmed that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office at the US Capitol.   

As CNN previously reported, it remains unclear whether President Trump will attend the inauguration. He has made clear to staff in recent days that he has no desire to discuss whether or not he'll attend Biden's inauguration and has largely shut down any conversations about leaving office. But Republicans and aides are encouraging the President to consider attending Biden's swearing-in.

Biden said over the summer that he did not want to wear a mask for his Inauguration ceremony, and an aide tells CNN that this is still the President-elect's preference. The congressional committee did determine that everyone will be required to follow mask and social distancing guidelines.

11:43 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

Read Mitch McConnell's full remarks recognizing Joe Biden as president-elect

From CNN's Melissa Mahtani

A day after the Electoral College officially confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's victory, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made remarks publicly recognizing Biden as president-elect for the first time.

In a speech from the Senate floor, McConnell touted the current administration’s accomplishments but made all his comments on Trump's Presidency in the past tense.

His office provided the full transcript of what he said.

Read his full remarks below:

"Over the last four years, our country has benefitted from a presidential term filled with major accomplishments. President Donald Trump has repeatedly surprised the skeptics, confounded his critics, and delivered significant policy victories that have strengthened our country.
Case in point: Back in May, when the President set the goal of finding a pandemic-ending vaccine by the end of this year, his timeline was dismissed by people who assumed they knew better. Quote: 'Trump promises coronavirus vaccine by end of the year,' scoffed one headline, 'but his own experts temper expectations.'
'Fact check,' complained another headline, 'Coronavirus vaccine could come this year, Trump says. Experts say he needs a 'miracle' to be right.' End quote.
Well, with the genius of science, support from Congress, and the bold leadership of the Trump Administration, that medical miracle arrived right on schedule. Americans on the front lines are receiving vaccinations as we speak. This episode offers a kind of microcosm of the last four years. On so many subjects — from economic prosperity to foreign policy to protecting American families — the skeptics doubted him, the critics derided him, but President Trump has delivered.
When President Trump ran for office, he promised to help open a new chapter for working families. After eight years of failed policies that concentrated wealth and optimism among a lucky few, prosperity was going to flow to all kinds of workers in all kinds of communities, he said. And that is exactly what happened.
Before this pandemic spread from China and the world had to slam on the brakes, the American people had the best job market in living memory. With help from the policies of President Trump and Republicans in Congress, American workers dynamited the stagnation that experts had said was "the new normal." Unemployment hit a 50-year low. Capital markets hit record highs. And this time, all kinds of Americans got to share in the gains.
We saw earnings grow faster for workers than for managers; faster for the bottom 25% than for the top 25%. This success was fueled in part by the policy leadership of President Trump. This Administration pursued bold regulatory changes. Once-in-a-generation tax reform had eluded prior leaders. This President signed it into law in his first year.
And together we repealed the worst part of Obamacare. The unfair individual mandate was zeroed out.
President Trump also took historic steps to strengthen the future of our trade with the world. He secured the historic United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and bilateral tax treaties with partners in Europe and Asia.
A nation this productive needs plenty of energy to keep it going. Fortunately, President Trump and his administration ended the ideological war on fossil fuels and hit the accelerator on all-of-the-above American energy dominance. In the last four years we surpassed Saudi Arabia in oil production. We saw energy exports exceed energy imports for the first year in almost 70 years. Meanwhile we saw our CO2 emissions fall, along with other harmful pollutants. That energy independence has dramatically strengthened our hand with respect to the rest of the world, particularly the Middle East.
Speaking of the Middle East, President Trump wasted little time pulling back from the prior administration’s disastrous "Iran deal." His team eliminated daylight between us and Israel and repaired our relationships with Arab partners. And he aligned these relationships around our common shared interests — countering threats like radical Islamic terrorists and Iranian aggression. Under President Trump’s command, our forces took terrorist leaders like Al-Baghdadi and Soleimani off the battlefield. The physical caliphate that ISIS established on the previous president’s watch was destroyed. All this paved the way for the Abraham Accords — the historic normalization of relationships between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and most recently Morocco, with the potential for more on the horizon.
Now, the Middle East isn’t the only place where the Trump Administration has shored up our footing on the world stage. Our 45th commander-in-chief set out to rebuild and modernize our military, and to move our foreign policy from a chapter of weakness and apology into a renewed posture of strength.
Four years later, we have a new National Defense Strategy to compete with and deter adversaries like Russia and China. We have rebuilt the military and invested in new technologies to ensure America keeps our edge in everything from cyber to space to advanced weapons systems.
And the President’s leadership has not stopped with those who are currently serving. He also signed into law the historic VA MISSION Act, to ensure our dedication to our men and women in uniform does not end when their tours conclude.
Clearly, the list of American accomplishments since 2016 is nearly endless.
There are the many miles of new protections on our southern border. At one point apprehensions at the border hit their lowest level since the 1970s. Essential causes like religious liberty and the most vulnerable, the unborn, have had a champion in this Administration, instead of an adversary. There have been historic new steps to conserve our national treasures, like the Great American Outdoors Act. And perhaps most important of all, President Trump nominated — and this Senate confirmed — three outstanding Supreme Court Justices along with more than 220 more Article III federal judges. These are brilliant, young, constitutionalist men and women in lifetime appointments who will renew the judiciary for a generation. All because President Trump knows we need judges who respect the essential but limited job description the framers wrote for our third branch of government.
As you can see, it would take far more than one speech to catalog all the major wins the Trump Administration has helped deliver for the American people. The outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work — and their essential roles in all these victories and many more.
Six weeks ago, Americans voted in this year’s general election. The legal and constitutional processes have continued to play out. Yesterday, electors met in all 50 states. So, as of this morning, our country officially has a President-elect and a Vice President-elect.
Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result. But our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th.
The Electoral College has spoken.
So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. The President-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He has devoted himself to public service for many years.
I also congratulate the Vice President-elect, our colleague from California, Senator Harris. Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female Vice President-elect for the first time.
I look forward to finishing out the next 36 days strong with President Trump. Our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement."

There was no comment from McConnell’s office on whether he informed the White House of his remarks ahead of time. 

11:13 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

McConnell: Americans can be proud "our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time"

From CNN's Ali Zaslav, Manu Raju and Ted Barrett

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Moments after he recognized Joe Biden as president-elect for the first time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also congratulated Vice-President elect Kamala Harris for the first time.

“I also want to congratulate the vice president-elect, our colleague from California, Sen. Harris. Beyond our differences all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time," he said.

McConnell said while millions wished the election would have yielded a different result, “our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20. The Electoral College has spoken.” 

The Kentucky Republican added that “the president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He's devoted himself to public service for many years.”  

He concluded his floor speech saying he looks forward to “finishing out the next 36 days strong with President Trump. Our nation needs us to add another bipartisan chapter to this record of achievement.”

11:54 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

McConnell for the first time recognizes Biden as president-elect, offers congratulations

From CNN's Ali Zaslav, Manu Raju, Ted Barrett

Sarah Silbiger/Pool/Getty Images
Sarah Silbiger/Pool/Getty Images

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that following the electors meeting yesterday, “as of this morning, our country officially has a president-elect and a vice president elect.”

“The Electoral College has spoken,” he said. Adding: “Today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.” 

He made the remark after talking about the Trump presidency in the past tense, touting the current administration’s accomplishments, including the country’s “economic prosperity” and “foreign policy,” judicial appointments, and “bold regulatory changes” in a speech from the Senate floor.

“It would take far more than one speech to catalogue all the major wins the Trump administration has helped deliver for the American people. The outsider who swore he would shake up Washington and lead our country to new accomplishments, both at home and abroad proceeded to do exactly that. President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence deserve our thanks and our gratitude for their tireless work and their essential roles in all these victories and in many more,” he said.

Manu Raju reports:

9:45 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

Fauci says he believes Biden and Harris should be vaccinated as soon as possible

From CNN's Naomi Thomas

Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Tuesday that his strong recommendation would be for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

“For security reasons, I really feel strongly that we should get them vaccinated as soon as we possibly can,” Fauci said.

“You want him fully protected as he enters into the presidency in January,” Fauci said of Biden. “So that would be my strong recommendation.” 

9:51 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

Biden will travel to Georgia today to support Senate runoff candidates

From CNN's Ryan Nobles

Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

President-elect Joe Biden will travel to Georgia today to headline a rally in support of the Democratic candidates in the state's US Senate runoff election, the Biden campaign announced Thursday.

Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are challenging incumbent GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in a pair of races that will determine control of the United States Senate.

Biden's visit is tied directly to the start of early voting in Georgia. Voters could begin casting ballots in the state Monday and the Democratic ticket is placing a special emphasis on getting out the early vote.

In addition to Biden, the campaigns are also planning a future visit from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as well as tips from a number of high-profile Democratic surrogates.

The Democratic approach to surrogates has been much different than the Republicans who have been flooding the zone with visits from GOP stars.

President Trump made a trip to Valdosta, Georgia, and a made promise to return. The GOP ticket has also benefited from Vice President Mike Pence who has already made one trip and will be in Augusta later Thursday.

9:55 a.m. ET, December 15, 2020

The Electoral College affirmed Biden's victory yesterday. Here's what comes next.

From CNN's Jeremy Herb

Ross D. Franklin/Pool/AP
Ross D. Franklin/Pool/AP

California's 55 electors put Joe Biden over the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president shortly after 5 p.m. ET Monday, affirming Biden's election as the 46th president of the United States.

Electors for all 50 states and the District of Columbia gathered in their respective capitols on Monday to cast ballots.

The Electoral College's vote, however, is not the final step in the constitutional process of selecting a president. The votes cast on Monday are sent to Congress, where they will be counted on Jan. 6 in a joint session led by Vice President Mike Pence.

Many congressional Republicans who have refused thus far to say that Biden won the election have claimed they are waiting for Monday's Electoral College vote to certify the results. But some of Trump's staunchest House Republican allies are preparing for a floor fight when the votes are counted in Congress next month.

Lawmakers can dispute a state's election result when the votes are counted next month. But a challenge can only be considered if both a House member and a senator sign onto it. So far only House Republicans have said they will contest the results, although some GOP senators have suggested they are considering joining.

Even if a senator signs on to challenge the results, it's only delaying the inevitable. In that case, the House and Senate separately debate the matter for two hours and vote on it. Democrats control the House, and enough GOP senators have already said they reject Trump's claims of fraud that a challenge would not succeed there either.

After the state electors cast their ballots on Monday, those results will be certified and sent to Congress, the National Archives and to the courts.

On Jan. 20, a new president takes the oath of office at noon.

Read more about the next steps here.