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Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell: Transition updates

PHOTO: Sidney Powell, right, speaks next to former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, as members of President Donald Trump's legal team, during a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters, Thursday Nov. 19.
7:41
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Trump challenges the vote and takes legal action
By Libby Cathey, Lauren King, Adia Robinson, Jack Arnholz, Tia Humphries
Last Updated: November 23, 2020, 3:19 AM
Video by Jessie DiMartino
Last Updated: November 23, 2020, 3:19 AM

President-elect Joe Biden is moving forward with transition plans, capping a tumultuous and tension-filled campaign during a historic pandemic against President Donald Trump, who still refuses to concede the election two weeks after Biden was projected as the winner and is taking extraordinary moves to challenge the results.

Running out of legal alternatives to override the election loss, Trump invited Michigan's top Republican state lawmakers to visit the White House on Friday, as he and allies pursue a pressure campaign to overturn results in a state Biden won by more than 150,000 votes.

MORE: Trump could make a Biden transition messy: Here's how

Despite Trump's roadblocks and his administration refusing to recognize Biden as the president-elect, Biden is forging ahead as he prepares to announce key Cabinet positions.

Though Trump has alleged widespread voter fraud, he and his campaign haven't been able to provide the evidence to substantiate their claims and the majority of their lawsuits have already resulted in unfavorable outcomes.

Top headlines:

  • Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell
  • Chris Christie: It’s time for Trump election challenges to end
  • Trump campaign requests recount in Georgia
  • Judge tosses Trump campaign's Pa. lawsuit
  • Trump appears to skip pandemic-focused event at virtual G-20 summit
Here is how the transition unfolded this past week. All times Eastern.

Nov 23, 2020 3:19 AM

Biden expected to tap Antony Blinken for secretary of state

Despite Joe Biden's transition being stalled, the president-elect is moving forward with selecting his cabinet.

According to sources familiar with the decision, Biden is expected to name Antony Blinken, a longtime foreign policy aide with decades of experience in Washington, as his nominee for secretary of state. The announcement could come as soon as Tuesday.

PHOTO: President-elect Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., Nov. 7, 2020.
Andrew Harnik/Pool via Getty Images
President-elect Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Chase Center in Wilmington, Del., after being declared the winner in the contentious election battle against incumbent President Donald Trump, Nov. 7, 2020.
Andrew Harnik/Pool via Getty Images

Blinken has been one of Biden's closest advisers for decades, from Biden's time on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the Obama White House and the 2020 presidential campaign.

A former deputy secretary of state under President Obama, Blinken began his career in the Clinton State Department and later moved to the White House and National Security Council under President Clinton.

A spokesman for Biden's transition declined to comment.

-ABC News' Martha Raddatz, Katherine Faulders, John Santucci, Molly Nagle and Benjamin Siegel


Nov 23, 2020 2:26 AM

Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell

The Trump campaign released a statement Sunday night distancing itself from attorney Sidney Powell, saying she's not a member of the "Trump Legal Team," despite President Trump previously announcing that she was.
 

"Sidney Powell is practicing law on her own. She is not a member of the Trump Legal Team. She is also not a lawyer for the President in his personal capacity," Trump campaign attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a statement.

The statement comes after Powell advanced a series of unproven election claims in an interview on Newsmax and at a recent press conference on behalf of the campaign, portions of which were retweeted by the official GOP Twitter account.
 

The president last week announced Powell as a member of his legal team along with Giuliani, Ellis, and attorneys Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing.

I look forward to Mayor Giuliani spearheading the legal effort to defend OUR RIGHT to FREE and FAIR ELECTIONS! Rudy Giuliani, Joseph diGenova, Victoria Toensing, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis, a truly great team, added to our other wonderful lawyers and representatives!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

Nov 23, 2020 2:02 AM

Sen. Lisa Murkowski calls on Trump to begin the transition process

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) released a statement today urging President Trump to respect the outcome of the 2020 election.

"President Trump has had the opportunity to litigate his claims, and the courts have thus far found them without merit," her statement said in part. "A pressure campaign on state legislators to influence the electoral outcome is not only unprecedented but inconsistent with our democratic process. It is time to begin the full and formal transition process."

Murkowski has previously acknowledged Joe Biden as the president-elect.



Nov 22, 2020 10:30 PM

Perdue, Loeffler support Ga. recount with absentee signature matching

Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler said Sunday that they back the president's calls for a recount involving absentee signature matching in Georgia. 

"Anything less than that will not be a full and transparent recount," Perdue said in a campaign press release. "Georgians deserve full transparency and uniformity in the counting process."

PHOTO: Senator David Perdue speaks during a Senate runoff election campaign rally in Canton, Ga., Nov. 20, 2020.
Tami Chappell/EPA via Shutterstock
Senator David Perdue speaks during a Senate runoff election campaign rally in Canton, Ga., Nov. 20, 2020.
Tami Chappell/EPA via Shutterstock

Loeffler, in a statement a short time later said, "I fully support President Trump’s request for a recount in Georgia. We must match and verify absentee ballot signatures to their corresponding voter registration signatures, investigate all voting irregularities, and count only the votes that were legally cast.”

Signature matching will not take place during the recount, according to Gabriel Sterling, the statewide voting system implementation manager in Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office. He said it's "not part of this process because it's not contemplated in the law" and that they've received no evidence that signature matching was not done properly in accordance with state law. 

Sterling also said that parties were allowed to designate observers to watch the absentee signature matching process take place, but neither party did this except for just one instance in one county.

MORE: Georgia 2020 election results

Georgia certified its election results on Friday. 

Perdue and Loeffler are facing Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock in Georgia runoff elections for the U.S. Senate. 

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Nov 19, 2020 1:41 AM

Giuliani revises Trump campaign challenge in Pennsylvania

The Trump campaign's new lead attorney, Rudy Giuliani filed court papers to catch up with the unsupported claims he laid out in a U.S. District Court one day earlier, alleging an "illegal scheme to favor Joseph Biden over President Donald J. Trump." 

Giuliani returned to a claim that had been removed from the campaign's election challenge -- alleging that Trump campaign volunteers could not "meaningfully observe" the vote count, which the campaign said violated the Equal Protection clause because in-person voters were subject to greater scrutiny than mail-in voters. Just one day earlier, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an opinion rejecting outright the claim that observers were deprived of their chance to watch the vote count.

PHOTO: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to President Donald Trump, speaks after media announced that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has won the election, in, Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 2020.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to President Donald Trump, speaks after media announced that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has won the election, in, Philadelphia, Nov. 7, 2020.
Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

In the newly amended complaint, the Trump campaign asks Judge Matthew Brann to stop Pennsylvania from certifying results from a range of mail-in ballots and instead "compel (the state) to certify the results of the election based solely on the legal votes." Barring that, the Trump campaign wants Judge Brann, to declare the election results "defective," and allow the Republican-led state legislature to choose the state's electors, which is contrary to Pennsylvania's Constitution.

MORE: Trump challenges of election 'designed to damage and disenfranchise' says Pennsylvania lieutenant governor

 
The Trump campaign also asked the court to give them "access to the outside and inside envelopes for the approximately 1.5 million mail ballots at issue" so they can "examine these envelopes to determine the percentage of mail ballots which were illegally counted."

Giuliani submitted multiple versions of the new complaint -- the first one pock-marked by typos and entire sections he struck out an hour later. Both included vitriolic language directed at "Democratic counties" and the Pennsylvania government, mirroring his language in press conferences over the past two weeks.

-ABC News' Alex Hosenball and Olivia Rubin


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