Biden begins post-polls transition
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Top US Republican urges Trump to 'fight hard'
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China, Russia hold off on sending congratulations to Biden; Saudi does
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Biden plans executive actions that would undo Trump's policies
US President-elect Joe Biden has taken the first steps towards moving into the White House in 73 days, as Donald Trump again refused to admit defeat and tried to sow doubt about the election results.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. With congratulations pouring in from world leaders and supporters nursing hangovers after a night of celebrations, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced they would receive a joint briefing Monday in Wilmington, Delaware from their transition Covid-19 advisory team.
Biden would then deliver remarks on coronavirus and economic recovery.
Biden's transition website lists four priorities: Covid-19, economic recovery, racial equity and climate change.
"The team being assembled will meet these challenges on Day One," it said in a reference to January 20, 2021, when Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States.
Meanwhile, Trump played golf at his course near Washington, the same place where he was Saturday when news broke that Biden had secured enough Electoral College votes for victory.
"Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be?" Trump complained in a tweet on Sunday.
Trump, who has no public events scheduled for Monday, plans to file a string of lawsuits in the coming week, according to his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who said he had "a lot of evidence" of fraud.
But former president George W Bush said the "outcome is clear" and added that he had called "President-elect" Biden and Harris to extend his congratulations.
According a report by Axios and confirmed by Fox News, Trumps' campaign plans to take less traditional path to challenging the results of the election, including holding "a series of Trump rallies" focused on the campaigns ongoing legal efforts in numerous states across the country.
Biden, who turns 78 on November 20, is the oldest person ever elected to the White House. Harris, 56, a senator from California, is the first woman, first Black person and first South Asian person to be elected vice president.
Biden has pledged to reassert the United States' leadership role on the global stage through a series of day-one executive actions that would mark a drastic turn from Trump's policies.
Biden repeatedly promised on his first day in office to rejoin the Paris climate accord, a landmark international deal to combat climate change that Trump exited in 2017. He has also said he would rejoin the World Health Organization, which Trump moved to withdraw from this year.
Biden has also said he will repeal Trump's ban on travel from some Muslim-majority countries and reinstate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allows "dreamers" -- undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children -- to remain in the country.
Biden has vowed to name a cabinet that reflects the diversity of the country, although he may have trouble gaining approval for more progressive appointees if Republicans retain control of the Senate -- an outcome that will depend on two runoff races in Georgia in January.
Biden received nearly 74.6 million votes to Trump's 70.4 million nationwide and has a 279-214 lead in the Electoral College that determines the presidency. Biden also leads in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, and Georgia, which has 16. If he wins both, he would finish with 306 electoral votes.
Trump aides and allies have acknowledged privately the legal fights would — at best — forestall the inevitable, and some had deep reservations about the president's attempts to undermine faith in the vote.
Meanwhile, Chin and Russia yesterday said they would congratulate Biden after official results. Saudi Arabia, after refraining from congratulating Biden, yesterday sent its greetings to the president-elect.
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