Jeb Bush took to Twitter to bid a fond farewell to departing attorney general Bill Barr, who he called “a man of great integrity”.

Several Twitter users took the opportunity to remember some of Mr Barr’s moments of questionable integrity.

Author Don Winslow took aim at Bush himself, after he was done with Barr.

The president-elect will head to Georgia later today to campaign alongside Democratic candidates for the Senate Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock ahead of the runoff elections on 5 January.

Republicans are just one seat away from a majority in the Senate. Democrats must sweep the runoff elections to get a 50-50 Senate which would grant vice president-elect Kamala Harris the tiebreaking vote.

Mr Biden will hold a rally today with the two candidates as part of a $5m campaign in the state.

Vladimir Putin’s congratulatory telegram to president-elect Joe Biden focused on cooperation between Russia and the US, according to the Kremlin.

The Russian president was quoted by the Kremlin as saying the two countries “bear special responsibility for global security and stability” and “can, despite the differences, really contribute to solving many problems and challenges that the world is currently facing”.

Mr Putin noted “the Russian-American cooperation based on the principles of equality and mutual respect would meet the interests of the people in both countries and the entire international community.”

“For my part, I am ready for interaction and contact with you,” Putin said according to a Kremlin statement.

Shortly after the Electoral College confirmed Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump, the president-elect addressed the nation in a speech praising America’s “resilient” democratic institutions and denouncing the incumbent’s attacks against them.

Here are a selection of the key quotes from the president-elect’s speech:

“Once again in America, the rule of law, our constitution and the will of the people prevailed.”

“We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And now it is time to turn the page, as we’ve done throughout our history. To unite. To heal.”

“It is my sincere hope we never again see anyone subjected to the kind of threats and abuse we saw in this election, it’s simply unconscionable. We owe these public servants a debt of gratitude … our democracy survived because of them.”

Trump’s position is “so extreme, we’ve never seen it before. And position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the rule of law, and refused to honor our Constitution.”

“Even President Trump’s own cybersecurity chief overseeing our elections said it was the most secure election in American history.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren welcomed news of attorney general Bill Barr’s resignation, bidding him “good riddance” and saying that he made the Justice Department more corrupt.

Mr Barr’s resignation was announced by Donald Trump last night on Twitter, just over a week after the Justce Department chief said federal investigators could find no evidence of widespread “rigging” in November’s election, contrary to the president’s repeated allegations.

“Just had a very nice meeting with attorney general Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!” the president tweeted.

Vladimir Putin finally congratulated Joe Biden on his election to the presidency, the Kremlin said, sending a telegram offering “Russian-American cooperation”.