Biden begins transition plans as Trump refuses to concede

In a message released on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated President-elect Joe Biden for his victory in the US presidential elections. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were declared the projected winners of the election on Saturday. 

“I reiterate our determination to work closely with the US administration and believe that the strong cooperation and alliance between our countries will continue to contribute to world peace in the future as it has until today,” Erdogan said. 

The US-Turkish relationship is deeply rooted and strategic in nature, Erdogan said.  

“The challenges we face on the global and regional level require us to further develop and strengthen these relationships based on our shared interests and values,” the message said. 

The Pentagon’s top policy official, James Anderson, resigned Tuesday, according to two US defense officials. The resignation comes the day after President Trump fired Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

Anderson has been serving as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy since John Rood was fired by the Trump Administration in February of this year due to disagreements on a range of policy issues.

It was not immediately clear whether Anderson was asked to resign.

Anderson has been at the Pentagon since 2018, serving first as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Capabilities and later becoming the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy before taking over the top policy job upon Rood’s ouster.

His departure comes as some question the decision to make senior personnel changes at the Pentagon during a post-election transition period.

Trump announced he was firing Esper via Twitter on Monday, a move Democrats criticized as reckless.

Barbara Starr Reports:

Sen. Mitch McConnell was re-elected unanimously as Senate Republican leader, according to his spokesperson David Popp. 

Senate Republican leadership elections are still ongoing although no significant changes are expected, as CNN's Clare Foran reported this morning.

The Senate Democratic Caucus re-elected Leader Chuck Schumer and the full leadership team by acclamation, according to a Democratic source.

Schumer added Sens. Cory Booker and Catherine Cortez Masto to leadership. 

Here's a look at the full leadership team:

Republicans see the battle over the election results as important to their fight to keeping the two Senate seats in Georgia.

Republicans argue they need to spotlight to their supporters a voting system rife with problems — even though there's no evidence of widespread voting fraud. Doing so also could energize conservative voters who are listening to the President Trump's baseless claims that the election was rigged.

Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham told CNN that Republicans would be at a greater risk if they didn't question the results and look into mail-in voting. Graham is calling for an investigation into how mail-in voting was conducted in the 2020 elections.

"I think what would hurt our chances in Georgia is if we don't put these systems under scrutiny," Graham said. "If you know about it, and you forgive it, you're legitimizing it. I'm not legitimizing it."

Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle are making moves to expand their influence at the Republican National Committee, three GOP sources, including advisers to the President tell CNN. Some sources say they may seek to take over the party structure themselves. 

President Trump's eldest son and his girlfriend, a Trump campaign fundraiser and former Fox News host, have made it clear to campaign and White House officials they are unhappy with RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who they view as not having done enough to win a close race.

Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle could seek leadership roles at the RNC to position the committee for a comeback run for the President in 2024, the sources said.

Trump Jr. is seen as a prolific fundraiser inside the party as well as a popular figure in his father's grassroots base.

Trump Jr. denied CNN's reporting he was seeking to take over the party. An associate of Trump Jr., Andrew Surabian, also said it's "100% incorrect" that the President's son is seeking a role at the RNC.

Guilfoyle and the RNC did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment.

For some in the GOP, as distasteful as Trump Jr. leading or having significant influence over the RNC may sound, it's seen as better than purging the outgoing first family, which could backfire with the President's base, two sources close to the White House said.

"In order for Republicans to move forward they may have to do this," one of the sources said.

If Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle do not ultimately assume formal positions at the RNC, the sources said somebody close to the Trump family, such as longtime campaign adviser David Bossie, could become chairman.

"They don't want the ride to end," a Trump adviser said of Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle.

Other names to surface in the search for new RNC leadership include former chairman and White House chief of staff Reince Priebus and Ohio Republican Party chairwoman Jane Timken, sources said.

WATCH:

Stacey Abrams’ organization Fair Fight has raised $9.8 million since Friday evening, an aide says, with the bulk of that haul going to Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

The fundraising comes from the website GAsenate.com. The ActBlue page splits the raised money three ways — Fair Fight and the two candidates.

Both Democrats and Republicans believe the simultaneous runoff elections could cost both parties tens of millions of dollars.

The Trump campaign continues to send a barrage of fundraising emails, with hourly appeals sent to supporters since 5 a.m. Tuesday. 

The current count is 146 fundraising emails since 11:00 p.m. on Election Night, Tuesday, Nov. 3. 

As President-elect Joe Biden continues making transition plans, the US Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in a case about President Barack Obama’s signature health care initiative.

The court will hear oral arguments starting at 10 a.m. ET, and the case could overturn part or even all of the Affordable Care Act, also know as Obamacare.

The justices, including newly sworn-in Amy Coney Barrett, are expected to release their opinion in the first half of 2021.

The newest lawsuit against the ACA is the most audacious to date. It asks the court to strike down the entire 2010 law because of an amendment to the individual insurance mandate in 2017. Congress reduced to zero the penalty for people who failed to obtain insurance.

Here's what you need to know about the case, California v. Texas: