Biden's transition moves ahead

The head of President Trump's Federal Communications Commission announced Monday that he intends to leave the agency at the end of Trump's term. 

Ajit Pai, the FCC chair, said he will step down from the agency on Jan. 20. He is the first Asian-American to lead the telecom regulator. 

In a statement, Pai praised the work of the FCC's staff during the pandemic, and said that after four years, America's communications networks are "faster, stronger and more widely deployed than ever before."

"Together, we’ve delivered for the American people over the past four years: closing the digital divide; promoting innovation and competition, from 5G on the ground to broadband from space; protecting consumers; and advancing public safety," Pai said. 

Why this matters: It is traditional for the FCC's chairman to step aside when a new presidential administration arrives in Washington. Pai's official announcement clears the way for President-elect Joe Biden to nominate his own chair to the independent agency. 

Under his tenure, the FCC completed several important auctions of wireless airwaves and loosened regulations on media ownership. But Pai was also criticized by consumer advocacy groups for rolling back the FCC's net neutrality rules for internet providers and for agreeing to move forward with Trump's request for unprecedented regulations that would apply to social media platforms.

President-elect Joe Biden is receiving his first intelligence briefing from his home outside Wilmington today, people familiar with the matter tell CNN.

This is the first sign we have that his house has been retrofitted — again — for classified briefings.

It’s the first time Biden is receiving the briefing, known as the PDB, in nearly four years. He routinely received the briefing as vice president.

The PDB contains the daily collection of analysis and information that the intelligence community believes the President and his most senior national security staff need to start the day — it's been called the newspaper with the world's smallest circulation.

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will get the same briefing on Monday with Biden, the transition team said Wednesday, ending the strange situation where she, as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had access to more classified intelligence than the President-elect. 

President Trump, who has refused to concede the election, relented only last week on his initial refusal to allow Biden access to the nation's most vital intelligence.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Monday that “the truth matters,” and pushed back against the “massive” spigot of election disinformation being spread by President Trump and Republicans. 

Taking aim at his fellow Republicans, Raffensperger said at a news conference at the Georgia Capitol that “massive amounts of misinformation” about the election were “being spread by dishonest actors.”

Raffensperger also rebutted numerous lies that Trump has pushed about massive election fraud in Georgia and elsewhere, and said that the post-election audit and ongoing recount prove that the election was fair. 

“Once this recount is complete, everyone in Georgia will be able to have even more confidence in the results of our elections,” he said, adding that the recount is on track to finish by the Wednesday night deadline.

Raffensperger also said his office will continue to investigate any credible claims of illegal voting and any violations of state election law. 

According to Raffensperger, there are currently over 250 open cases of election irregularities still being investigated from 2020.  Nearly 5 million votes were cast statewide.

Remember: There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Georgia, which Biden won by more than 12,000 votes.

Separately, during the recount, a software problem slowed things down in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. Election officials said Monday that this was no proof of any improprieties and that the mishap with the Dominion Voting Systems software was caused by local officials who did not follow instructions.

The incident fueled conspiracy theories online because Trump himself and GOP lawyers have perpetuated false conspiracy theories that Dominion orchestrated a nationwide vote-rigging scheme to help Biden.

CNN's KYUNG LAH REPORTS:

Janet Yellen, who was nominated by President-elect Joe Biden this morning to become the Secretary of Treasury, just reacted on Twitter to the news.

"As Treasury Secretary, I will work every day towards rebuilding that dream for all," she continued.

If confirmed, the former chair of the Federal Reserve would be the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary.

Yellen will be tasked with helping lead Biden's economic response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has wreaked havoc on the economy and led millions of Americans to lose their jobs.

She will also be asked to make good on the former vice president's campaign promise to narrow the economic disparities between the rich and middle class and poor Americans.

When President Trump lost this year's election to Joe Biden, almost nobody around him said they could envision the losing incumbent attending his successor's inauguration.

The image remains implausible for a President who will likely never concede and said Sunday that nothing would convince him he lost.

Yet Republicans and aides to Trump are encouraging him to at least consider attending Biden's swearing-in, hoping his presence will both reflect well on his character and help preserve his future influence but also convince Americans the election was fair.

Blunt, who declined to call Biden the president-elect, still said it was "likely" the former vice president would be sworn in on January 20. He said he was "continuing to work to see what we can do to have both the President there and have Vice President Biden there, likely sworn in on that day."

Like others around Trump who are worried his ever-devolving conspiracies about the election could damage both his own standing and the position of Republicans going forward, Blunt appealed to the prospect that Trump could retain more influence if he departs the White House with dignity.

"I think there's a big role for President Trump," Blunt said. "I hope he embraces that and looks at how you move to whatever comes next for him assuming that this election works out the way it appears it will."

Whether the outgoing president takes that advice remains unknown. Trump has performed none of the traditional steps of an outgoing commander-in-chief, including inviting Biden for a meeting in the Oval Office or even phoning him with any kind of conciliatory message.

Speaking in an interview on Sunday, Trump declined to offer a timeline for when he might ease up his losing battle to overturn the election results. And he admitted that even if Biden enters office, he will remain unconvinced he lost.

WATCH SEN. BLUNT SPEAK WITH CNN'S DANA BASH:

President-elect Joe Biden has just announced the key members of his economic team, rounding out another diverse group of nominees.

Janet Yellen will become the Secretary of Treasury, if confirmed, and Neera Tanden would become the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to a release from the transition. Yellen, if confirmed, would be the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary.

They also announced Adewale "Wally" Adeyemo as deputy secretary of the Treasury, Cecilia Rouse for Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers and Jared Bernstein and Heather Boushey to become members of the Council of Economic Advisers. If confirmed, Adeyemo would be the first Black deputy Treasury Secretary.

This release confirms CNN's reporting that Biden would tap Yellen for the Treasury position and Adeyemo for the number two spot.

Senator-elect Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, will be sworn in as a US senator at noon ET on Wednesday, according to a senior Democratic aide. 

Kelly defeated Republican Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona's special election.

Outside President Trump's bedroom window on the north side of the White House is the sound of building: hammers, drills, the beep-beep of trucks backing up and metal planks clanking into place.

Construction of the parade platform for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration festivities is well underway. The viewing stand and bleachers are almost complete and each day they get closer to being done — all within Trump's view —as it becomes clearer his days in the White House are coming to a close.

Despite the uncertainty of the coronavirus and Trump's waning attempts to overturn the election, the structure is a growing reminder of the transition now in motion.

Whatever else must change to accommodate the pandemic, people are getting ready for Biden's inauguration come January, which will likely reflect the President-elect's cautious, science-driven approach to the pandemic.

What's more, the outgoing president may not even go to the incoming president's swearing-in. Three White House officials familiar with Trump's moods and patterns speculate he won't be there for the hand-off.

"I can't foresee a scenario where he goes and that tradition carries on as normal," one of the officials tells CNN.

No doubt, the pomp and circumstance will be noticeably different this time around, according to interviews with multiple aides and administration officials, from the White House to Capitol Hill to the DC mayor's office. The future of the traditional luncheon in Statuary Hall is up in the air, and it's unlikely a choir behind the new President will be feasible.

The expectation is the inauguration will be smaller, too, and attendees will have to wear masks and maintain social distance within the ticketed parameters.

The congressional committee tasked with choreographing the festivities at the Capitol has tried to map out plans for a range of scenarios with consultation from medical experts, aides say.

The committee has been in an awkward limbo since Election Day, as Trump's refusal to accept his loss mounted. While unable to dive-in exclusively with Biden's team, the committee has spent the last several months making plans for whoever won the election. Aides maintained neutrality in recent weeks as Trump's denial dragged on, communicating with both his and Biden's teams as to what the options could be for Jan. 20.

Read more here.

Georgia's Fulton County is expected to resume its presidential recount today after experiencing delays on Sunday due to a machine server crash. 

In a statement from Fulton County Registration and Elections, a newly purchased Dominion mobile server crashed. Technicians from Dominion were dispatched to resolve the issue, the county said. However, it is unclear at this time whether those issues have been fixed. 

Fulton County officials says they are working to ensure the recount is done by the deadline "with the greatest efficiency and accuracy as possible." 

The county says 88% of the ballots have been counted. This includes all absentee, early in person and provisional ballots, the statement said. 

The deadline for all votes to be counted statewide is Wednesday at midnight.

Remember: Georgia conducted another recount of its presidential ballots following a Trump campaign request. President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner Nov. 20 when the state certified the results. Because the margin was still less than 0.5%, the President could request a recount after certification of the results. 

Georgia had already conducted an audit of the presidential ballots, meaning all ballots in the presidential race were counted a second time — which was a defacto recount.