Trump-Biden transition: Attorney Sidney Powell back at White House Sunday

Biden touched down in Atlanta Tuesday afternoon to stump for Democratic Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock as the balance of power in the upper chamber -- and Biden's hopes to pass big-ticket legislation in the incoming administration -- hangs on two runoffs races in Georgia. As the first Democrat to win Georgia's presidential race since 1992, he kicked off the event by thanking supporters.

"Georgia, let me start with two simple words: Thank you," Biden said to honking horns at the drive-in rally.

"Your votes were counted and counted and counted again," Biden added with a smirk, referring to the fact that votes were counted three times in the state due to audits and recounts. "I am starting to feel like I won Georgia three times."

Biden went on to argue that Georgia "taught Donald Trump a lesson" in turning out the vote and should do the same for its Democratic contenders.

"In this election, Georgia wasn’t going to be bullied, Georgia wasn’t going to be silenced, Georgia certainly wasn’t going to stand by and let Donald Trump or the state of Texas or anyone else come in here and toss out your votes," Biden said.

"But you know, you know who did stand by? You know who did nothing while Trump, Texas and others were trying to wipe out every single one of the almost 5 million votes you had cast here in Georgia in November? Your two Republican senators, they stood by," Biden said. "You might want to remember that come Jan. 5."

"Maybe they think they represent Texas. Well, if you want to do the bidding of Texas, you should be running in Texas, not in Georgia," he added.

Calling out GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue, Biden said Georgia's senators "fully embraced" nullifying five million Georgia votes -- while Ossoff and Warnock stand up for democracy, he said. Loeffler and Purdue had released a statement in support of the Texas case the Supreme Court has since refused to hear.

The State Department is receiving its first COVID-19 vaccines this week, according to an internal email from a senior official obtained by ABC News. 

The “very limited number” of vaccines the department will receive will go to a small group of employees deemed mission critical or most at-risk, including front-line medical personnel and those serving in three countries with poor health care systems, Under Secretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao said in his email.

“While we would have preferred to vaccinate our entire Department workforce at once, we will have to do so incrementally based on vaccine availability,” Bulatao said, noting the agency is working with the Pentagon’s Operation Warp Speed and the Department of Health and Human Services on this. 

Bulatao did not say how many vaccines the agency will get but identified five groups of employees who will begin receiving them: Front-line medical personnel, including the doctors and nurses serving in Washington, D.C., and at embassies overseas; employees at the agency’s 24/7 watch center; those working on “critical operations, maintenance, and custodial staff”; “mission-critical” diplomatic security staff in DC; and American personnel serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia, where “local conditions... can exacerbate the disease burden and the challenges of providing medical support services in these locations.”

It’s unclear whether that includes Secretary of State Mike Pompeo himself and his staff, although they likely fall under Bulatao’s “critical operations” category and his diplomatic security detail appear to make the list. Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller was vaccinated on Monday, the only cabinet secretary to get one so far.

A State Department spokesperson declined to offer details of the agency’s plans, citing “operational sensitivity,” but added in a statement to ABC News that any vaccines obtained through Operation Warp Speed will “allow the Department to advance U.S. national security interests and ensure America’s essential diplomacy continues unimpeded.”

-ABC News' Conor Finnegan

Biden is expected to name former 2020 rival and South Bend Mayor, Pete Buttigieg to head the Department of Transportation, sources familiar with the transition tell ABC News.

If confirmed Buttigieg, 38 would be the youngest pick yet for Biden's cabinet, and the first openly gay cabinet secretary approved by the U.S. Senate to serve in U.S. history.

Buttigieg endorsed Biden in March shortly after ending his own presidential campaign and campaigned on behalf of Biden during the general election. Biden, spoke highly of Buttigieg following his endorsement, saying he reminded Biden on his late son, Beau.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle, Justin Gomez and Katherine Faulders

Speaking on the tarmac in Delaware ahead of his trip to Georgia to campaign for Democratic candidates in the Senate runoffs there, Biden confirmed he spoke with Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell -- who acknowledged Biden's victory for the first time on Tuesday -- saying they had a "good conversation" and expressed his hope that they could work together in the future.

"I had a good conversation with Mitch McConnell today. We talked -- so I called to thank him for the congratulations, told him although we disagree on a lot of things, there’s things we can work together on. We’ve always been straight with one another, and we agreed we’d get together sooner than later. And I’m looking forward to working with him," Biden said.

Biden went on to tell reporters that he has been speaking with other members of Congress, saying about “a dozen” have been calling him. Biden promised to tell the press who he has spoken to. 

“I just want you to know I spoke with him, and I’ve been calling other members. I spoke with some other members as well," Biden said. "As I tick them off I’ll tell you who’s calling."

Asked when he would receive the coronavirus vaccine, which Biden has said he'll do publicly, he confirmed that it would be soon but stressed that he wanted to do it “by the numbers."

“Dr. Fauci recommends I get the vaccine sooner than later.I want to just make sure we do it by the numbers, and we do it -- but when I do it, you’ll have notice and we’ll do it publicly,” Biden said.

-ABC News' Sarah Kolinovsky, John Verhovek and Molly Nagle