唐纳德·特朗普总统将在33天后将白宫控制权移交给当选总统乔·拜登。

麦卡锡回避质疑选举团投票

当被问及他是否会和其他众议院共和党人一起正式反对该法案的认证时选举团结果1月6日，众议院少数党领袖、加州共和党人凯文·麦卡锡笑着告诉记者，“我们将拭目以待，”国会山的一名泳池记者如是说。

塔索斯·卡托普迪斯/盖蒂影像公司

2020年12月3日，众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡在国会山的每周新闻发布会上发言。

麦卡锡尚未就这一长期努力正式表态，这一努力仍缺乏参议院共和党人的支持，而参议院共和党人的支持是迫使就选举结果进行辩论和投票所必需的，他也没有承认拜登是当选总统。

这选举团确认拜登在周一的胜利，没有任何不忠实的选民。特朗普赢了232选举人票去拜登的306。

白宫没有给出特朗普接受疫苗的时间表

白宫副新闻秘书布莱恩·摩根斯坦星期五对记者说，总统仍然愿意接手这项工作新冠肺炎疫苗时机成熟时，同时注意到特朗普已经感染了病毒。

当被直接问及是否担心他在接种疫苗时离接受单克隆抗体鸡尾酒疗法太近时，疾病控制和预防中心建议摩根斯坦说，在两者之间等待了90天，“我不知道有什么担忧。”但他补充说，特朗普“非常愿意得到它，如果建议是没问题的——如果他尽早接受，那将是有效的——他会这样做的。”

索尔·勒布/法新社，通过盖蒂图像，文件

2020年10月7日，白宫副新闻秘书布莱恩·摩根斯坦在白宫外与媒体成员交谈。

在拜登定于周一接受第一剂辉瑞疫苗之前，以及在副总统迈克·彭斯周五上午公开接种疫苗之后，做出了回应。

摩根斯坦还被要求解释为什么公众一周都没有特朗普的消息。

“有很多工作不一定是公开的，但他在努力工作，当他应该公开发言的时候，当然这是他的权利，他的特权，”他说。“但在这一点上，政府继续在幕后非常努力地工作，在我们必须公开发言的范围内，我们这样做了。但不管他是否出现在你面前，工作都在进行。”

拜登过渡说，国防部简报的暂停不是“双方同意的”

拜登过渡小组推迟了代理国防部长克里斯·米勒周五早些时候的声明，即五角大楼和拜登官员之间有一个“双方同意的假期”，强调拜登小组认为在假期继续对话很重要。

米勒否认了当天早些时候的报道，即与拜登团队的过渡会议已经暂停，他说，“在双方同意从明天开始的假期暂停之后，我们将继续过渡，并从今天开始重新安排会议。”

然而，拜登的过渡在周五下午的电话简报中质疑米勒的说法。

“让我明确一点:没有双方同意的假期。事实上，我们认为在此期间继续进行简报和其他活动是很重要的，因为没有多余的时间，在查明延迟之后尤其如此，”过渡官员约翰尼斯·亚伯拉罕说。

亚伯拉罕补充说，团队的期望是会议将“立即”继续。

当被问及米勒在声明中是否撒谎时，拜登的团队没有回答，而是说媒体可以根据提供的信息做出自己的判断。

拜登过渡警告反对新冠肺炎救助协议中的“不必要条款”

即将上任的拜登-哈里斯国家经济顾问布赖恩·迪斯于11月15日发表声明国会救济谈判周五警告称，“不必要的条款”可能会阻碍希尔的努力。

迪斯说:“尽管我们对两党正在为数百万美国人提供关键救助的努力感到鼓舞，但一揽子计划不应包括不必要的条款，这些条款将阻碍财政部和美联储对抗经济危机的能力。”

周五早些时候，一名民主党助手告诉美国广播公司新闻，一项纾困协议即将达成——“直到图梅参议员和共和党人在最后一刻插入一项纯粹政治性的、无关的条款，以束缚拜登的手脚，并冒着使经济陷入混乱的风险。”

这位助手表示:“图梅条款将是对法律的前所未有的修改，剥夺了美联储主席快速应对未来任何经济危机的最重要工具之一。”

目前正在谈判中的9000亿美元的一揽子计划谈判桌今年3月通过的救助法案是历史上规模最大的一揽子计划，预计将包括对扩大联邦失业福利和向低于一定收入水平的数百万美国人发放刺激支票的额外资金。

由于政府资金将于午夜到期，谈判代表正努力就政府支出和新冠肺炎纾困达成协议，以避免政府关门。

Trump-Biden transition live updates: Biden to receive coronavirus vaccine next week

President Donald Trump is slated to hand over control of the White House to President-elect Joe Biden in 33 days.

McCarthy dodges question on challenging Electoral College vote

Asked whether he will join with other House Republicans to formally object to the certification of theElectoral Collegeresults on Jan. 6, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., laughed and told reporters, "We'll watch and see," per the pool reporter on Capitol Hill.

McCarthy hasn't formally taken a position on the long-shot effort, which still lacks Senate Republican support needed to force debate and vote on the results of the election, nor has he recognized Biden as the president-elect.

TheElectoral Collegeaffirmed Biden's victory on Monday without any faithless electors. Trump won 232electoral votesto Biden's 306.

White House doesn't give timeline for Trump to receive vaccine

White House deputy press secretaryBrian Morgenstern told reporters Friday that the president remains willing to take theCOVID-19 vaccinewhen the time is right, while noting that Trump has already beeninfected with the virus.

When asked directly if there are concerns about him being vaccinated too close to receiving the monoclonal antibody cocktail, as the Centers for Disease Control and Preventionrecommendswaiting 90 days between the two,Morgenstern said, "I don't know about concerns."But he added Trump is "perfectly willing to get it, andif the advice is that it is fine -- it will be effective if he takes it sooner rather than later -- he'll do that."

The response comes ahead of Biden being slated to receive the first dose of Pfizer's vaccine on Monday and following Vice President Mike Pence's public vaccination Friday morning.

Morgensternwas also asked to explain why the public has not heard from Trump all week.

"There's a lot of work that goes on that isn't necessarily public, but he is hard at work, and when it's the appropriate time for him to come speak publicly, of course that's his right, his prerogative to do," he said. "But at this point the administration continues to work very hard behind the scenes, and to the extent we have to speak publicly we do that. But the work is being done whether or not he's coming in front of you."

Biden transition says pause in DoD briefings was not 'mutually agreed upon'

The Biden transition team is pushing back on Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller's statement earlier Friday that there was a "mutually agreed upon holiday break" between the Pentagon and Biden officials, stressing the Biden team felt it was important to keep conversations going over the holiday.

Miller had denied reporting earlier in the day that there had been a halt to transition meetings with the Biden team, saying, "After the mutually-agreed upon holiday pause, which begins tomorrow, we will continue with the transition and rescheduled meetings from today."

However, the Biden transition disputed Miller's claim on a call briefing reporters Friday afternoon.

"Let me be clear: There was no mutually agreed upon holiday break. In fact, we think it's important that briefings and other engagements continue during this period, as there's no time to spare, and that's particularly true in the aftermath of the ascertainment delay," said transition official YohannesAbraham.

Abraham added it was the team's expectation that meetings would continue "immediately."

Biden's team did not answer when asked if Miller was lying in his statement, instead saying the press could make its own judgments based on the information provided.

Biden transition warns against 'unnecessary provisions' in COVID-19 relief deal

Incoming Biden-Harris national economic adviser Brian Deese released a statement oncongressional relief negotiationsFriday warning against "unnecessary provisions" that might hamper efforts on the Hill.

"While we are encouraged by the bipartisan effort underway to provide critical relief to millions of Americas, the package should not include unnecessary provisions that would hamper the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve’s ability to fight economic crises," Deese said.

A Democratic aide told ABC News earlier Friday a relief deal was in sight -- "until Sen. Toomey and Republicans inserted an 11th hour purely political, unrelated provision to tie Biden’s hands and risk throwing the economy into a tailspin."

"The Toomey provision would be an unprecedented change to the law to strip the Fed chair of one of their most important tools to quickly respond to any future economic crisis," the aide said.

The $900 billion package currently on thenegotiating table-- the largest package in history behind the relief bill passed in March -- is expected to include additional funding on expanded federal unemployment benefits and stimulus checks to millions of Americans below a certain income level.

With government funding set to expire at midnight, negotiators are working to strike deals on both government spending and COVID-19 relief in order to avoid a government shutdown.