Trump Gets Georgia Recount; Biden Remains Unflappable Amid Chaos

Updated at 2:22 p.m.

ACROSS AMERICA — The first of several recounts President Donald Trump's campaign has requested in the ugly 2020 presidential election will start Wednesday in Georgia, where 16 electoral votes are at stake and where Democrat Joe Biden is leading by about 14,000 votes.

The election, which has been framed as a referendum on Trump's presidency and his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, is expected to shatter voter turnout records that haven't been seen since 1900, when 73.7 percent of the eligible voters went to the polls, according to estimates form The Washington Post and Edison Research. Biden's lead over Trump increased by more than 5 million votes in the popular vote Wednesday.

Biden was projected Saturday to become the nation's 46th president after unofficial election results in Pennsylvania and Nevada put him over the 270 electoral vote threshold required to win the presidency. Trump not only has refused to acknowledge the election results, and his campaign has filed a flurry of lawsuits in those two battleground states, as well as in Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, where the recount is underway.

Those lawsuits claim a host of irregularities, including that ballots had errors because voters were required to use Sharpie pens.

The irregularities alleged in those lawsuits are far-flung, ranging from mundane claims that observers weren't given enough access to monitor ballot tabulations, to complaints that late-arriving ballots were commingled with those arriving before Election Day, to more-spectacular claims related to the use of Sharpies to mark ballots in Arizona.

Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, said in a letter to Mark Brnovich, the state's Republican attorney general, that "Sharpiegate," as it's been called, is an "unfounded conspiracy theory."

In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference Wednesday the margin between the two candidates is so close "it will require a full, by-hand recount in each county.

“This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvas all at once," he said. "It will be a heavy lift, but we will work with the counties to get this done in time for our state certification."

Even before Biden was projected as the winner, Trump's campaign and Republican allies had filed lawsuits over what turned out to be a record surge in mail-in ballots and which ones should be counted. States set their own election rules, and some allow ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day but arrive a few days or even a couple of weeks later.

Biden has shrugged off Trump's unsupported claims of voter fraud, his efforts to win back the presidency in the court and his fierce refusal to accept the elections as "inconsequential," though Democrats have decried Trump's posture as dangerous and posing a national security risk.

Typically at this time, the president-elect and his aides have been provided access to presidential daily briefing — a summary of high-level information and analysis and national security issues. There's no law that says the president-elect must be given access, though it has been the practice since 1968 for presidents to authorize their elected successors to share the briefing.

Senior Republicans in Washington, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have backed the president, and Attorney General William Barr greenlighted federal prosecutors to begin their own investigations into if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.”

Barr, like the president, has cited no evidence that fraud or illegal election activity occurred in the election, which Trump continues to claim was "stolen" from him by Democrats — despite the fact that Republicans on the same ballot were elected to Congress in greater numbers than polls had suggested.

Richard Pilger, the director of the Justice Department's Election Crimes Branch, resigned in protest after Barr sent the memo, saying he could no longer do his job effectively.

Also Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, America's top diplomat, pushed the baseless claims of voter fraud at a State Department briefing, saying the world should have confidence in a peaceful transition of power to "a second Trump administration," Reuters reported, fueling worries that his remarks would put national security at risk.

Biden remained unflappable in the midst of the political firestorm around him.

At a news conference Tuesday to discuss his administration's plans to expand on the Affordable Care Act and a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that could dismantle it, he touched briefly on Trump's steadfast refusal to concede the election.

He called the president's posture "an embarrassment," saying the legal challenges are "not of much consequence" and "will not help the president's legacy."

"The entire Republican Party, with few exceptions, have been put in a position where they are mildly intimidated by this sitting president," Biden said at the news conference hours after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the merits of the Affordable Care Act, the sweeping health care plan passed when he was President Barack Obama's vice president.

Echos of the Trump mantra that only "legal votes" be counted — a narrative the president began to push months ago when he falsely claimed vote-by-mail elections are rife with fraud —reverberated in Georgia, where two Republican senators facing a runoff election called for the resignation of Georgia's top election official, also a Republican.

Their target, Secretary of State Raffensperger, refused to step down and said he will fight to make sure every legal vote counts. Other top officials in the state have called the claims of voter fraud by Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler baseless.

The two seats are important if Republicans will have any power in the Biden administration. If Democrats are able to flip the seats in the January runoff, the Senate would be equally divided and Kamala Harris as vice president would have the tie-breaking vote. Democrats maintained their majority in the House of Representatives, but by a smaller margin than after the midterm elections.

Ballots are still being counted in a handful of battleground states, no election results have been certified, and Trump has not offered any credible evidence of fraud or irregularities that would change the outcome of the most consequential presidential election in a generation.

Trump's refusal to concede and his administration's block on the normal transition process have fueled questions about other ways Trump may impede Biden and Harris as they try to establish a government. The hurdles the Trump administration has thrown up are unprecedented in the modern era of politics.

The smooth transition is especially important amid the raging coronavirus pandemic, where new infections are occurring at far higher rates higher than in the spring, when a wave of business shutdowns dealt a crushing blow to the U.S. economy.

Trump, meanwhile, is settling old scores.

On Monday, he fired Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who publicly diagreed with Trump on sending federal troops to demonstrations protesting police brutality and demanding racial justice after George Floyd died with police officer's knee on his neck in Minneapolis in May.

Three more senior civilian officers ahve been fired or have quit their jobs since Esper was fired — his chief of staff and the top officials overseeing policy and intelligence. All were replaced by Trump loyalists, including Brig. Gen. Anthony Tata, who has promoted conspiracy theories, including one advanced in 2018 tweets claiming former President Barack Obama, in whose administration Biden served as vice president for eight years, was a "terrorist leader" who gave more help to "Islamic countries than any other president in history."

From around Patch, here are the latest developments:

Georgia Starts Hand-Counting Ballots

Georgia's Secretary of State announced Wednesday that a recount by-hand will occur statewide for last week's presidential race. Read more on Across Georgia Patch.

Trump Aims To Stop MI Election Certifcation

President Donald Trump's campaign has filed a new lawsuit in Michigan seeking to stop the certification of the state's election. Trump won Michigan's 16 electoral votes in 2016, but the state was part of the "blue wall" Biden built and he gets the prize, according ot unofficial election results. Read more on Detroit Patch.

Dems Blindsided By GOP Gains

Democrats nailed down at least 218 seats in the House of Representatives, according to The Associated Press, and could win a few others when more votes are counted. While that assures command of the 435-member chamber, blindsided Democrats were all but certain to see their current 232-seat majority shrink after an unforeseen surge of Republican voters transformed expected gains of perhaps 15 seats into losses potentially approaching that amount. See more on White House Patch.

New White House Traditions

Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, will become the first man to have first gentleman status. Jill Biden, the future first lady, plans to keep her teaching job. Read more on White House Patch.

Biden Vows Obamacare Expansion

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on the merits of the Affordable Care Act, President-elect Joe Biden said he will expand the signature health care act he helped pass as President Barack Obama's vice president. Biden called the attempt to dismantle Obamacare during the coronavirus pandemic "cruel and needlessly divisive." Read more on White House Patch.

Trump Team Files PA Lawsuit

In a lengthy legal filing that provides no evidence, the Trump campaign claims Pennsylvania violated the law in conducting the 2020 election. Read more on Norristown Patch.

Not Everyone Wants A Recount

Ian Lovejoy lost his re-election bid by 127 votes in the Manassas City Council race, but the Republican won't seek a recount. The margin may seem slim, he said, "but in terms of a recount, it's a large hurdle to clear to change the outcome." Read more on Manassas Patch.

Barr Amplifies Stolen Election Claims

Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud. Read more on White House Patch.

McConnell Backs Trump Efforts

As other GOP lawmakers fall in line behind the president, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump is "within his rights" to question election results. Read more on White House Patch.

Michigan Court Denies Trump Appeal

Citing a lack of documentation to support claims, a Michigan appeals court rejected an appeal of a lower court judge’s decision to throw out a Trump lawsuit asking state election officials to stop counting ballots and provide ballot access to challengers. Read more on Detroit Patch.

No Fraud In Georgia: Official

As Georgia election officials continue to count ballots, Georgia officials have said there has been no evidence of election fraud. Biden leads in Georgia, although the race there has not yet been called. Read more on Across Georgia Patch.

Biden's Lead Drops In Arizona

Biden still leads in Arizona, but the latest vote drop reduces that margin to under 15,000 votes separating him and the president. Trump's re-election campaign has filed a lawsuit against officials in Arizona's Maricopa County alleging election irregularities. The lawsuit, filed by the campaign, the Republican National Committee and the Arizona Republican Party, said election workers in the country incorrectly rejected ballots from in-person voters "on a large scale." Read more on Phoenix Patch.

Coronavirus Response Is Job 1

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said Monday that it would ask the Food and Drug Administration later this month to approve emergency use of a vaccine shown in trials to have 90 percent efficacy. But Biden said wider measures, such as universal mask-wearing and social distancing, will still be needed to contain the virus. COVID-19 virus infections are skyrocketing, with an average of more than 111,175 new cases a day, an increase of 59 percent from the average just two weeks earlier. Read more on Across America Patch.

Trump To Esper: You’re Fired

Trump settled a score with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who had opposed Trump's call to use active-duty troops to quell violence at George Floyd protests. Read more on White House Patch.

Trump Pressured To Work On Transition

Questions have arisen about whether Trump, who hasn't conceded and claims the election was stolen, will impede the transfer of power. Read more on White House Patch.

Trump Holds On To His Base

The Trump campaign's strategy to file a barrage of lawsuits challenging Biden's win may be more about providing Trump with an off-ramp for a loss he can't quite grasp and less about changing the election's outcome. Read more on White House Patch.

Putin, Some Others Withhold Congratulations

Until the results of the 2020 election are certified, the leaders of Russia, China, Brazil, Turkey and Mexico are withholding their congratulations to President-elect Biden. Read more on White House Patch.

Biden Projected Winner

Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were projected as the winner of the 2020 presidential race after surpassing 270 electoral votes. Read more on White House Patch.

Biden, Harris Address Nation

President-elect Biden said it’s time for the nation to put aside the rancor of the election and heal. Vice President-elect Harris told girls watching the victory celebration tells young girls in America that “anything is possible.” Read more on White House Patch.

Americans Dance In Streets

Amid choruses of car horns and cheers, supporters in cities across the U.S. took to the streets to celebrate their new president-elect and vice president-elect. Read more on White House Patch.

Pro-Trump Counterprotests Erupt

Trump supporters nationwide gathered to express their anger and dismay after Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election. Read more on White House Patch.

U.S. Reacts To Biden Win

Those reacting to Biden's win included Sen. Chuck Schumer, who tweeted, "the long dark night in America is over, and a new dawn is here." Read more on White House Patch.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.