Biden Wins AZ; Obama 'Troubled' GOP Backs Trump: Election Blog

Updated at 11:41 a.m. Eastern Time, Friday

WASHINGTON, DC — President-elect Joe Biden widened his lead in the 2020 presidential election Thursday when all major news outlets projected him as the winner of Arizona's 11 electoral votes. The development came as high-ranking Republicans faced mounting pressure to disavow the lawsuits filed by a defiant President Donald Trump to overturn the results in the battleground states that pushed Biden past the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.

Former President Barack Obama said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that Republicans appear to be unwilling to stand up to Trump because he "doesn't like to lose and never admits loss."

"I'm more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this, are humoring him in this fashion," Obama said. "It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration but democracy generally. And that's a dangerous path."

CBS News will air the full interview Sunday on "60 Minutes."

The Department of Homeland Security says the Nov. 3 election was the "most secure" in United States history.

"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes or was in any way compromised," the agency's Thursday statement said.

It came shortly after Trump tweeted another unfounded claim about election fraud.

Trump's refusal to concede the 2020 presidential election could create a national security risk, more than 150 former national security officials who worked under Trump and other presidents have said in a letter to the General Services Administration.

The former officials said Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris should be officially declared as such so they can access information “needed to address pressing national security issues," according to the letter obtained by Politico.

Former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, former CIA and NSA Director Gen. Michael Hayden and retired Gen. Wesley Clark are among the former officials who signed the letter.

One lawmaker, Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, said he will intervene if the Trump administration has not allowed Biden access to daily intelligence briefings by Friday.

Some Republicans are speaking against Trump, who has blocked Biden from accessing daily national security briefings that presidents-elect typically have in the transition from one administration to another.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Republican who won a tough re-election bid last week, said Biden should be briefed on classified intelligence, calling that the "most important part of the transition," even while Trump contests the results in court.

“Like any apparent winner, he should have access to office space, federal employees, materials, supplies, whatever, but the standard assistance that the apparent winner receives,” Collins told reporters on Thursday. “That doesn’t in any way preclude President Trump from pursuing his legal remedies if he believes there are irregularities, but it should not delay the transition, because we want the president-elect — assuming he prevails — to be ready on day one.”

Lankford said there's "no loss from (Biden) getting the briefings."

"This needs to occur so that regardless of the outcome of the election, whichever way that it goes, people can be ready for that actual task," Lankford said on KRMG, a Tulsa radio station.

Even one of Trump's staunchest supporters, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, has said Biden should get the briefings.

They weren't the only ones, either.

“I just don’t know of any justification for withholding the briefing," Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said Thursday.

“I see no problem with that,” said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican Party's longest-serving senator.

Still, the Trump campaign continues filing lawsuits in battleground states where Biden is either the projected winner or leading in the vote tally.

Several legal actions have been filed in Pennsylvania, including a suit to stop the state from certifying its election results, alleging voting irregularities. Similar lawsuits have also been filed in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Arizona, most of which have already been tossed by state judges.

Attorneys for the defendants in the Arizona case have said fewer than 200 ballots are in play as part of the Trump team's objection, nowhere near the 11,000 or so votes that separate Biden and Trump. A post-election audit in Arizona has revealed "no evidence" of widespread voter fraud, the Washington Post and others have reported.

Projected winners in the presidential election have been named in all but two states: North Carolina and Georgia. A statewide hand recount has been called in Georgia. Biden is at 290 electoral votes and Trump at 217, according to The New York Times and CNN. Biden's lead continues to widen in the nationwide popular vote, at 50.8 percent — more than 5.3 million — as of Friday morning, according to NYT and CNN.

Eyes will continue to be on Georgia well after the recount. Control of the U.S. Senate is expected to come down to two Georgia runoff elections in January. Democrats' only chance to flip the Senate will come if both incumbent Republicans in the Peach State, Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, are defeated in the runoffs.

The House of Representatives appears to remain in Democratic control.

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