The dispute over the US presidential election result continues with projected winner Joe Biden preparing to take office as incumbent President Donald Trump refuses to concede defeat.
Biden is working to lay the groundwork for his administration despite division and rhetoric over the November 3 vote outcome.
On Thursday, he was pressing on with building his governing team, according to reports.
Biden has spent much of the week huddling with advisers on staffing decisions.
On Wednesday, Biden named long-time adviser Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff, his first major appointment since claiming victory in last week’s disputed election marred with allegations of voter fraud.
Klain served as President Barack Obama’s “Ebola Czar” in 2014 during an outbreak of that virus in West Africa. He also served as Vice President Al Gore’s top aide during Bill Clinton’s administration.
Klain is expected to take a leading role in the Biden administration’s response to the countrywide surge in COVID-19 cases.
More than 142,000 new coronavirus infections were recorded on Wednesday and nearly 65,000 hospitalizations took place, according to a Reuters tally.
Antony Blinken, a diplomat and longtime confidant, is seen as a possible choice for Secretary of State or National Security Adviser, according to Reuters.
This comes as tensions have been running high since the media projection gave Biden a clean sweep in the presidential election.
Trump has not conceded defeat and claims he is being cheated out of victory.
The Trump administration has called for a recount of votes in several swing states, alleging widespread voter fraud there. States have until December 8th to certify their results.
Karl Rove: Trump lawsuits won't change election's outcome
Former White House aide and veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove has dampened Trump's hopes, saying that recounts and lawsuits will not overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election and swing the contest back in the president’s favor.
Trump's efforts "are unlikely to move a single state from Mr. Biden's column, and certainly they're not enough to change the final outcome," Rove wrote in an article published on Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal.
Rove served in former President George W. Bush's administration and appears regularly as a political analyst on Fox News.
Biden was projected as the winner of the presidential election by the American media on Saturday and Trump has declined to concede that he was defeated.
Trump has alleged that widespread voter fraud took place in the election. His lawyers have filed lawsuits asking judges in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania to invalidate late-arriving mail-in ballots.
Some observers have said the Democratic candidate’s margins are too large to make a material difference in the states Trump is mounting challenges.
"There is no evidence of that so far," Rove wrote. "Unless some emerges quickly, the President's chances in court will decline precipitously when states start certifying results."