Biden urges safe Thanksgiving; Trump alleges fraud

JOE BIDEN: "Every decision we make matters. Every decision we make can save lives."

In a presidential-style address from Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, President-elect Joe Biden pleaded with Americans to skip big family gatherings during Thanksgiving...

BIDEN: "This will not last forever."

...as COVID-19 cases surged on the eve of the national holiday.

BIDEN: "I know how hard it is to forgo family traditions, but it's so very important."

COVID-19 hospitalizations reached a record 88,000 on Wednesday, a day after deaths surpassed 2,000 in a single day for the first time since May.

BIDEN: "I know the country's grown weary of the fight, but we need to remember - we're at war with the virus, not with one another, not with each other."

But As Biden spoke, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis were going to battle for the president at a mostly mask-free meeting of low-level Republican state legislators in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

GIULIANI: "I know crooks really well. You give them an inch and they take a mile, and you give them a mile and they take your whole country."

The outgoing president called in to the meeting to repeat numerous, unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud over speaker phone.

TRUMP: "If you were a Republican poll watcher, you were treated like a dog."

Trump again falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him, drawing cheers from the partisan crowd.

ELLIS HOLDING UP PHONE AS TRUMP (ON PHONE) THANKS THEM, PEOPLE START CHANTING: "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

Without mentioning Trump, Biden – who this week was finally authorized to formally start his presidential transition after a weeks long delay - addressed the ongoing election aftermath during his speech.

"Our democracy was tested this year. And what we learned is this: the people of this nation are up to the task. In America, we have full and fair and free elections and then we honor the results."