On Thursday, President Trump and his campaign's legal team ramped up their efforts to achieve a drastic shift in the outcome of the Presidential Election, with attorney Rudi Giuliani leading the charge in Michigan.
President Trump, despite trailing behind President-elect Biden across most major battleground states, has invited Michigan's Republican representatives in an effort to drum up support to cause a potential upset in the swing state.
Contrastingly, the President also reached out to officials in Wayne County who had sought to block the certification of votes from the constituency, despite calls of racism from Detroit's mayor who stated that the majority of votes from the African-American demographic may have been overturned. Biden leads the President in Michigan by over 140,000 votes.
On Thursday, Giuliani and the President's legal team in a press conference from the Republican National Committee headquarters, alleged that the President was the victim of a scheme by Democratic election officials from major cities including Detroit, Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh - which contributed to Biden's narrow victory.
Giuliani stated that "This was not an individual idea of 10 or 12 Democrat bosses. This was a plan. You would have to be a fool not to realize that", despite the fact that the legal team failed to produce any tangible evidence to back their claims.
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Tuesday fired the US government’s top election security official, who had rejected the president’s unsubstantiated claims of “massive” fraud in the vote he lost to Joe Biden. Trump announced on Twitter the termination “effective immediately” of Chris Krebs, who led the agency that jointly declared “the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history.”
The US president, who refuses to acknowledge that he lost his bid for reelection to Democrat Biden, has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the voting and count were replete with fraud.
“The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud,” he wrote in a tweet.
“Therefore, effective immediately, Chris Krebs has been terminated as Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.”
Krebs, who reportedly told friends last week he expected to be removed, appeared to confirm it in a tweet on his personal account.—AFP
On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell being faced with questions pertaining to the government's transition process towards a Biden Administration, stated that a transfer of power will happen on time.
In a press conference, Senator McConnell stated that "We are going to have an orderly transfer from this administration to the next one. What we all say about it is frankly irrelevant [...] all of it will happen right on time, and we will swear in the next administration on January 20".
The Senator was pressed by reporters as to whether the General Services Administration (GSA) should certify the election result and permit President-elect Biden to initiate his transition process, which would give him and his team access to federal resources and the ability to coordinate with federal officials - to which the McConnell stated that it is up to the courts to settle the election disputes and the states to certify the votes.
Like many other Republican lawmakers, Senator McConnell has yet to acknowledge that President-elect Biden won the election, while President Trump's legal team is locked in a plethora of legal battles in key battleground states where he alleges that the election was "stolen" or "rigged"; to which there is still no conclusive evidence.
McConnell articulated that "of course" there will be a peaceful transfer of power, and that the process would be orderly and done by the stipulated deadline on the 20th of January 2021 - adding that "The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792".
On Tuesday, the board of canvassers in Michigan's largest county voted to unanimously certify the election results after initially being deadlocked in a party-line vote.
The office of Michigan's Secretary of State confirmed that the Wayne County Board of Canvassers voted by a 4-0 margin the certify the results of the election, which voted with a heavy Democratic-tilt, requesting the state's top election official to investigate any legitimate claims of voter fraud and discrepancies in the tallies.
This unanimous decision marked a complete 180-degree-turn from the early hours of Tuesday, when the panel's two Republican canvassers voted against certifying the election; sparking intense celebrations from the GOP and drawing the ire of the Democrats, who stated that it was simply "delaying the inevitable".
President-elect Joe Biden current holds a lead of nearly 150,000 votes over President Trump in Michigan, with a whopping 40-point lead in Wayne County. The county board's reversal is yet another setback for the Trump Campaign and the Republican Party, as they have aggressively peddled a narrative pertaining to widespread voter fraud and electoral irregularities, despite lacking any tangible evidence to back their claims.
Democrats hailed this reversal, with the Michigan Democratic spokesperson issuing a statement that "We applaud this decision and are thrilled that the voices of over 800,000 Wayne County voters have been heard and their votes have been properly counted. We were reminded tonight about the importance of speaking up and speaking out. We are deeply thankful to all of you that took the time to share your story tonight. You made a difference".
WASHINGTON: US import prices unexpectedly fell in October as the cost of petroleum products and a range of other goods declined, suggesting inflation could remain muted for a while.
The Labor Department said on Tuesday import prices dipped 0.1% last month. Data for September was revised down to show import prices gaining 0.2% instead of rising 0.3% as previously reported. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast import prices, which exclude tariffs, advancing 0.2% in October.
In the 12 months through October, import prices fell 1.0% after declining 1.4% in September.
Petroleum prices fell 1.0% last mo
nth. Excluding petroleum, import prices were unchanged following a 0.6% advance in September. The weakness in import prices came on the heels of data last week showing a steady increase in producer prices in October and slowing consumer inflation.
Imported food prices edged up 0.1% last month. The cost of goods imported from China were unchanged for the second consecutive month. Last month, prices for imported capital goods were unchanged. The cost of imported motor vehicles fell 0.1%. Prices for consumer goods excluding autos dropped 0.2%.
The report also showed export prices increased 0.2% in October, lifted by higher agricultural export prices. Prices for nonagricultural exports were unchanged. Export prices rose 0.6% in September. They dropped 1.6% on a year-on-year basis in October after decreasing 1.8% in September.
The group of experts who led former President George W. Bush's legal efforts in the aftermath of the 2000 Presidential Election, state that President Trump has "no chance" of success in his own attempts to challenge the results of the election.
In multiple interviews with Bloomberg, several individuals who were involved with the Bush campaign's efforts to halt a recount in Florida during the 2000 Presidential Election - a move that allowed Bush to take a slim lead over his Democratic opponent, former Vice President Al Gore - stated that President Trump had to path towards replicating a similar result in this election.
Benjamin Ginsburg, the 2000 Bush Campaign's national counsel, stated that “You can’t just say, ‘This election’s tainted, throw it out', - you have to have some specificity, and so far, they’re sorely lacking in specificity". Barry Richards, who led the Bush Campaign's legal efforts during the Florida recount, added that "If the court were to overturn this election on that basis, they’d be disenfranchising many thousands of voters just because somebody said there was some irregularity in a particular place".
Allies of the Bush Campaign, all of whom who worked during the 2000 Presidential Election recount efforts held similar opinion on President Trump's chances to extract a favourable result through this strategy, with Ted Olson - a Bush Campaign legal representative - stating that "I do believe the election is over, we do have a new president".
The Trump Campaign has been mounting aggressive legal efforts in Pennsylvania, in an effort to delay the certification and verification of the state's election results, attempts that have yet to see any success.
WILMINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden will focus on shaping his core White House team on Tuesday while outgoing President Donald Trump presses on with his increasingly tenuous legal fight to reverse his loss in the US election.
Biden's senior campaign staff have been discussing their roles in the transition and the new administration that takes over Jan. 20. Several roles could be announced as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
US Representative Cedric Richmond, who was a national co-chair of Biden's campaign and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is expected to join the administration in a senior capacity, as is Steve Ricchetti, who has long been a close adviser to Biden, the person said. Richmond's move would leave his Louisiana congressional seat open.
Jen O'Malley Dillon, who was brought in early this year as Biden's campaign manager and is the first woman to lead a winning Democratic presidential bid, is expected to be named a deputy chief of staff.
Other roles could also be disclosed this week though Biden could still be weeks away from finalizing his slate of cabinet appointees.
None of the potential appointees could be reached for comment. A spokesman for Biden's transition team declined to comment.
Biden, a Democrat, is also set to receive a briefing on national security threats from his own advisers. Trump, a Republican who has not conceded the Nov. 3 election, has blocked him from receiving classified intelligence briefings usually provided to the successor in a transition.
General Services Administrator Emily Murphy has not recognized Biden as the "apparent winner." A spokeswoman for Murphy said the administrator was following precedent and would "make an ascertainment when the winner is clear." Critics say Murphy is holding off under pressure from the White House, a claim rejected by administration officials.
The Republican Trump has remained angry and defiant on social media even as some prominent Republicans have asserted that Biden should be considered the president-elect.
Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, said on Monday he would ensure a professional transition in the likely event that Biden is deemed the winner.
"If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner, and obviously things look like that now, we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council," O'Brien told the Global Security Forum.
At a news conference on Monday, Biden again called upon Trump to cooperate with the transfer of power, saying that the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic meant lives were in the balance.
"More people may die if we don't coordinate," he said.
CLEAR BIDEN VICTORY
Though a definitive winner from the election did not emerge until four days later, Biden's victory has become clearer as more votes have been counted.
Biden won the legally meaningless but symbolically important national popular vote by at least 5.6 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points, with some ballots still being counted.
In the all-important state-by-state Electoral College, Biden surpassed the 270 votes needed to win with 306 to Trump's 232.
As states work to certify those results before a Dec. 8 deadline, Trump and his supporters have claimed he was cheated by fraud, but so far those baseless allegations have failed to gain traction in court.
One of Trump's legal challenges will get a hearing on Tuesday in a Pennsylvania federal court, where another legal setback would likely doom his already long-shot prospects.
US District Judge Matthew Brann will hear arguments in a Trump campaign lawsuit that seeks to halt the state's top election official from certifying Biden as the winner.
In order to remain in office, Trump would need to overturn results in at least three of the closely contested states in unprecedented fashion, and has no apparent legal means to do so.
Trump supporters are also clinging to hope that recounts could reverse state results, even though experts have said Biden's margins appear insurmountable.
Georgia is undertaking a manual recount on its own, but in Wisconsin the Trump campaign would have to pay for a recount in advance. The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday estimated such a recount would cost $7.9 million.
Georgia's top elections official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post he has come under pressure from fellow Republicans who have launched false fraud allegations or questioned the legality of valid votes.
He also said he and his wife have received death threats.
"Other than getting you angry, it's also very disillusioning, particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle," Raffensperger told the Post. "Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say."
On Monday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stated that Republican leaders such as Senator Lindsey Graham have been pressurising him to exclude legal ballots in order for President Trump to be declared the winner from the state, and nab 16 electoral votes in the process.
In an interview with the Washington Post, Raffensperger mentioned that Senator Graham asked him if he had the authority to "toss-out ballots" in counties with high rates on non-matching signatures, additionally questioning if poll workers had accepted ballots with non-matching signatures due to political bias.
Senator Graham denied allegations that he pressured Raffensperger, stating that he was figuring out how votes were verified in Georgia, adding that he thought that the state "has some protections that maybe other states don't have". Talking to reporters on Monday, Graham stated that "What I'm trying to find out was how do you verify signatures for mail-in ballots in these states [...] I thought it was a good conversation. I'm surprised to hear him characterise it that way".
Raffensperger stated that Republican efforts to cast aside legal ballots frustrated him, adding that he and his wife have received death threats recently, including one that read, “You better not botch this recount. Your life depends on it".
He mentioned that "Other than getting you angry, it’s also very disillusioning, particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle", urging both major political parties and his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to exercise restraint.
Raffensperger stated that any legitimate claims of voter fraud would be investigated under the full extent of the law, adding that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that widespread fraud had occurred.
WILMINGTON, Del./WASHINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden on Monday will focus on reviving a pandemic-battered US economy as he prepares to take office, while outgoing President Donald Trump has promised more lawsuits of the type that so far have failed to alter his election defeat.
With coronavirus cases surging, Biden will receive a briefing and give a speech in his home state of Delaware on rebuilding an economy that has suffered millions of job losses as the pandemic has killed more than 245,000 Americans.
Biden's scientific advisers will meet this week with pharmaceutical companies developing vaccines to prevent COVID-19, a top aide to the president-elect said, in preparation for the logistical challenges of widespread vaccination after the Democrat takes office on Jan. 20.
Trump, a Republican, briefly appeared to acknowledge defeat on Sunday only to backtrack, saying on Twitter that he concedes "nothing" and repeating his unfounded accusations of voter fraud.
He later promised on Twitter to file "big cases showing the unconstitutionality of the 2020 Election," even though he has made no headway with his legal challenges in multiple states so far.
Election officials from both parties have said there is no evidence of major irregularities. Federal election security officials have decried "unfounded claims" and expressed "utmost confidence" in the integrity of the elections, according to a statement last week by the lead US cybersecurity agency.
LEGAL SETBACK
In another blow to Trump's legal strategy, his campaign on Sunday dropped a major part of a lawsuit it had brought seeking to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying its results, narrowing the case to an issue affecting a small number of ballots. Biden won the state by more than 68,000 votes.
Biden beat Trump in the Nov. 3 election by the same 306-232 margin in the state-by-state Electoral College that Trump proclaimed a "landslide" when he won in 2016. The former vice president also won the national popular vote by at least 5.5 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points, with ballots still being counted.
Former President Barack Obama, a Democrat who campaigned against Trump, said it was past time for Trump to concede, and criticized Republicans who also refuse to accept the victory of his former vice president.
"When your time is up, then it is your job to put the country first and think beyond your own ego," Obama told the CBS News show "60 Minutes" in an interview that aired on Sunday.
"I'm more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this."
The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's most loyal supporters, will hold a hearing on Tuesday titled: "Breaking the News: Censorship, Suppression and the 2020 Election."
STILL NO CONCESSION
The Trump administration has still not recognized Biden as president-elect, preventing his team from gaining access to the government office space and funding normally provided to an incoming administration.
Biden's top advisers said Trump's refusal to begin a transition could jeopardize the battle against the virus and inhibit vaccine distribution planning.
The number of US coronavirus cases passed 11 million on Sunday, up a million in a week and the fastest increase since the pandemic began.
Biden has promised to make the health crisis a top priority as president. Ron Klain, who will be White House chief of staff when Biden takes office, said Biden's scientific advisers would meet with Pfizer Inc and other drugmakers this week.
Pfizer said last week its vaccine candidate had proved more than 90% effective in initial trials, giving hope that widespread vaccination in the coming months could help get the pandemic under control. Other companies also are in advanced stages of developing promising vaccines.
Biden will also resume work on building his governing team. Although Klain, his first appointment, is a white man, the president-elect has vowed that his administration will "look like America" and be represented by women and minorities.
Some 46% of his transition staff are people of color and 52% are women, CNN reported, citing data provided by the transition team.
In a perceivable display of rejuvenated populist support, thousands of Trump supporters held a rally in Washington on Saturday, protesting the results of the Presidential Election; the aftermath of which was aggravated by false claims of voter fraud.
While the protests began in an orderly manner, even earning a brief drive-by from the President himself, they quickly descended into violence as the night progressed, with counter-protestors and Trump supporters openly clashing in the streets. Later on in the day, more than 40 men allegedly identified themselves as the members of the Proud Boys, an extremist right-wing organization.
The police arrested 20 people, including four individuals on gun-related charges.
These protests fanned out as the last two states of the election were finally called - with President-elect Biden winning Georgia to secure a total of 306 electoral votes, while incumbent President Trump won from North Carolina to settle his tally at 232 electoral votes.
On Twitter, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany offered an exaggerated assessment of the event, calling the protests the "Million MAGA March", in an attempt to heighten the President's popularity amidst a bitter legal battle to recount the votes.
In the midst of a heated Presidential Election, President Trump's interference and consistent disregard for the political process could be potentially damaging for U.S. national security, according to Trump's former Chief of Staff John Kelly.
In an exclusive interview to POLITICO, Kelly stated that "You lose a lot if the transition is delayed because the new people are not allowed to get their head in the game", adding that "The president, with all due respect, does not have to concede. But it’s about the nation. It hurts our national security".
Kelly is a retired four-star Marine Corps general, and served as President Trump's Chief of Staff - a partnership that proved to be unsatisfactory for the President, and led to Kelly's eventual dismissal in January 2019. When asked about the importance of the transitional process, Kelly stated that "the transition, in the national security realm in particular and the homeland security realm, is just so important that every day that the transition is delayed, really kind of handicaps the new team".
During his time with the Trump Administration, Gen. Kelly repeatedly locked horns with the President, especially on more procedural issues, and stated that "I think it’s crazy not to [start the transition], I know Mr. Trump better than most people do. I know that he’ll never accept defeat and, in fact, he doesn’t have to accept defeat here. He just has to do what’s best for the country and in the country’s interest".
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump's supporters will take to the streets on Saturday to back his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud as he pushes ahead with a flurry of longshot legal challenges to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
Trump has made little headway in the courts with his lawsuits and for the first time on Friday he began to sound doubtful about his prospects, telling reporters "time will tell" who occupies the White House from Jan. 20.
There have been other pro-Trump protests around the country since Biden was projected the winner on Nov. 7, but they have been small and unfolded with few incidents.
The pro-Trump demonstrations in Washington and other cities are scheduled to feature a mix of the president's backers, far-right personalities and members of the Oath Keepers militia and Proud Boys in a public display of support for his effort to stay in power.
Organizers have given the rallies various names, including the Million MAGA March, the March for Trump and Stop the Steal. MAGA is an acronym for the Trump campaign slogan "Make America Great Again." Trump has tweeted his support.
Some left-wing groups are planning counter-demonstrations in Washington and other cities.
Biden further solidified his victory on Friday as results from Edison Research showed him winning Georgia, giving him a final tally of 306 Electoral College votes, far more than the 270 needed to be elected president and above Trump's 232.
The 306 votes was equal to what Trump won in his 2016 victory over Hillary Clinton, which he then called a "landslide."
Trump briefly appeared close to acknowledging the likelihood he will be leaving the White House in January during remarks at a White House event.
"This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the, uh, whatever happens in the future - who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell," Trump said in his first public remarks since Biden was projected as the election's winner a week ago.
With the election outcome becoming clearer, Trump has discussed with advisers possible media ventures and appearances that would keep him in the spotlight ahead of a possible 2024 White House bid, aides said.
He is considering starting a television channel or social media company to compete with those he felt betrayed him and stifled his ability to communicate directly with Americans, according to several advisers.
In the near term, Trump is expected to campaign for Republican candidates in Georgia ahead of two Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine which party controls the US Senate.
FAILING IN COURT
Trump has refused to concede to Biden and claims without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud. State election officials report no serious irregularities, and several of his legal challenges have failed in court.
A Michigan state court on Friday rejected a request by Trump's supporters to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of Biden. And lawyers for Trump's campaign dropped a lawsuit in Arizona after the final vote count there rendered it moot.
Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system deleted, lost or changed votes, "or was in any way compromised," two security groups said in a statement released on Thursday by the lead US cybersecurity agency.
To win a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden's lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them.
States face a Dec. 8 deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on Dec. 14.
Trump's refusal to accept defeat has stalled the official transition. The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognize Biden's victory, denying him access to federal office space and resources.
But Biden, who will meet with advisers about the transition on Saturday in his home state of Delaware, has pressed ahead with the process, identifying legislative priorities, reviewing federal agency policies and preparing to fill thousands of jobs in the new administration.
"We're charging ahead with the transition," Jen Psaki, a senior adviser to Biden's transition team, said while stressing Biden still needs "real-time information" from the Trump administration to deal with the resurgent coronavirus pandemic and national security threats.
Although the national popular vote does not determine the election outcome, Biden was ahead by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points. His share of the popular vote, at 50.8%, was slightly higher than Ronald Reagan's in 1980 when he defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter.
President-elect Joe Biden, while being repeatedly held back from initiating a formal government transition, has been making efforts to fill essential cabinet positions - reportedly considering Angus King to serve as Director of National Intelligence in his new administration.
A senator from Maine, King is an independent was frequently aligns with Democrats, who served as a prominent member of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services Committees; as his selection would provide a reputable voice, known in both the government and the intelligence community. However, this appointment could potentially vacate a Democratic Senate seat, in a state in which there is overwhelming Republican support, as would require a carefully fielded candidate.
During the Trump Administration, Senator King was an outspoken critic of what he termed as Trump's politicization of the intelligence community, especially through the appointment of loyal allies with limited intelligence experience.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Senator King stated that "You want intelligence to be truthful and unvarnished and as straightforward as possible - not what you want to hear, not what supports your policy positions [...] because if you don’t get that kind of information, you’re liable to make catastrophic mistakes".
Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, a Republican from Maine who previously served under President Bill Clinton, described Senator King as "a diligent and thoughtful member of the Senate Intelligence Committee for eight years, and in that role has provided effective oversight of the intelligence community", stating that he would be an ideal candidate for the role.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was launched in 2005, and specifically tasked to oversee the nation's rapidly expanding intelligence infrastructure, and to coordinate among the numerous agencies.
President Trump was a hardened sceptic of the intelligence community, especially considering the ongoing investigation of his campaign's ties to Russia, and attempted to actively scale back on the role of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence as a whole. Dan Coats and Joseph Maguire, President Trump's first two intelligence chiefs were forced out for not complying with the party-narrative, as the President often used intelligence to draw inaccurate conclusions that served his own interests.
In contrast, President-elect Biden aims to place individuals who are familiar to the intelligence community into these roles, with Cohen stating that "[Biden] knows this world well and will appoint serious and credible professionals to restore the morale in the intelligence community which has been badly harmed by the recent appointment of unqualified political appointees to senior positions".
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden solidified his election victory on Friday by winning the state of Georgia, and President Donald Trump said “time will tell” if another administration takes over soon, the closest he has come to acknowledging Biden could succeed him.
Edison Research, which made the Georgia call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalizing the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump.
The numbers gave Biden, a Democrat, a resounding defeat of Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes that Trump, a Republican, won to defeat Hillary Clinton in a 2016 victory Trump called a “landslide.”
At a White House event where he predicted a coronavirus vaccine would be available for the whole population by April, Trump edged closer to acknowledging he might leave the White House in January but stopped short.
“This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the, uh, whatever happens in the future - who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell,” Trump said in his first public remarks since Biden was projected as the election’s winner on Nov. 7.
Trump did not take questions after the event.
Trump, a Republican, has claimed without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud and has refused to concede. State election officials report no serious irregularities, and several of his legal challenges have failed in court.
While Trump had yet to concede, Biden officials reiterated they were moving ahead with transition efforts regardless.
Although the national popular vote does not determine the election outcome, Biden was ahead by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points. His share of the popular vote, at 50.8%, was slightly higher than Ronald Reagan’s share of the vote in 1980 when he defeated Jimmy Carter. To win a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden’s lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them. States face a Dec. 8 “safe harbor” deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on Dec. 14.
Biden’s legal team in Georgia said on Friday they do not expect a hand recount of votes in the state to change the results there. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News the campaign has “great confidence” it can prevail in the Georgia recount.
A Michigan state court rejected on Friday a request by Trump’s supporters to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of Biden. And lawyers for Trump’s campaign dropped a lawsuit in Arizona after the final vote count rendered it moot.
Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, “or was in any way compromised,” two security groups said in a statement released on Thursday by the lead U.S. cybersecurity agency.
Transition talk
Biden officials said on Friday they would press forward with the transition, identifying legislative priorities, reviewing federal agency policies and preparing to fill thousands of jobs in the new administration.
“We’re charging ahead with the transition,” Jen Psaki, a senior adviser to Biden’s transition team, said on a conference call while stressing that Biden still needs “real-time information” from the Trump administration to deal with the resurgent pandemic and national security threats.
Psaki urged Trump’s White House to allow Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to receive daily intelligence briefings on potential threats around the world. “With every day that passes on, it becomes more concerning that our national security team and the president-elect and the vice president-elect don’t have access to those threat assessments, intelligence briefings, real-time information about our engagements around the world,” Psaki said. “Because, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know.”
Biden will be briefed by his own group of national-security experts next week, she said. He met with transition advisers again on Friday at his Delaware beach house where he is mapping out his approach to the pandemic and prepares to name his top appointees, including Cabinet members.
Trump’s refusal to accept defeat has stalled the official transition. The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognize Biden’s victory, denying him access to federal office space and resources.
Trump has discussed with advisers media ventures and appearances to keep him in the spotlight ahead of a possible 2024 White House bid. In the near term, he is expected to campaign for Republican U.S. Senate candidates in Georgia ahead of Jan. 5 runoff elections that will determine which party controls the chamber, aides said.
He also is considering starting a new television channel or social media company to compete with those he felt betrayed him and stifled his ability to communicate directly with Americans, according to several advisers.
Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera, a Trump confidant, said he had spoken to the president by phone on Friday and Trump gave him the impression he would follow the U.S. Constitution and surrender his office after every vote was counted.
“He told me he’s a realist. He told me he would do the right thing,” Rivera said in an interview with Fox. “I got no impression that he was plotting the overthrow of the elected government. He just wants a fair fight.”
BEIJING: China congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden on Friday nearly a week after he was declared winner of the American election, saying it respects "the choice of the American people".
US-China ties have grown increasingly strained in recent years under the administration of incumbent Donald Trump, and relations are as icy as at any time since formal ties were established four decades ago.
"We respect the choice of the American people. We express our congratulations to Mr Biden and Ms Harris," said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin at a regular press briefing, referring to incoming vice president Kamala Harris.
China was previously among a handful of major countries including Russia and Mexico that had not congratulated the president-elect, with Beijing commenting earlier this week simply that it had "noticed Mr Biden declared he is the winner". Since US media called the presidential race, Trump has not conceded to Biden as is traditional practice once a winner is projected.
Biden, who leads by more than five million in the popular vote, cemented his victory late Thursday by winning Arizona, US networks said. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the election has been hindered by fraud, and Thursday retweeted a baseless claim that an election equipment maker "deleted" 2.7 million votes for him nationwide.
US election officials said there is no evidence of compromised ballots or corrupt voting systems in the US election.
US-CHINA TENSIONS
Trump's four years in the White House have been marked by soaring tensions as Trump portrayed China as the greatest threat to the United States and global democracy and the two sides sparred over topics from blame for the Covid-19 pandemic to technology, and China's human rights record.
The two clashed in a bruising trade war over US demands, including greater access to China's markets, broad reform of a business playing field that heavily favours Chinese firms, and a loosening of heavy state control by Beijing.
In January a deal was signed between the two -- bringing a partial truce that obliged Beijing to import an additional $200 billion in American products over two years, ranging from cars to machinery and oil to farm products. Trump has also turned its gun on Chinese tech firms it says poses security threats, including video-sharing app TikTok -- owned by Chinese parent company Bytedance -- and mobile giant Huawei.
But it is far from certain that relations will improve under a Biden administration, with the Democrat outspoken during his campaign on China's dismal human rights record.
During a Democratic Party primary debate in February, Biden called Chinese President Xi Jinping a "thug".
His presidential campaign has also referred to the crackdown on the Muslim Uighur minority in China's Xinjiang as a "genocide" -- a campaign Beijing defends as vocational training to counter the threat of terrorism.
WASHINGTON: There is no evidence of compromised ballots or corrupt voting systems in the US election, officials said Thursday, as a top Democrat accused Republicans who refuse to accept President-elect Joe Biden's win of "poisoning" democracy. Their messages came hours after President Donald Trump once again cried foul, retweeting a baseless claim that an election equipment maker "deleted" 2.7 million votes for him nationwide.
Biden, who leads by more than five million in the popular vote, cemented his victory late Thursday by winning Arizona, US networks said, flipping the state Democratic for the first time since 1996. Arizona gives Biden a 290-217 lead over Trump in the Electoral College, with 270 needed to win the White House.
With most Republican lawmakers having yet to acknowledge Biden's win, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber's top Democrat, accused them Thursday of "denying reality" and "auditioning for profiles in cowardice."
"Instead of working to pull the country back together so that we can fight our common enemy Covid-19, Republicans in Congress are spreading conspiracy theories, denying reality and poisoning the well of our democracy," he said.
Senior US federal and state election officials meanwhile in a statement rejected Trump's claims of fraud, saying that "the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history."
The statement was issued by the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, a public-private umbrella group under the primary federal election security body, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," they said.
"While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too," the statement said.
It was signed by the heads of the National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State -- the officials who manage elections at the state level -- and by the chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission.
'Absurd circus'
The statement came just hours after Trump's retweet, which in addition to claiming 2.7 million "deleted" votes also said hundreds of thousand had been switched from him to Biden in Pennsylvania and other states. It was the latest in a series of bogus assertions Trump and Republicans have put forth in order to reject Biden's victory.
Republican lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have stood firm with Trump by supporting his refusal to concede and backing his legal challenges. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi weighed in Thursday to demand Republicans stop what she called an "absurd circus" and turn to combatting the pandemic.
"Now that the people have expressed their views, Joe Biden has won (and) Kamala Harris will be the first woman vice president of the United States," Pelosi said.
Political experts believe Republicans may be invoking such a strategy as a way to rile up Trump's base before two US Senate runoff elections in Georgia that will determine which party controls the chamber.
A total of 161 former national security officials, including some who worked with Trump, additionally warned the current administration's continued delay in recognizing Biden's victory is posing "a serious risk to national security."
In a letter, the group including ex-Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel and Trump's former National Security Council senior counterterrorism director Javed Ali urged General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy to recognize Biden as the apparent president-elect. Without a GSA signoff, transition funds and other resources including access to intelligence briefings cannot flow to Biden and his team, but Murphy has refused to budge.
In the aftermath of a divisive Presidential Election, an unprecedented torrent of misinformation has flooded the internet, specifically based on unfounded allegations of electoral fraud - pushing the American democratic system to the brink.
President-elect Biden may have claimed the popular vote and the electoral college, but incumbent President Trump has not only outrightly refused to accept the results of the election - a move many have termed as dictatorial in nature - but his loyalists in the public sphere have blocked access to essential intelligence, or even inhibited the transitional process for the upcoming administration.
However, President Trump's stance in the dying embers of his administration has been emboldened by politically-driven misinformation, which has led to an uncomfortable deadlock - not just between the incumbent and intended presidential administrations, but also for the United States' allies around the world; many of which have resorted to reaching out to the Biden campaign through alternative diplomatic channels.
According to a poll conducted by YouGov and The Economist, conducted amongst registered voters, a whopping 82 percent of Republicans responded that they did not believe that Joe Biden had legitimately won the Presidential Election. Another YouGov poll found that 79 percent of Republican voters believed (albeit falsely) that widespread voter fraud had occurred and that it impacted the outcome of the election; as it can be seen that due to a combination of an unhinged presidency, a deepening partisan divide and rhetoric-driven Conservative media behemoths (such as Fox News) have rendered Republican voters as some of the most misinformed in the country.
Unfortunately, after the 2016 Presidential Election, which many have claimed was impacted by the unprecedented rise of online misinformation, this election was not going to be much different. Experts have advised journalists and media outlets that "prepare for uncertainty of results on election day, [...] know the conspiracies around shifts in vote shares, look to statements from election officials, and avoid sharing premature results from candidates or armchair data scientists"; as major media organisations carefully tip-toed around any premature estimates or results, especially in the early hours of Election Day.
However, the sort of disinformation perpetuating on online spaces was expected - as an array of factors have not only primed the American public to be more receptive to falsified information about the election, in which partisan bias certainly has a role to play, but also has allowed such information to be disseminated to a massive audience. Even before he was President, Donald Trump was alleging widespread voter fraud during the 2016 Election, claiming that it was "rigged" in favour of Clinton, and adding that millions of "undocumented" immigrants also voted, all of which set the stage for this strategy to be employed once again.
The onset of the Trump Administration prompted numerous media outlets to routinely employ fact-checking, especially when dealing with President Trump's barrage of misinformed extempore speeches - the impact of which was dulled by the relative inability of major social media platforms (such as Facebook and Twitter) to curb misinformation on a massive scale.
While the Trump Administration has signalled its plan to involve the Supreme Court in order to push for a potential recount in key battleground states - the likelihood for a late turn in the election remains slim, and the efficacy of this strategy remains doubtful.
Perhaps President Trump's term is finally coming to an end, but he will have left an indelible mark on American politics, the consequences of which could continue to reverberate for decades.
President-elect Joe Biden cemented his US electoral victory by capturing the battleground state of Arizona late on Thursday, but the official transition to his administration remains stalled as President Donald Trump refuses to accept defeat.
Biden was projected to win Arizona after more than a week of vote counting from the Nov. 3 election, Edison Research said. He becomes only the second Democratic presidential candidate in seven decades to win the traditionally Republican state.
Biden's win in Arizona gives him 290 electoral votes in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the winner.
Biden had already cleared the 270 vote threshold to win the election, setting him on course to be sworn in on Jan. 20. Arizona's 11 additional electoral votes put any longshot challenge by Trump even further out of reach.
Biden also holds a lead of more than 14,000 votes in the uncalled state of Georgia, nearly certain to survive a manual recount. Nationally, Biden is winning the popular vote by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points.
Trump, a Republican, has claimed without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud, but his legal challenges have failed in court and state election officials report no serious irregularities.
In order to stay in office for a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden's lead in at least three states, having failed to find evidence that could do so in any of them. States face a Dec. 8 "safe harbor" deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on Dec. 14.
Trump's refusal to accept defeat has stalled the process of transitioning to a new administration. The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has not yet recognized Biden's victory.
Biden's pick for White House chief of staff, Ron Klain, told MSNBC on Thursday that starting the transition is particularly crucial now, as the Biden administration will inherit a coronavirus vaccination campaign as soon as he takes office.
"The sooner we can get our transition experts into meetings with the folks who are planning a vaccination campaign, the more seamless the transition to a Biden presidency from a Trump presidency can be," Klain said.
Regardless of the impediments, Biden will sign a "stack" of executive orders and send high-priority legislation to Congress his first day in office, Klain said.
"He is going to have a very, very busy Day One," Klain said, citing a return the to Paris accord on climate change, immigration reform, strengthening the "Obamacare" healthcare law and environmental protection as issues Biden would address on Jan. 20.
REPUBLICANS DIVIDED
Biden was set to meet with transition advisers again on Friday as he maps out his approach to the pandemic and prepares to name his top appointees, including cabinet members.
Most Republicans have publicly endorsed Trump's right to pursue court challenges and declined to recognize Biden as the winner. But more signs of dissension began emerging on Thursday.
Party figures such as Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and Karl Rove, a top adviser to former President George W. Bush, said Biden should be treated as the president-elect.
Meanwhile, a number of Republican senators said the Trump administration should allow Biden to receive classified intelligence briefings, though they stopped short of explicitly calling him the winner.
The incoming commander-in-chief is typically given the briefings to ensure national security is not compromised during the transition.
"I don't see it as a high-risk proposition. I just think it's part of the transition. And, if in fact he does win in the end, I think they need to be able to hit the ground running," Senator John Cornyn told reporters.
The top House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, opposed the idea, suggesting Trump could still prevail.
"He's not president right now," McCarthy said of Biden. "I don't know if he'll be president January 20th."
Democrats have assailed Trump, and the Republicans giving him cover, for undermining the country's institutions. In an interview that will air on CBS' "60 Minutes" on Sunday, former President Barack Obama said Republicans were walking a "dangerous path" by endorsing Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud.
Biden has taken a measured approach, saying this week he viewed Trump's claims as "embarrassing" but insisting he was not worried about the impact on his transition to the White House. His legal advisers have dismissed the Trump lawsuits as political theater.
According to experts, President Trump's unrepentant efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 Election could potentially damage the fabric of the nation's democracy and set a dangerous political precedent, even if the strategy is unlikely to succeed.
According to Professor Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University who controversially predicted President Trump's ascension to the White House in 2016, "what we have witnessed since the election is the worst moment in presidential history", adding that "no losing president - indeed no losing candidate - has so falsely and dangerously undermined the integrity of our democracy and our elections".
President Trump has maintained a steady stance in the aftermath of the Presidential Elections, blaming voter fraud through a strategically positioned campaign against mail-in votes for his unceremonious electoral loss. While any substantive evidence to support the President's claims have yet to emerge, misinformation has played a disturbingly large part in the dissemination of alleged claims of voter fraud, which in turn inflamed President Trump's largely conservative voter demographic.
According to the New York Times, which contacted election officials in every single state, "none reported any major voting issues", and the fact that most Republicans have not vigorously backed the President's dangerous stance, gives a clear indication of where this political crisis is going.
President Trump has yet to concede, as his rabid political supporters in the White House, State Department and Pentagon have refused to allow President-elect Biden to begin the transitional process; which could lead to a long-lasting stalemate that may not end in victory for President Trump, but could likely set a dangerous precedent for the elections to come.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, amidst sweeping changes in the national security sphere by the Trump Administration, stated at an event on Wednesday that his allegiance does not lie with a President or a tyrant, but solely with the constitution.
While standing besides the newly appointed acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller at the opening of the U.S. Army Museum, Gen. Milley stated that "We are unique among militaries. We do not take an oath to a king or a queen, a tyrant or a dictator. We do not take an oath to an individual. No, we do not take an oath to a country, a tribe or religion. We take an oath to the Constitution".
Gen. Milley has repeatedly referenced the military's oath to uphold the Constitution, especially when President Trump contemplated the deployment of the National Guard and the Armed Forces during the Black Lives Matter protests across the country, and he chose to reinforce this message in the aftermath of an exhausting Presidential election.
Following a dramatic reshuffling of the senior civilian leadership in the Pentagon, in the aftermath of the Esper's dismissal by the President, the Trump Administration has funnelled a series of political lobbyists and conspiracy-theorists into the country's intelligence and national security spheres; with many speculating that Gen. Milley could potentially be on the chopping-block as well.
These controversial appointments include Douglas MacGregor, who once advocated using lethal force to dissuade illegal immigrants from crossing the border, and Anthony Tata who once called President Barack Obama a "terrorist leader".
While the military as an institution prides itself as being a non-partisan and non-ideological entity, the institution is embroiled in a precarious situation between the Trump Administration and the incoming Biden Administration; as the country is coming no closer to any transitional phase.
