Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell: Transition updates

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled against the Trump campaign in a case centered on whether election officials provided campaign observers “meaningful” access to monitor the counting of mail-in ballots.

The court, on a vote of 5-2, found that election officials followed the law in providing the Trump campaign sufficient access to the opening of mail-in ballots. There are simply no requirements that say how close the observers need to be placed to watch the process, the court found.

“These provisions do not set a minimum distance” for observers to watch the process, Justice Debra Todd wrote for the majority. “The General Assembly, had it so desired, could have easily established such parameters; however, it did not.”

And even those dissenting were not partial to the Trump campaign's argument. In his dissenting opinion, Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor wrote that the campaign’s request to cancel large numbers of ballots “based on isolated procedural irregularities” was “misguided.”

“I fail to see that there is any real issue,” Saylor wrote.

-ABC News' Matthew Mosk

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris made a rare appearance on Capitol Hill Tuesday to cast the tie-breaking vote against allowing the Senate to proceed to a final confirmation vote for a Trump nominee to the Federal Reserve board of governors -- a tie that arose after two GOP Senators were exposed to COVID-19 and entered isolation this week.

Had Harris instead gone to Wilmington for a national security briefing with Biden, Vice President Mike Pence would likely have broken the tie in favor of Trump's nominee. But with Harris' intervention, Democrats squashed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's efforts to move ahead with confirming Judy Shelton.

The procedural vote failed with 50 nays to 47 yays. This count reflects McConnell voting "no" -- a move that allows him to bring the nomination back up for consideration at a later date.

Ahead of the procedural vote, Harris shared a fist-bump with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has been actively working to challenge Biden's position as president-elect.

It's Harris' first visit to the hill since the presidential election.

-ABC News' Allie Pecorin

Biden received a national security briefing in Wilmington, Delaware, from a slate of former government advisers and outside experts Tuesday afternoon as he awaits the Trump administration's ascertainment that will allow him to receive the Presidential Daily Brief and intelligence briefings usually given to a president-elect. 

“I used to say, 'the next president of the United States,' -- when I was trying to get the nomination -- ‘whoever he or she will be is going to inherit a divided country, and a world in disarray,'" Biden began. "I wish I had been wrong."

"But, that's why I need you all so badly, and your advice. And to answer these twin challenges, we're going to need to reinvigorate our democracy at home, strengthen the coalitions of democracies we stand with and equip the American people to compete and succeed with a foreign policy that reflects their values and their needs,” Biden told the participants on a large screen via Zoom. 

Several high-profile experts appeared at the briefing including former Obama administration National Security Adviser Tony Blinken, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Adm. William McRaven, former U.N. Ambassador Samantha Powers and Avril Haines, a member of Biden’s transition team who he arrived with to the meeting.

Biden spoke briefly about the growing list of heads of states that he has connected with as president-elect, saying he believed he was up to 13 calls. He noted the enthusiastic reception he’s been receiving, stressing it has less to do with him and more to do with the "circumstances."

“I’m not being critical, just stating the obvious. You know that I've been unable to get the briefings that ordinarily would have come by now," Biden said, in thanking the participants for their advice. 

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Trump's top cyber official at the Department of Homeland Security, Chris Krebs, directly rebuked the president's claims of widespread voter fraud in a tweet Tuesday, citing 59 election security experts who agree election systems were not manipulated in the 2020 election. 

"ICYMI: On allegations that election systems were manipulated, 59 election security experts all agree, 'in every case of which we are aware, these claims either have been unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent,'" Krebssaid in a tweet with the hashtag "#Protect2020."

Krebs has reportedly told associates that he expects to be fired any day now by Trump. Last week Krebs took to Twitter to personally assure Americans the election was secure.

"America, we have confidence in the security of your vote, you should, too,” he tweeted at the time.

-ABC News' Mike Levine