Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell: Transition updates

In their first call with reporters on Tuesday, the three co-chairs of Biden’s COVID-19 task force said they need immediate access to the federal agencies to ensure there is no delay in rolling out a vaccine. They also warned that they aren’t sure when the latest surge will peak and just how bad winter will get.

“We don’t have a day to waste," said David Kessler, former head of the Food and Drug Administration and co-chair of Biden’s COVID-19 task force. "The vaccine distribution is difficult and daunting under any circumstances." 

“It’s not hyperbole when you think about how dire things are” added Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale physician and co-chair. “I think we can disrupt the trajectory” but we need as much information as possible, she later added.

Kessler later gave a nod to the COVID-19 Tracking Project and other data projects he said his team is dependent on without access to the federal data.

As the Trump administration refuses to ascertain Biden, the president-elect's team is denied access to resources a  normally available during a transition. With the pandemic raging, that includes access to Health and Human Services career staff who are preparing distribution plans for the vaccine, latest updates on stockpile numbers for essential items and detailed vaccine distribution plans.

-ABC News' Anne Flaherty

In his first tweet of the day, Trump this afternoon said he's "reversed the ridiculous decision to cancel Wreaths Across America at Arlington National Cemetery" -- an annual program which had been canceled this year due to the coronavirus.

The president's tweet comes after the secretary of the Army said he had directed Arlington National Cemetery to safely host the event.

On any other day, Trump's tweets might number in the double digits by the late afternoon, but Trump has been uncharacteristically silent since the election, holding just three events open to White House press in the last two weeks and not taking any questions.

The tweet breaking his silence also came hours after his acting Secretary of Defense announced that the military will carry out the president's order to draw down troops in Afghanistan and Iraq before he leaves office.

Trump has not publicly weighed in on the highly-consequential decision.

-ABC News' Jordyn Phelps

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