Final states called: Biden projected to win 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232

Andrew Card, who served as chief of staff under former President George W. Bush, warned Thursday on CBSN that a delayed presidential transition could seriously harm national security and already is tarnishing America's reputation as a leader of the free world. 

Card authored a Washington Post op-ed along with Clinton-era White House chief of staff John Podesta, warning of the risks of a delayed transition, which is taking place now as President Trump declines to pass the baton to President-elect Joe Biden. Card and Podesta worked together during the Clinton-Bush transition, which was delayed due to the contested 2000 election, and that delay, he said, had consequences.

Read more here or watch the full interview in the player below:

President Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly told Politico on Friday that while Mr. Trump "does not have to concede," his refusal "hurts our national security." 

"Mr. Trump doesn't have to concede if he doesn't want to, I guess, until the full election process is complete. But there's nothing wrong with starting the transition, starting to get people like the national security people, obviously the president and the vice president-elect, if they are in fact elected, to start getting them [up to speed] on the intelligence," Kelly said.

Kelly also said he thinks "it's crazy not to" start the transition. "I know Mr. Trump better than most people do," Kelly said. "I know that he'll never accept defeat and, in fact, he doesn't have to accept defeat here. He just has to do what's best for the country and in the country's interest."

Georgia

In Georgia, which has not voted to send a Democrat to the White House since Bill Clinton won the state in 1992, Joe Biden was able to hold onto some traditional Democratic voting groups like Black voters and younger voters while also making inroads with White voters, particularly those with college degrees, and older voters, CBS News exit polls show.

Also, independents, who had backed Donald Trump in 2016, swung to Joe Biden this time. Independents said it was more important right now to contain the coronavirus than to rebuild the economy.

North Carolina

Although President Trump was projected by CBS News as the winner of North Carolina, President-elect Joe Biden narrowed the gender gap in North Carolina and turned out Black voters in greater numbers – and won them by slightly larger margins – than Clinton did four years ago, and he narrowly edged out Mr. Trump among White voters with college degrees, by one point. 

Those gains were not enough to overtake Mr. Trump's double-digit advantage among White voters overall, and in particular, White voters without college degrees who Donald Trump won by an enormous 57-point margin – and who comprised four in 10 voters in North Carolina. Mr. Trump also won with the strong support of White evangelical voters, voters who were most concerned about the economy, and voters who said being a strong leader was the most important candidate quality when they were deciding who to vote for.

Read more here. 

— Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus 

The Trump campaign and Republicans were dealt several more legal defeats in Pennsylvania today. A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Friday rejected a request from GOP congressional candidate Jim Bognet for about 10,000 mail ballots to be tossed because they arrived within a 3-day extension granted by the state Supreme Court.

"The pandemic has also presented unique challenges regarding where and how citizens shall vote, as well as when and how their ballots shall be tabulated," chief U.S. Circuit Judge Brooks Smith wrote in the opinion on behalf of a three-judge Third Circuit panel. Bognet narrowly lost to progressive incumbent Matt Cartwright in a northeastern Pennsylvania district. The Pennsylvania GOP has a similar appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Trump campaign has intervened. 

Also on Friday, the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court rejected five Trump campaign appeals to a Board of Elections decision to count ballots with things such as signatures or dates missing. As a result, about 8,000 mail ballots in total will not be tossed out.

Additionally, a Montgomery County judge has denied an appeal from the Trump campaign of the county Board of Elections choosing to count about 600 mail ballots with "deficiencies." In a hearing for this case Monday, the judge asked Jonathan Goldstein, a lawyer representing the Trump campaign, if he was accusing the board of fraud when he said they engaged in a "scheme." Goldstein said he was not aware of any fraud.

In his first public remarks since President-elect Biden was projected as the winner of the election, President Trump said Friday that the COVID-19 vaccine could be available as soon as April to everyone  — but not to New Yorkers. 

"The governor will let us know when he's ready," Mr. Trump said at the Rose Garden press conference. "He's had some very bad editorials recently."

Mr. Trump, who has castigated Pfizer for announcing its vaccine progress after the election, said New York would not be getting access for "political reasons." Cuomo announced in September that New York would create an independent panel of scientists and health experts to review any FDA-approved coronavirus vaccine before distribution.

Mr. Trump called the Friday press conference to tout the vaccine mobilization. He said there were three companies developing vaccines that are currently in the final stages of phase-3 trials and told reporters a vaccine could be distributed to frontline workers, elderly and high-risk Americans in a matter of weeks. 

As the daily number of COVID-19 cases continue to reach record levels every day, Mr. Trump said Friday that he does not support a lockdown

"Hopefully, whatever happens in the future, whatever administration it will be — only time will tell — I can tell you this administration won't go to a lockdown," he said, an implicit acknowledgment that it soon might not be his call.

A federal appeals court in Philadelphia on Friday rejected a request from GOP congressional candidate Jim Bognet for about 10,000 mail ballots to be tossed because they arrived during a three-day extension period granted by the state Supreme Court.

"The pandemic has also presented unique challenges regarding where and how citizens shall vote, as well as when and how their ballots shall be tabulated," chief U.S. Circuit Judge Brooks Smith wrote in the opinion on behalf of a three-judge Third Circuit panel.

Bognet narrowly lost to progressive incumbent Matt Cartwright in a Northeastern Pennsylvania district. The Pennsylvania GOP has a similar appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Trump campaign has intervened. 

The White House disputed criticism that the president hasn't been focused on governing, given that he hasn't held a public event or had much on his schedule in days.

"Any suggestion that the president has given up on governing is false," White House spokesman Judd Deere said. "Just as he promised, President Trump is fighting hard for a free and fair election while at the same time carrying out all of his duties to put America first. He's also working to advance meaningful economic stimulus, engaging members of Congress on a government funding proposal, and ensuring state and local governments have what they need to respond to the ongoing pandemic."

Mr. Trump will be making his first public remarks Friday afternoon since he falsely claimed he won the election last week.

—  Ben Tracy and Kathryn Watson 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has extended remote voting through the end of December, following the guidance of the Capitol physician. The House first voted to allow voting by proxy in May, and this is the second time the "covered period" for remote voting has been extended.

Under the established rules, members may designate a colleague to cast a vote on their behalf. Several representatives have taken advantage of remote voting, which allows some members to stay in their districts rather than risk travel to Washington for votes.

Senator Martha McSally has conceded to Mark Kelly in the Arizona Senate race. 

Arizona must officially canvass results by November 30.

The loss is a second consecutive one for McSally, who was appointed to the seat by Arizona Governor Doug Ducey.

Both Senate seats in once reliably red Arizona will now be held by Democrats.

— Alex Tin and Kathryn Watson 

Members of President-elect Biden's transition team warned during a virtual press conference on Friday that national security is at stake if delays in the president-elect's transition process continue. 

"With everyday that passes it becomes more concerning that our national security team and the president-elect and vice president-elect don't have access to those threat assessments, intelligence briefings, real time information about our engagements around the world," said transition adviser Jen Psaki, who formerly served as the White House communications director under President Obama. "You don't know what you don't know," she added.

The General Services Administration has yet to acknowledge that the president-elect is the likely winner of the presidential election, preventing him from receiving high-level intelligence briefings to prepare to take over the presidency. In addition, the Trump State Department has refused to facilitate official contact with Biden's team, forcing him to take a deliberate approach when making contact with foreign leaders. 

Psaki said the delays are also creating roadblocks for the incoming administration to tackle the  coronavirus pandemic as cases again rise across the country. The president-elect announced members of his COVID-19 Advisory Board on Monday, but they are not directly engaged with current federal officials. 

Psaki said the Biden team is not looking to get into a "food fight" with GSA, and that it is not their "preference" to go the legal route, but said no options are off the table.

"At this pivotal time, when we've seen this week thousands of Americans have lost their lives to COVID, the current president is absent from that conversation and it's imperative that our team and our experts have that access," she said.

— Audrey McNamara and Bo Erickson  

CBS News projects that President Trump is the winner in North Carolina, bringing his electoral vote count to 232. His Electoral College defeat is the reverse of his victory four years ago, when he won 306 electoral votes compared to Hillary Clinton's 232.

CBS News projects that Mr. Biden is the winner in Georgia, bringing his Electoral College votes to 306. Mr. Trump earned 306 electoral votes in the 2016 election.

Mr. Biden is the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992. He leads Mr. Trump by about 15,000 votes in the state.

Mr. Biden's victory comes ahead of two contentious runoff Senate elections in the state. His win will likely motivate both Democratic and Republican voters, as Democrats now see that they can win statewide and Republicans will want to keep the Senate from falling into Democratic control.

Amid a global pandemic and bitter partisan division, the U.S. has entered a twilight period: Joe Biden has secured the electoral votes he needs to win the presidency, but President Trump still refuses to concede. In today's Reporter's Notebook, John Dickerson reflects on this moment in American history.  

The Trump campaign has now filed a "notice of partial mootness" in their case in Arizona that alleged some Maricopa County poll workers disregarded procedures designed to give voters a chance to correct ballot mistakes on Election Day.

"Since the close of yesterday's hearing, the tabulation of votes statewide has rendered unnecessary a judicial ruling as to the presidential electors," the filing said. "Two down-ballot races ... remain at issue as of the time of this filing."

CBS News projected on Thursday night that President-elect Biden won Arizona. He leads by over 11,000 votes in the state, and the number of votes at issue in this case numbered less than 200.

Two members of the Biden-Harris transition team, Jen Psaki and Yohannes Abraham, will be briefing the press at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. The administrator of the General Services Administration has not yet formally kickstarted the transition process, even though Mr. Biden has definitively won the election.

Watch it live on CBSN:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi shrugged off suggestions that she would have a harder time passing laws with a smaller majority in the House, saying that having a Democratic president in the White House will change the power dynamic in Congress.

"We still have the power of the majority, but on top of that, our leverage and our power is greatly enhanced by having a Democratic president in the White House," Pelosi told reporters in her weekly press conference on Friday. "I'm going to have the opportunity to have our bills signed into law."

She also said that even if Republicans maintain their majority in the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell would find it harder to pass his own legislative priorities.

"Not having Donald Trump in the White House is going to change his leverage and that dynamic," Pelosi said.

Six days after Joe Biden was projected to have won the presidential election, China offered its congratulations. According to the Associated Press, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, "We respect the choice of the American people. We congratulate Mr. Biden." 

China is among the last major countries to congratulate the president-elect. Wang also added that "at the same time, the result will be confirmed according to U.S. laws and procedures."

Russia, meanwhile, is withholding its congratulations out of "politeness," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a Russian-language interview on the Russian government-controlled RT channel. "We are waiting for the Americans, not the U.S. media, but Americans to announce their new president," Peskov said.

Closer to home, Mexico has also not congratulated Mr. Biden, explaining in a press release it would hold off "until legal issues have been resolved and one of the candidates is certified as the official winner of the election by the appropriate local authorities."

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro falsely said Mr. Trump won the election, and said everyone at the White House was acting "under the assumption that there will be a second Trump term."

"We're moving forward here at the White House under the assumption that there will be a second Trump term," Navarro said Friday in an interview with Fox Business Network. "We think he won that election, and any speculation about what Joe Biden might do I think is moot at this point."

As of Friday, Mr. Biden had received 290 electoral votes, far over the 270 threshold he needs to win. However, Mr. Trump has so far refused to concede, and the formal transition process has not yet started. 

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand says she's concerned that the federal agency overseeing the presidential transition has not yet formally started the process, since Mr. Biden must begin planning his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"President-elect Biden needs to hit the ground running," Gillibrand said in an interview with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett for this week's episode of "The Takeout" podcast. "He needs to be able to have a comprehensive plan in place."

The New York Democrat slammed the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic and said members of Mr. Biden's team must be able to begin meeting with agency officials immediately in order to plan the Biden administration's approach.

"In some respects, they're going to be reinventing the wheel," Gillibrand said about the incoming administration's response to the pandemic. 

Read more here

Although the president has been very active on Twitter, spreading baseless allegations about voter fraud and falsely claiming he won the election, he has not spoken in public since November 5, two days after Election Day.

President Trump made his first public appearance since last week on Wednesday, when he visited Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for Veterans Day. However, the president did not speak to reporters. 

Advisers to President Trump tell CBS News the president has openly discussed the possibility of running in 2024 with his top advisers. While no decisions have been made, one Trump adviser familiar with conversations with the president tells CBS News that Trump allies are actively working to keep his options open as they begin to plot his political future. 

As CBS News has previously reported, Mr. Trump has created the "Save America" leadership PAC, which was registered with the Federal Election Commission on Monday by Trump campaign treasurer Bradley Crate.

Mr. Trump has given no indication to top brass at the White House or campaign that he will concede the race, though advisers increasingly admit it would be nearly impossible for Mr. Trump to contest the 2020 election. 

Read more here

Nicole Sganga, Paula Reid and Ben Tracy