2020 US Election: What you need to know right now

President Donald Trump will meet with Republican leaders of the Michigan state legislature on Friday at the White House as his campaign pursues an increasingly desperate bid to overturn the Nov. 3 election amid a series of courtroom losses.

- Georgia confirmed Democratic President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the Nov. 3 election in that state as it completed a hand audit of ballots on Thursday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.

- President Donald Trump and his allies lost three court rulings on Thursday in their effort to stop President-elect Joe Biden from taking office, underscoring their dwindling options even as they continued to claim a viable path to victory.

- Officials working on vaccine distribution planning under President Donald Trump have no intention of briefing anyone on President-elect Joe Biden's transition team, Democratic senators said on Thursday, as Biden warned that the failure to share information would cost lives.

- Financial lobbyists, kept at arm's length by Joe Biden's campaign, have begun engaging with the Democratic president-elect's transition team on issues including economic stimulus, pandemic aid programs, and appointees, according to more than a dozen executives at banks and financial lobby groups.

- President-elect Joe Biden said on Thursday he had selected his Treasury secretary and would reveal his choice as soon as next week.

- Vice President Mike Pence will jump into the fray of two red-hot U.S. Senate campaigns in Georgia on Friday, aiming to get Republican voters to turn out in force for a Jan. 5 runoff election battle that will decide Senate control.

Global perspective

- Donald Trump would be wiser to acknowledge losing the U.S. presidential election and quit, Czech President Milos Zeman, an early Trump supporter, said on Thursday.

Investor view

- U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will attend a virtual summit of Asia Pacific leaders on Friday to discuss the coronavirus and global economic recovery, with lingering trade differences likely to cloud the meeting.

By the numbers

- President Donald Trump's strategy for retaining power despite losing the U.S. election is focused increasingly on persuading Republican legislators to intervene on his behalf in battleground states won by Democrat Joe Biden, three people familiar with the effort said.

After the campaign trail

- Trump will meet with Republican leaders of the Michigan state legislature at the White House as his campaign pursues multiple bids to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 election. 

- Biden to meet with House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

- Vice President Mike Pence to campaign with Republican incumbent Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler for their January runoff elections in Georgia, which will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.