REHOBOTH BEACH/WASHINGTON • US President-elect Joe Biden has further solidified his election victory by winning the state of Georgia, leaving Mr Donald Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recounts.
Edison Research, which made the Georgia call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to President Trump, finalising the electoral vote tally at 306 for Mr Biden to 232 for Mr Trump.
The numbers gave Mr Biden, a Democrat, a resounding victory over Mr Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes that Mr Trump, a Republican, secured to defeat Mrs Hillary Clinton in a 2016 win that Mr Trump had called a "landslide".
Although the national popular vote does not determine the election outcome, Mr Biden was ahead by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points.
His share of the popular vote, at 50.8 per cent, was slightly higher than Mr Ronald Reagan's share of the vote in 1980 when Mr Reagan defeated Mr Jimmy Carter.
To win a second term, Mr Trump would need to overturn Mr Biden's lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them.
States face a Dec 8 "safe harbour" deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on Dec 14.
Meanwhile, Mr Biden's team is pressing ahead with the transition, identifying legislative priorities, reviewing federal agency policies and preparing to fill thousands of jobs in the new administration.
This comes despite Mr Trump's refusal to concede the Nov 3 election, which major news organisations called for Mr Biden on Nov 7.
The President-elect will be briefed by his own national security experts this week, his transition official Jen Psaki said on Friday. There are concerns that being out of the loop because of delays to the transition could be a national security risk.
"We're charging ahead with the transition," Ms Psaki said on a conference call while stressing that Mr Biden still needs "real-time information" from the Trump administration to deal with the resurgent coronavirus pandemic and national security threats.
"With every day that passes on, it becomes more concerning that our national security team and the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect don't have access to those threat assessments, intelligence briefings, real-time information about our engagements around the world," Ms Psaki said.
"Because, you know, you don't know what you don't know."
Mr Biden, who has promised to pick a diverse Cabinet, is reportedly considering former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to be his Treasury secretary.
Dr Yellen has withdrawn from at least one upcoming speaking engagement because she is now in contention for Treasury secretary, one of the people familiar with the matter said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Biden team is also eyeing Fed governor Lael Brainard and former Fed vice-chair Roger Ferguson for the job, Bloomberg News reported in September.
Dr Yellen is a distinguished fellow in residence at the Brookings Institution.
A spokesman for the Biden transition team said it was not making any new personnel decisions yet.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
