section_path: 2020 presidential campaign/Presidential election and transition
section_name: Presidential election and transition
paragraph_text: Presidential election and transition
  
  Biden was elected the 46th president in November 2020, defeating the incumbent, Donald Trump. Trump and numerous other Republicans repeatedly made false claims that widespread electoral fraud had occurred and that only he had legitimately won the election. Biden's transition was delayed by several weeks as the White House ordered federal agencies not to cooperate. On November 23, General Services Administrator Emily W. Murphy formally recognized Biden as the apparent winner of the 2020 election and authorized the start of a transition process to the Biden administration.
  
  Although most resulting lawsuits were either dismissed or ruled against by numerous courts, Trump nonetheless conspired: 33–53 with his campaign team to submit documents in several states (all of which Biden had won) that falsely claimed to be legitimate electoral votes for President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. After the submission of these documents, the Trump campaign intended that the presiding officer of the United States Senate, either President of the Senate Pence or President pro tempore Chuck Grassley, would claim the unilateral power to reject electors during the January 6, 2021 vote counting session; the presiding officer would reject all electors from the several states for which the Trump campaign had submitted false documents, leaving 232 votes for Trump and 222 votes for Biden, thereby overturning the election results in Trump's favor. This plan failed after Pence refused to cooperate with it. Trump nevertheless urged his supporters on January 6 to march to the Capitol while the joint session of Congress was assembled there to count electoral votes and formalize Biden's victory, whereupon hundreds of people stormed the building and interrupted the count. During the attack, Biden addressed the nation, calling the events "an unprecedented assault unlike anything we've seen in modern times". After the Capitol was cleared, Congress officially counted the election results, with Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, announcing Biden and Harris as the winners. On January 7, Trump acknowledged the incoming administration without mentioning Biden's name.
  
  Biden was elected the 46th president in November 2020, defeating the incumbent, Donald Trump. Trump and numerous other Republicans repeatedly made false claims that widespread electoral fraud had occurred and that only he had legitimately won the election. Biden's transition was delayed by several weeks as the White House ordered federal agencies not to cooperate. On November 23, General Services Administrator Emily W. Murphy formally recognized Biden as the apparent winner of the 2020 election and authorized the start of a transition process to the Biden administration.
  
  Although most resulting lawsuits were either dismissed or ruled against by numerous courts, Trump nonetheless conspired: 33–53 with his campaign team to submit documents in several states (all of which Biden had won) that falsely claimed to be legitimate electoral votes for President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. After the submission of these documents, the Trump campaign intended that the presiding officer of the United States Senate, either President of the Senate Pence or President pro tempore Chuck Grassley, would claim the unilateral power to reject electors during the January 6, 2021 vote counting session; the presiding officer would reject all electors from the several states for which the Trump campaign had submitted false documents, leaving 232 votes for Trump and 222 votes for Biden, thereby overturning the election results in Trump's favor. This plan failed after Pence refused to cooperate with it. Trump nevertheless urged his supporters on January 6 to march to the Capitol while the joint session of Congress was assembled there to count electoral votes and formalize Biden's victory, whereupon hundreds of people stormed the building and interrupted the count. During the attack, Biden addressed the nation, calling the events "an unprecedented assault unlike anything we've seen in modern times". After the Capitol was cleared, Congress officially counted the election results, with Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, announcing Biden and Harris as the winners. On January 7, Trump acknowledged the incoming administration without mentioning Biden's name.