THE drama, disputes and falsehoods of Donald Trump's presidential campaign are now muddying his transition to the White House, forcing aides to defend his baseless assertions of illegal voting and sending internal fights spilling into the public domain.
On Monday, a recount effort led by Green Party candidate Jill Stein and joined by Hillary Clinton's campaign also marched on in three states, based partly on the Stein campaign's unsubstantiated assertion that cyber-hacking could have interfered with electronic voting machines.
Wisconsin approved plans to begin a recount as early as Thursday and Ms Stein also asked for one in Pennsylvania and was expected to do the same in Michigan, where officials certified Mr Trump's victory Monday.
Billionaire property tycoon Mr Trump has attacked the recounts and now claims without evidence that he, not Mrs Clinton, would have won the popular vote had it not been for "millions of people who voted illegally".
On Twitter, he singled out Virginia, California and New Hampshire but there has been no indication of widespread election tampering or voter fraud in those states or any others and Trump aides struggled on Monday to back up their boss' claim.
Spokesman Jason Miller said illegal voting was "an issue of concern" but the only evidence he raised was a 2014 news report and a study on voting irregularities conducted before the 2016 election.
Mr Trump met candidates for top cabinet posts on Monday, including retired general David Petraeus, a new contender for secretary of state. He met Tennessee senator Bob Corker, who is also being considered more seriously for the diplomatic post, yesterday, as well as Mitt Romney, who has become a symbol of the internal divisions agitating the transition team.
Mr Petraeus said he spent about an hour with Trump, and he praised the president-elect for showing a "great grasp of a variety of the challenges that are out there."
"Very good conversation and we'll see where it goes from here," he said.
Former CIA chief Mr Petraeus pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanour charge of mishandling classified information relating to documents he had provided to his biographer, with whom he was having an affair.
Vice president-elect Mike Pence, who is heading the transition effort, teased "a number of very important announcements tomorrow" as he left Trump Tower on Monday night.
Mr Pence is said to be among those backing Mr Romney for secretary of state. Mr Romney was fiercely critical of Mr Trump throughout the campaign but is interested in the cabinet position, and they discussed it during a lengthy meeting earlier this month.
Other top Trump allies, notably campaign manager Kellyanne Conway, have launched a highly unusual public campaign to warn the president-elect that nominating Mr Romney would be seen as a betrayal by his supporters.
Ms Conway's comments stirred speculation that she is seeking to either force Mr Trump's hand or give him cover for ultimately passing over Mr Romney.
Three people close to the transition team said Mr Trump had been aware that Ms Conway planned to voice her opinion, both on Twitter and in television interviews. They disputed reports that Mr Trump was furious at her and suggested his decision to consider additional candidates instead highlighted her influence.
Ms Conway served as Mr Trump's third campaign manager and largely succeeded in navigating the minefield of rivalries that ensnared other officials.
Mr Trump is said to have offered her a choice of White House jobs, either press secretary or communications director. But people with knowledge of Ms Conway's plans say she is more interested in serving as an outside political adviser, akin to the role Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe played following the 2008 election.
The wrangling over the State Department post appears to have slowed the announcements of other top jobs. Retired general James Mattis, who impressed Mr Trump during a pre-Thanksgiving meeting, was at the top of the list for defence secretary, but a final decision had not been made.
Mr Trump was also considering former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani for homeland security secretary, according to those close to the transition process.
Mr Giuliani was initially the front-runner for secretary of state and is still in the mix. But questions about his overseas business dealings, as well as the mayor's public campaigning for the job, have given Mr Trump pause.
Even as Mr Trump weighs major decisions that will shape his presidency, he has been unable to avoid being distracted by the recount effort.
He spent Sunday on a 12-hour Twitter offensive that included quoting Mrs Clinton's concession speech, in which she said the public owed Mr Trump "an open mind and the chance to lead".
His final tweets challenging the integrity of an election he won were reminiscent of his repeated, unsubstantiated assertions during the campaign that the contest might be rigged. Those previous comments sparked an outcry from both Mrs Clinton and some Republicans.
Clinton lawyer Marc Elias said the campaign has seen "no actionable evidence" of voting anomalies, but the campaign still plans to be involved in Ms Stein's recount to ensure its interests are legally represented.
Mr Trump narrowly won Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan and all three would need to flip to Mrs Clinton to upend the Republican's victory - and the Clinton team says Mr Trump has a larger edge in all three states than has ever been overcome in a presidential recount.
