The president-elect has vowed to move forward with the transition despite Trump lawsuits, Republican obstruction and attempts to mount a blockade of the mechanisms of the presidential succession.

 The General Services Administration run by a Trump appointee has yet to recognise Biden as the president-elect. Until the decision is made Biden’s staff cannot meet with their counterparts in the White House and other federal agencies, begin background checks for potential appointees or receive security briefings.

But Biden said: “We don’t see anything slowing us down, quite frankly.”

Mike Pompeo, Donald Trump’s secretary of state – America’s most senior diplomat – has given a bizarre press conference in which he pretended Donald Trump had not been defeated, instead foreshadowing a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration”.

Boris Johnson has phoned Biden with congratulations on becoming president-elect – but the PM’s congratulatory message on Twitter accidentally contained hidden text congratulating Trump instead.

A mail worker who made voter fraud claims that were seized upon by Republicans is understood to have admitted he was lying after being interviewed by US Postal Service investigators.

 Meanwhile supreme court proceedings have begun to determine the future of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which the Trump administration is trying to have struck down. Two conservative judges have indicated that while parts of the healthcare regime may be unconstitutional, those parts are “severable” and can be removed while leaving the rest of it in place.