State Dept. condemns arrests, repression in Russia

By Wednesday afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer could effectively be the new Senate Majority Leader. 

Schumer is expected to meet with his outgoing GOP counterpart, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, who hasn’t been in the minority since 2015, later Tuesday. The two are expected to discuss organizing a 50-50 Senate where Democrats hold the majority status by virtue of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking ability, Trump's impending impeachment trial and the need to expedite Biden’s Cabinet nominations.

Sources tell ABC News Georgia Sen.-elects Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff could be ready to be sworn in as early as Wednesday. 

Gabriel Sterling, the state’s now-famous voting systems manager, tweeted last week that his office will review the final certifications Tuesday, adding, “Hoping there are no issues.”

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Ratffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans, will then sign their certificates and a representative of the governor must then physically deliver those results to the secretary of the Senate -- required in Senate rules -- to make the two election outcomes official and trigger the swearing-in process. 

Meanwhile, in California, former Secretary of State and Sen.-elect Alex Padilla appears to be on track to be sworn in on Inauguration Day, filling the seat left vacant by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Padilla’s office is also tentatively tracking a Wednesday swearing-in, a spokesperson told ABC News. 

Once Harris is sworn in as vice president, thereby president of the Senate, and those three senator-elects are sworn in, Schumer will be handed the reins as majority leader. 

-ABC News' Trish Turner and Quinn Scanlan

Biden, the second Catholic to be elected president, has invited the bipartisan congressional leadership to church with him on Wednesday morning ahead of his inauguration, and all parties have accepted, sources tells ABC News.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy have separately accepted the invite and plan to attend -- a move that is sure to project unity ahead of the official transfer of power.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are also expected to attend.

Punchbowl News first reported the invite.

President Trump is skipping Biden's inauguration and traditional handover of power at the White House to hold his own sendoff at Joint Base Andrews while he still bears the title of president ahead of noon on Wednesday -- making him the first president to skip his successor's swearing since an impeached Andrew Johnson in 1869 snubbed Ulysses Grant.

-ABC News' Trish Turner and Benjamin Siegel

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have chosen to nominate Dr. Rachel Levine as assistant Secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, the transition announced Tuesday. 

Levine currently serves as secretary of health for Pennsylvania. She would be the first openly transgender federal official confirmed by the Senate, if approved.

"Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their zip code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond. She is a historic and deeply qualified choice to help lead our administration's health efforts," Biden said of Levine in a statement.

-ABC News' Molly Nagle

Biden is waking up in Wilmington, Delaware, before heading to Washington for his inauguration as the 46th president of the United States.

On President Trump's final full day in office, he's expected to end his term bunkered behind the White House, as he has for the last week, focused on who will benefit from his pardon powers. He is expected to issue pardons and commutations, potentially more than 100 before he departs Wednesday, but sources tell ABC News that a self-pardon and pardons for family are unlikely.

Trump is also expected to release a taped video message to the public at some point Tuesday, after first lady Melania Trump on Monday afternoon tweeted a nearly 7-minute long farewell video looking back on her time in the White House.

With just hours to go until his departure, and potentially the start of his impeachment trial pending Pelosi sending the article of impeachment to the Senate, Trump is still set to skip his successor's swearing-in -- the first president to do so since Andrew Johnson in 1869 -- and hold a large sendoff of his own hours before Biden takes the oath of office at noon on Wednesday.

Sources say Trump plans chopper via Marine One to Joint Base Andrews where he is expected to give brief remarks to supporters and departing members of his administration. Sources add that Trump has requested the event to have a "military-like feel" and will have a military band, red carpet and an honor guard. The president will then fly down to Mar-a-Lago in Florida aboard Air Force One with a small number of staffers who will be part of his post-presidency operation, according to the sources.

One of Trump's final actions as president taken Monday night was to lift travel restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, but in a sign of what's to come, the incoming Biden administration said the lift will be reversed before it even takes effect.

Tuesday will also see five of Biden's Cabinet nominees before Senate committees handling their confirmation hearings including Avril Haines to serve as director of national intelligence, Janet Yellen to serve as treasury secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas to serve as the homeland security secretary, Tony Blinken to serve as secretary of state, and Lloyd Austin to serve as secretary of defense. The committee schedule is ramping up at the same time Trump's impeachment trial is expected to start -- a challenge for the Senate, which is also reeling from the attack on the U.S. Capitol less than two weeks ago.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson