Trump campaign distances itself from attorney Sidney Powell: Transition updates

The Trump campaign has officially requested recounts in just two of Wisconsin's counties: Milwaukee and Dane, home of the state's largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison, and the state's two Democratic strongholds.

These two counties both voted overwhelmingly for Biden, with Dane County at 75.5%-22.8% and Milwaukee County 69.1%-29.3%. Milwaukee also has the state's largest Black population, and the campaign's targeting of voters for not supplying voter ID is likely to come down squarely on people of color, who are already the most disenfranchised by Wisconsin's voter ID laws.

In response to the Trump campaign alleging voter fraud in the state, Milwaukee County Election Commission Director Julietta Henry told ABC News Wednesday that, "We will have the recount and we will show that all of the allegations that are here are without warrant."

Wolfe, county clerks and other officials including former Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker have also repeatedly said the recount is extremely unlikely to change the results of the election -- and that's now all but impossible given its focus on two counties.

The recount will now take place over the next 13 days in time for the state's Dec. 1 certification deadline.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

An early read of Senate GOP reactions to Trump's firing of Christopher Krebs, the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who maintained the 2020 election was the most secure in American history, indicates an uncommon break from the president. 

While many of Trump's allies maintain that the president has the right to have whomever he wants working for him, several have admitted that Krebs was a good appointee who did quality work. 

"From everything I saw it appeared he did an able job in a difficult and important role," said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. 

"My interactions with Krebs have been positive," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told reporters. "I don’t have any criticism of his work but maybe the president knows something I don’t.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, gave perhaps the harshest rebuke from a Republican yet, arguing that the firing is creating chaos. 

"It’s the president’s prerogative, but I think it just adds to the confusion and chaos, and I’m sure I’m not the only one that would like some return to a bit more of a -- I don’t even know what we call normal anymore," Cornyn said. "We’ll call it the next normal. It's not the new normal." 

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who criticized Trump on a call with constituents ahead of the election, released a statement late Tuesday saying that Krebs "obviously should not have been fired."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday morning said the firing reinforced the requirement Trump puts on those who work for him: "You can never tell the truth," Schumer said.

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has announced it received $3 million from the Trump campaign and expects a petition for a recount to be filed.

A total statewide recount was estimated to cost $7.9 million, so unless the Trump campaign sends more money before the 6 p.m. ET deadline, it will only be requesting a partial recount in select counties.

In the case of a partial recount, the Trump campaign could then raise concerns with certain ballots in those counties as fodder for legal action once the recount wraps by the state's Dec. 1 certification deadline.

Recounts rarely change election outcomes. According to a report from Fair Vote, a nonpartisan nonprofit on election reform, including data on 20 years of recounts, there have been 31 recounts in 5,000 statewide elections since 2000, and only three of them resulted in election reversals. In those three, the original margin of victory was less than .05%.

Trump is currently trailing Biden in Wisconsin by more than 20,000 votes or .07%.

In 2016, a presidential recount in the state resulted in just 131 additional votes for Trump.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

All of Georgia's 159 counties are on track to finish a full hand-count audit of the approximately 5 million ballots cast in the presidential contest by Wednesday's midnight deadline.

With that effort nearly complete, the state has until Friday at 5 p.m. to certify its results. 

If the margin between Trump and Biden remains within 0.5% once the votes are certified, a campaign can request a recount. 

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said he doesn’t expect the results to change significantly once the audit is complete, telling ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Mary Bruce Tuesday he believes Biden will win the state, "fair and square."

Raffensperger, a Republican, has held his ground while fending off attacks from Trump and members of his own party in the aftermath of the election. Both of the state's GOP senators have called on Raffensperger to resign. Trump, who endorsed Raffensperger in 2018, has pegged the secretary as a "RINO" -- "Republican in name only" -- while attacking the state's election process.

Heading into the hand-count audit, Biden led Trump by a margin of about 14,000 votes or .03%. Previously uncounted ballots that were discovered will reduce that margin to about 13,000, said Gabriel Sterling, with the secretary of state’s office.

ABC News projected last Friday that Biden will win Georgia. It's the first time a Democrat will secure Georgia's electoral votes since 1992, which happens to be the last time the vote margin between two candidates was as tight as it is now.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan