Trump-Biden transition updates: Trump continues to tout he won election at Ga. rally

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in remarks from the Senate floor Monday that Biden's Cabinet nominations should receive hearings in January "immediately" after the Georgia runoff elections and argued that Republicans are "grasping at straws" to explain their opposition to his nominees.

"I fully expect to see some crocodile tears spilled on the other side of the aisle over President-elect Biden's Cabinet nominees, but it will be very tough to take those crocodile tears seriously," Schumer said. "Our Republican colleagues are on the record supporting some of the least qualified most unethical and downright sycophantic nominees in recent memory."

Schumer specifically defended Biden's nominee to lead the Office of Budget and Management, Neera Tanden, as "impenitently qualified" after some Senate Republicans have indicated hers will be an uphill confirmation battle.

“Neera Tanden, who has an endless stream of disparaging comments about the Republican Senators’ whose votes she’ll need, stands zero chance of being confirmed,” Drew Brandewie, spokesman for GOP Texas Sen. John Cornyn, tweeted Sunday.

Schumer also said the Senate's "first and foremost" priority should be passing a bipartisan COVID-19 relief bill.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

 
Gabriel Sterling, the statewide voting system implementation manager in Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's office, said in an afternoon press conference that 43 of the state's 159 counties are "essentially finished" with the state's third count of the 2020 presidential election and ready to upload their results ahead of Wednesday's midnight deadline.

"Our intention is to hold everybody's feet to the fire and make that -- that deadline, like we did with the hand audit. If we got it on the hand audit, we can get it on this one," he said. 

Asked how the results of the machine recount in the 43 counties compare to the counties' certified results, Sterling said "they're either spot on or not anything significant" changed.

Sterling also provided a breakdown of absentee ballot figures ahead of the Jan. 5 Senate runoff elections, saying there have been 947,928 ballots requested. He also took the opportunity to reiterate that for the upcoming election -- as with the general election -- both political parties can have observers watch the signature verification process. 

The afternoon update came after Raffensperger earlier Monday slammed "those who are exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic claims, half-truths, misinformation, and frankly, they're misleading the president, as well, apparently." Sterling also likened their task of disputing false claims with "playing a game of Whac-A-Mole," saying every time they shoot down one unfounded claim, another "new crazier one" pops up.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris received the President's Daily Brief at the U.S. Department of Commerce earlier Monday, according to a Harris aide.

As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Harris had regular access to classified intelligence briefings, but Monday marked the first day she and Biden were slated to receive the President's Daily Brief. It followed the Trump administration refusing to recognize their apparent win for 16 days. 

-ABC News’ Averi Harper

The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC), tasked with executing the inaugural ceremonies at the U.S. Capitol and currently chaired by Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who has not yet called Biden the president-elect, released a statement Monday afternoon saying that it would work with the Biden team but stopped short of recognizing the election results as decided.

“While the electoral process is still playing out, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is moving forward with plans for the swearing-in ceremonies that will be held on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021," a spokesperson for the JCCIC said in a statement. "Now that Vice President Biden has announced his Presidential Inaugural Committee, we will begin coordination with the PIC at a staff level to continue planning for Inaugural Ceremonies that are traditional, safe, and inclusive."

Though Blunt referred to Trump as "president-elect" in a statement released the day after the 2016 election, the Missouri Republican has deflected on using the term with Biden, telling CNN Sunday, "The president-elect will be the president-elect when the electors vote for him. There is no official job of president-elect."

Earlier on Monday, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced the formation of their Presidential Inaugural Committee, responsible for organizing inauguration-related activities.

-ABC News' Benjamin Siegel