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

As the pandemic reaches its worst point yet, with the U.S. reporting its highest case count and death toll on Thursday, the president has said few words on COVD-19 since the election, focusing his energy instead on his own political fate. 

Ahead of Trump holding his first rally since losing the election to campaign for GOP senators in Georgia on Saturday, some Republicans have expressed concerns that his rhetoric claiming the presidential election was "rigged" could suppress turnout for the January runoff election in races that will determine which party controls Congress' upper chamber.

The president has no public events on his schedule Friday. Vice President Mike Pence is headed to Georgia ahead of Trump's weekend rally there, while former President Barack Obama joins a virtual rally for the Democratic contenders Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

Biden, meanwhile, is slated to deliver afternoon remarks from Wilmington, Delaware, on the final jobs report of 2020 out Friday morning.

Following remarks, the president-elect and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will meet virtually with the National Association of Counties Board of Directors. Biden will also appear at the 2020 International LGBTQ Leaders Conference at 12 p.m., according to a release from the organization.

The president-elect is reinforcing his message that “help is on the way” with a new campaign. In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Thursday, Biden said that on Inauguration Day, he’s likely to ask members of the public to wear a mask for 100 days in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. He also said he’ll keep Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, in his administration and elevate his title to chief medical adviser. 

This all comes as a coronavirus model from the University of Washington used by the White House has projected nearly 540,000 deaths by April 1.

If the Republican Party is at risk of a civil war, it's not clear what side Trump is on.

More specifically, he will be on his own side -- wherever that leaves his party. With action heating up in Georgia's run-off races Friday and through the weekend, the contradictions the president is leaving Republicans to sort out will be more urgent than ever.

Vice President Mike Pence will campaign in Georgia on Friday, while former President Barack Obama appears at a "virtual rally" with his party's Senate candidates and other prominent Democrats. Then, on Saturday, the president himself will be at his first major rally since the election, where he will make remarks his own allies can't guarantee will align with the GOP's broader goals.

About that election, the president has officially lost Georgia -- after his campaign requested another recount and despite Trump's efforts to rally his base against his own supporters who hold top offices in state government.

The president is now making noises about ousting his attorney general, William Barr, in his final weeks in office, after Barr said his office has not found evidence of criminal voter fraud. Some of those final weeks are being consumed by confrontations Trump is starting with his fellow Republicans on the annual defense bill and other year-ending legislation.

The private frustrations with the president are as real as they are predictable, particularly with control of the Senate on the line in Georgia.

Party leaders have long known their loyalty to Trump won't necessarily be rewarded. What's different now is that they know Trump won't be in office in a few weeks to deal with the consequences of his political actions.

-ABC News' Political Director Rick Klein

As Georgia takes center stage at the end of the 2020 election cycle, campaigns and outside groups are slated to spend more than $312 million on ads in the two Senate runoffs that will decide the makeup of the upper chamber in the next Congress.

Across the two contests, Republicans are vastly outspending Democrats on television, radio and digital ads.

From Nov. 4 through Jan. 5, Republican incumbent Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler's campaigns and conservative groups supporting them have run or reserved $178 million worth of ads while Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock Raphael's campaigns and liberal groups supporting them have run or booked $134 million worth of ads, according to an analysis by AdImpact, which tracks ad purchase data.

More than $144 million has flowed into the rivalry between Perdue and Ossoff, including $82 million from Republicans and $62 million from Democrats. And in the contest between Loeffler and Warnock, $169 million has come in, including $97 million from Republicans and $72 million from Democrats.

With a little more than a month to go until the January election day, outside groups have already aired more than $69 million out of the upward of $300 million placements, according to an analysis of campaign disclosure data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

Among the top spenders from the Republican side are GOP-leadership-linked super PAC Senate Leadership Fund and Karl Rove's super PAC American Crossroads, which together account for 45% of all outside spending in the Georgia runoffs.

-ABC News' Soorin Kim

Biden weighed in on reports that Trump is considering preemptive pardons for his adult children and possibly himself, saying in a clip released by CNN, that he is concerned by the "precedent" it could set and how it could affect how other nations' view America's justice system. 

"Well, it's -- it concerns me in terms of what kind of precedent it sets and how the rest of the world looks at us as a nation of laws and justice," Biden said of the pardons.

Biden also reiterated a pledge he made during the campaign to have a Justice Department that operates "independently" of political pressures, and adding that his DOJ will take a much different approach on the issue of pardons and will not make policy "by tweets," as Trump has.

"I'm not going to be telling them what they have to do and don't have to do," Biden said. "I'm not going to be saying go prosecute A, B or C. I'm not going to be telling them. That's not the role, it's not my Justice Department, it's the people's Justice Department."

"Now in terms of the pardons, you're not going to see in our administration that kind of approach to pardons," he added. "Nor are you going to see in our administration the approach to making policy by tweets."

The vice president-elect, in the same interview clip, walked back her comments during the primary about prosecuting Trump. During an interview with NPR in June 2019, Harris said her Justice Department "would have no choice but to prosecute" Trump. 

"We will not tell the Justice Department how to do its job," Harris said.

"Any decision coming out of the Justice Department, in particular, the United States Department of Justice, should be based on facts, it should be based on the law, it should not be influenced by politics, period," she added later.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle, John Verhovek and Averi Harper