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Joe Biden became president-elect Saturday after winning Pennsylvania, NBC News has projected.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump vowed Saturday to press forward with a legal fight, pushing unfounded claims of voter fraud in response to the news that came while he was at his Virginia golf club.
In first days in office, Biden to sign executive orders reversing Trump actions
WILMINGTON, Del. — A senior campaign official for President-Elect Joe Biden confirmed Saturday night that Biden will make good on his longstanding promise to immediately sign a number of executive orders aimed at reversing several of President Donald Trump’s unilateral actions.
The Washington Post reported Saturday on a flurry of executive actions Biden has planned for his first days in office — most already announced through various policy rollouts made during the long campaign. Those actions will include rejoining the Paris climate accords and reversing Trump's withdrawal from the World Health Organization, the Post reported, citing those close to his campaign and commitments he has made in recent months.
Biden will officially launch his transition on Monday and will name his coronavirus task force, which he mentioned in his acceptance speech.
“Folks our work begins with getting Covid under control…on Monday I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris Covid plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will start on January 20th 2021,” Biden said Saturday night.
Marianna Sotomayor, Deepa Shivaram, Amanda Golden, Molly Roecker, Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner, Gary Grumbach and Winston Wilde contributed to this report.
'Touched' to be included, says tweet from Tom Petty's account
Biden broadcast to an empty White House briefing room
Clinching victory, President-elect Biden declares 'time to heal in America'
President-elect Joe Biden addressed the nation Saturday night for the first time after winning the White House, delivering a message of unity and healing to a bitterly divided nation.
Biden promised the captivated crowd of supporters at his campaign headquarters “to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify."
"To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans," he said.
"This is the time to heal in America," Biden added, amid a chorus of blaring car horns and screams. He vowed to "work with all my heart for the confidence of the whole people. To win the confidence of all people."
Biden spoke at a drive-in rally outside the Chase Center on the Riverfront, in Wilmington, Del., where 360 cars, the campaign said, had gathered. As he spoke, supporters of all ages sat atop their cars, inside their vehicles, or beside them, yelling, screaming, cheering and pumping their car horns in enthusiastic support of the man on stage.
Biden and Harris celebrate after speeches to the nation
Democrats react to Biden, Harris speeches
Biden elevates trans voters as members of his diverse coalition
Both Biden and Harris acknowledged in their speeches Saturday night the diverse coalition of voters who propelled the pair to apparent victory over President Trump.
In what could be a first for any president, Biden singled out trans voters as one of the many groups that helped him take the White House: “Democrats, Republicans, independents, progressives, moderates, conservatives, young, old, urban, suburban, rural, gay, straight, transgender, white, Latino, Asian, Native American.”
Biden to Black Americans: I have your back
President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday thanked Black voters, who were a key to his nomination and election to the White House.
Biden's stumbling campaign for the Democratic nomination was resuscitated by a win in the South Carolina primarily, fueled by Black voters. And then African-American support was key in narrow wins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania this week.
“And especially in those moments when this campaign was at its lowest ebb — the African American community stood up again for me," Biden forcefully told supporters in Wilmington, Delaware. "They always have my back, and I’ll have yours.”
