2020 election “most secure in history,” security officials say

Federal election infrastructure officials said in a joint statement on Thursday that the 2020 election was the “most secure in American history.” Meanwhile, President-elect Biden picked up 11 more Electoral College votes as CBS News projected he had won Arizona, giving him a 73 vote margin over President Trump and putting him well over the 270 electoral vote threshold with a total of 290 projected votes. 

President Trump continued to spread baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in key battleground states. Mr. Trump on Thursday had still not conceded, and advisers confirmed to CBS News that he has openly discussed running for president again in 2024. While no decisions have been made, one Trump adviser familiar with conversations with the president told CBS News that his allies were working to keep his options open as they plot his political future.

High-ranking Republican senators said Thursday that Mr. Biden should begin receiving intelligence briefings. GOP Senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the most senior GOP senator, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a close ally of Mr. Trump’s, separately told reporters on Capitol Hill that they believe Mr. Biden should be receiving the high-level briefings. South Dakota Senator John Thune, the second highest-ranking Republican in the upper chamber, said it “makes sense” for the president-elect to be briefed on the nation’s most sensitive intelligence.

“As these election challenges play out in court, I don’t have a problem with, and I think it’s important from a national security standpoint, continuity,” Thune said. “And you’ve seen other members suggesting that.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn told reporters he believes the information “needs to be communicated in some way.”

“I just don’t know of any justification for withholding the briefing,” he said, adding that if Mr. Biden “does win in the end, I think they need to be able to hit the ground running.”