Michigan certifies for Biden

The Michigan State Board of Canvassers approved the results of the state’s election on Monday by a vote of 3-0 with one abstention. With its decision, the board rejected the request of some Republican Party officials to delay the certification, further diminishing the chances of President Donald Trump reversing his apparent loss to Joe Biden. Most Pennsylvania counties on Monday certified their results, too. Biden led in that state by more than 80,000 votes and in Michigan by about 154,000 votes. Three weeks after the election, about two-thirds of the Trump campaign’s three dozen lawsuits over alleged voter fraud have been dismissed, rejected, or withdrawn.

What is Biden up to? The president-elect has begun announcing his Cabinet nominees, starting with those who will lead the national security arm of his administration. They include longtime adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state, lawyer Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, and Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, as director of national intelligence, the first woman to hold that post. Biden also plans to appoint Jake Sullivan as national security adviser and former Secretary of State John Kerry as climate change envoy. On Monday, Trump tweeted that he authorized the General Services Administration, which manages the functioning of government agencies, to work with Biden’s team on a transition plan. He also said he would continue to make the case that he won the election.

Dig deeper: Read Mindy Belz’s column about the importance of smooth presidential transitions to national security.