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US election 2020: Joe Biden beats Donald Trump to become next President of the USA

Biden 'will have no greater ally and no more dependable friend than the United Kingdom'

Mr Raab tells Ridge: "We are going to have a very strong relationship. There's so much we can cooperate on

"He will have no greater ally and no more dependable friend than the United Kingdom."

"I know from the work I’ve done with our embassy in Washington… of course there’ll always be points of tension in any relationship… the bedrock, the depth, the range of the things that we do together… these are all things which… we will have a huge amount to cooperate on."
 
Saudi Arabia holds its breath after Biden win

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia, which may have more to lose from Joe Biden’s U.S. election victory than other Arab states, has taken its time to comment after the defeat of Donald Trump whose Middle East policies and staunch opposition to Iran had Riyadh’s backing.

As other Arab states raced to congratulate the Democrat challenger, the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman remained silent on the U.S. vote for hours even as he sent warm words to the president of Tanzania on his re-election.

Prince Mohammed’s close personal ties with Trump had provided a vital buffer against a tide of international criticism over Riyadh’s rights record sparked by the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Riyadh’s role in Yemen’s war and the detention of women activists.

Those areas may now become points of friction between Biden and Saudi Arabia, a major oil exporter and buyer of U.S. arms.

The former U.S. vice president pledged in his campaign to reassess ties with the kingdom, demanding more accountability over Khashoggi’s killing in Riyadh’s Istanbul consulate and calling for an end to U.S. support for the Yemen war.

“The only thing worse than COVID-19 would be BIDEN-20,” wrote Saudi Twitter user Dr Muna, while many other Saudi users of the social media platform simply ignored the result in the initial hours after U.S. networks called the election for Biden.

A Saudi political source played down the risk of a falling out between the kingdom and the United States, pointing to Riyadh’s historic ties with Washington.

But Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper offered a sense of the uncertainty about how the future plays out for the kingdom. “The region is waiting ... and preparing ... for what happens after Biden’s victory,” it wrote in a front page article.

The kingdom may not have to wait long. Neil Quilliam, associate fellow at Britain’s Chatham House think-tank, said the Biden administration would likely seek to signal early on its discontent with Saudi domestic and foreign policies.

“The Saudi leadership is concerned that a Biden administration and a hostile Congress will carry out a full review of relations, including re-evaluating defence ties and therefore will likely make positive sounds and moves towards ending the Yemen conflict,” he said.

Saudi Arabia was an enthusiastic backer of Trump’s “maximum pressure” of tough sanctions on regional rival Iran. But Biden has said he would return to a 2015 nuclear pact between world powers and Tehran, a deal negotiated when Biden was vice president in Barack Obama’s administration.

Abu Zaid, a cashier at a supermarket in Riyadh, said he hoped Biden would take a different approach. “I am not happy with the Biden win, but I hope he learns from Obama’s mistakes and realises that Iran is a common enemy,” he said.

A Saudi political source said the kingdom had “the ability to deal with any president because the U.S. is a country of institutions and there is a lot of institutional work between Saudi Arabia and the United States.”

“Saudi-U.S. relations are deep, sustainable, and strategic and not prone to change because a president changes,” he said.

Prince Mohammed had denied ordering Khashoggi’s killing but in 2019 he acknowledged some personal accountability by saying that it happened on his watch. Riyadh has jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years in the case.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...olds-its-breath-after-biden-win-idUSKBN27O0FX
 
Leaders across Africa have been congratulating US President-elect Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, following their victory.

"I urge Mr Biden to deploy his vast experience in tackling the negative consequences of nationalist politics on world affairs," Nigeria's leader said.

Uganda's president hoped a trade deal that gives African nations duty-free access to US markets would be renewed.

Ms Harris was described as a "trailblazer" by Kenya's president.

She has made history as the first female, first black and first Asian-American US vice-president-elect.

Many of the leaders on the continent have pointed to Mr Biden's track record and said how much they looked forward to working with him.

The 77-year-old was first elected to the US senate in 1972 and served as Barack Obama's vice-president for eight years.

Nigeria: 'Respect will of the people'
Muhammadu Buhari, president of Africa's most populous nation and biggest economy, said Mr Biden's victory came at a "time of uncertainty and fear in world affairs".

"His election is a reminder that democracy is the best form of government because it offers the people the opportunity to change their government by peaceful means," Mr Buhari said.

US President Donald Trump has yet to concede and has not spoken publicly since his defeat.

"Respect for the will of the people is the very reason why democracy remains the best form of government, despite its limitations from one polity to another, and from one society to another," Nigeria's leader said.

He added that Nigeria hoped for greater co-operation with the US "especially at economic, diplomatic and political levels, including the war against terrorism".

He said nationalist politics had created "divisions and uncertainties" in the world - and urged Mr Biden to instead "introduce greater engagement with Africa on the basis of reciprocal respect and shared interests".

Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo added his congratulations and spoke of Africa's pride in seeing the election of Ms Harris, who has an Indian-born mother and Jamaican-born father.

"We in Africa are proud of her success. The first African-American President of the US, Barack Obama, has Kenyan DNA in him and I am reasonably sure that the first African-American female vice-president-elect of the US will have some Nigerian DNA in her as most of those taken to the Caribbean from Africa went from Nigeria of today," the ex-president said.

Kenya: 'A friend to our country'
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said Mr Biden's "emphatic win" was "a demonstration of Americans' confidence in the leadership credentials of the former vice-president".

"President-elect Joe Biden is a friend of our country who has visited us in the past and helped in strengthening the strong ties that exist between us and the United States of America," President Kenyatta said in statement .

"His win therefore presents an even bigger and better platform for our two countries to collaborate more closely for the prosperity of the people of our two nations."

He said Ms Harris would be a role model who would "help inspire and embolden millions of young girls across the world to chase and achieve their dreams of greatness and success".

Mr Kenyatta also thanked Mr Trump and his administration and said that he "wished him well as he exits the high office of the president of the United States of America".

Uganda's leader, Yoweri Museveni, sent congratulations to Mr Biden and greetings from the Ugandan people, reminding him of the countries' close links.

"The USA, with its black population of 47.4m people, as well as a large Christian population linked with us by faith, could easily be a natural ally of Uganda and Africa," President Museveni tweeted .

"Previous American presidents have already positively used these linkages by putting in place the African Growth And Opportunity Act [Agoa]... We salute this policy & hope that President Biden maintains it."

Agoa is the flagship US trade legislation designed to boost trade and investment in qualifying African countries by granting duty-free access to 6,500 exported products - it was signed into law by US Bill Clinton in 2000 and boosted and extended by his successors George W Bush and Mr Obama.

It is due to expire in 2025 and if it is not renewed it could have an severe impact on smaller and poorer nations.

Namibia: 'Opposed apartheid'
The president of Namibia said the country, which gained its independence in 1990 from white-minority ruled South Africa after a 25-year war, appreciated Mr Biden's support at that time.

"During our struggle for freedom, we came to know him as a senator who opposed apartheid in South Africa and the region," President Hage Geingob tweeted .

"I look forward to working with @JoeBiden for stronger bilateral relations and multilateralism for a fairer world."

Liberia: 'We all face a global health crisis'
George Weah, president of Liberia, one of three countries severely affected by West Africa's 2014-16 Ebola outbreak, pointed to the coronavirus pandemic in his congratulatory message to Mr Biden.

"He assumes the leadership of the United States at a very challenging time for the country and the world as we all face a global health crisis. I urge all Americans to forge together in peace and unity," he tweeted .

"As the traditional ally of the United States, Liberia stands ready to further enhance and rekindle our long, historic and unique bilateral relations. Congratulations!"

Egypt: 'Joint action'
President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, a close ally of Mr Trump who has backed Egypt in the row over a controversial built by Ethiopia on the River Nile, said he hoped good relations between the countries would continue with Mr Biden.

"The president stressed the aspiration for co-operation and joint action to strengthen the strategic bilateral relations between Egypt and the United States, in the interest of the two friendly countries and peoples," the Reuters news agency quoted his spokesman as saying.

How Trump 'betrayed' Ethiopia over Nile dam
Zimbabwe: 'Increased co-operation'
The president of Zimbabwe, whose country has a tense relationship with the US over its human rights record, did not stint on his congratulations.

Some Zimbabwean individuals and businesses have been subject to sanctions going back 20 years.

"Zimbabwe wishes you every successes in leading the American people. I look forward to working with you to increase co-operation between our two nations," President Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted .

Ghana: 'Unity for all Americans'
Ghana's Nana Akufo-Addo described Mr Biden's victory as "decisive" and congratulated Ms Harris on making history.

"It is my sincere hope that President-Elect Biden's tenure of office will be marked by the delivery of unity, security, progress and prosperity to all Americans," he tweeted .

"I am hopeful that over the course of his presidency, relations between Ghana and the United States of America will continue to grow from strength to strength, relations which have, over the years, been based on a shared agenda of freedom, development, progress and prosperity."

Ethiopia, Niger, Senegal, Somalia and South Africa:
Other leaders sent out short congratulatory messages not long after the result came through on Saturday.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Niger's President Issoufou Mahamadou, Senegalese President Macky Sall, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Somalia's leader Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmajo, were among those who took to Twitter saying they looked forward to working with Mr Biden:

https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-africa-54863237?__twitter_impression=true
 
(CNN)Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, has approached the President about conceding the election, two sources told CNN.

The move follows Trump's assertion in a statement from his campaign -- moments after CNN and other networks projected that Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States -- that Biden is "rushing to falsely pose as the winner" and that the race is "far from over."

"I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands," Trump said in the statement, which explains that the campaign's legal battle will begin Monday.

Biden-Harris deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said Saturday night that there had been no communication between Biden and Trump, or between any representatives from either campaign, since the race was called earlier in the day.

And Biden campaign senior adviser Symone Sanders, told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of The Union" Sunday that "a number of Republicans from the Hill have reached out," but said, "I don't believe anyone from the White House has."

Biden won the presidency Saturday after the battleground state of Pennsylvania pushed the Democrat over the 270 electoral votes needed to capture the White House.

Trump, who was at his golf course in Sterling, Virginia, on Saturday when the race was called, has not denied the outcome of the election, privately at least, sources told CNN. But he's continuing to push his attorneys to pursue legal challenges that would delay formal certification of the results.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/jared-kushner-donald-trump-concession/index.html
 
It has repeatedly been stated that networks do not decide who the winner is.

Al Gore was President elect for one month in 2000 before the Supreme Court ruled in Bush's favour.

But please, continue tempting fate by doing the Biden Liberal Bhangra.
 
Technics 1210 said:
It has repeatedly been stated that networks do not decide who the winner is.

Al Gore was President elect for one month in 2000 before the Supreme Court ruled in Bush's favour.

But please, continue tempting fate by doing the Biden Liberal Bhangra.
Click to expand...

Al Gore was never president elect.
 
George W Bush congratulates Biden and Harris but says Trump has 'right' to pursue legal challenges

In a statement, former Republican president Mr Bush has offered his "warm congratulations" to the new president-elect and said he had spoken to both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

"Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country," he said.

Mr Bush also congratulated Donald Trump on a "hard-fought" campaign and said: "President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated.

"The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear."
 
HitWicket said:
Al Gore was never president elect.
Click to expand...

He was, declared by the media, maybe you were under 10 then and don't remember, but pull up all MSM headline news on the morning of the first Florida count. Gore had won. Total party on the streets and media.

Same point here, the media has declared Biden the winner, but the winner is not official.

What you gonna say next? Trump's 3rd SC nominee, Amy Barrett, didn't work on the Bush vs Gore case? Yes, go google, she worked on the case.

Happy reading.
 
Technics 1210 said:
It has repeatedly been stated that networks do not decide who the winner is.

Al Gore was President elect for one month in 2000 before the Supreme Court ruled in Bush's favour.

But please, continue tempting fate by doing the Biden Liberal Bhangra.
Click to expand...

That election was close this one isn’t. Trump is not winning this one even if he gets these states recounted.
 
Technics 1210 said:
Wasn't the point.

Media do not declare winners.
Click to expand...

You could have said that instead of bring up Al-Gore. We know who the winner is, they just need to finish counting. Than you will hear officially what the media already told you.
 
Shazzam said:
You could have said that instead of bring up Al-Gore. We know who the winner is, they just need to finish counting. Than you will hear officially what the media already told you.
Click to expand...

Al Gore is the perfect example demonstrating why the media cannot call an election. Why shouldn't I mention him?

You forget, many here on PP were not born in 2000. Despite it being mentioned a million times the media doesn't call the winner, the piped piper will continue to play his tune.
 
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Technics 1210 said:
Al Gore is the perfect example demonstrating why the media cannot call an election. Why shouldn't I mention him?

You forget, many here on PP were not born in 2000. Despite it being mentioned a million times the media doesn't call the winner, the piped piper will continue to play his tune.
Click to expand...

Your Al-Gore comparison does not have anything to do with this election. If Trump had any chance of winning than it would make sense. Former presidents, and leaders of other countries have already congratulated Biden. They all know this election is done and dusted. So I see no point of beating a dead horse. Why should people not celebrate Biden as a winner when the election is obvious?
 
Shazzam said:
Your Al-Gore comparison does not have anything to do with this election. If Trump had any chance of winning than it would make sense. Former presidents, and leaders of other countries have already congratulated Biden. They all know this election is done and dusted. So I see no point of beating a dead horse. Why should people not celebrate Biden as a winner when the election is obvious?
Click to expand...

You are contradicting yourself.

Al Gore is a point on media do not declare winners. There are open appeals in this election. Anything can happen. You agree media do not declare winner so why you pretending Biden's win is official?

You are just afraid there is a minute chance history maybe repeating itself with the SC; this is pretty clear.

You are free to celebrate Biden's unofficial media win; while Covid 19 takes a weekend off in USA. :)
 
Technics 1210 said:
You are contradicting yourself.

Al Gore is a point on media do not declare winners. There are open appeals in this election. Anything can happen. You agree media do not declare winner so why you pretending Biden's win is official?

You are just afraid there is a minute chance history maybe repeating itself with the SC; this is pretty clear.

You are free to celebrate Biden's unofficial media win; while Covid 19 takes a weekend off in USA. :)
Click to expand...

I tell you what buddy once we get this “official” winner. I’ll quote you again if the media is right.
 
Shazzam said:
I tell you what buddy once we get this “official” winner. I’ll quote you again if the media is right.
Click to expand...

You wouldn't be doing yourself any favours other than agreeing with me, in that, it's best to wait for the official announcement.

Have a great weekend champ. 🏆
 
Technics 1210 said:
He was, declared by the media, maybe you were under 10 then and don't remember, but pull up all MSM headline news on the morning of the first Florida count. Gore had won. Total party on the streets and media.

Same point here, the media has declared Biden the winner, but the winner is not official.

What you gonna say next? Trump's 3rd SC nominee, Amy Barrett, didn't work on the Bush vs Gore case? Yes, go google, she worked on the case.

Happy reading.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, pretty much all the main media outlets declared Bush as the president-elect in that period, before the legal outcome/Al Gore's concession.
 
HitWicket said:
Nonsense, pretty much all the main media outlets declared Bush as the president-elect in that period, before the legal outcome/Al Gore's concession.
Click to expand...

Well that's a lie if I ever saw one. How can media declare Bush President elect when when the court case was still going on for a month.

Try Duck Duck Go as your search engine.

:)
 
Screenshot_20201108-193358.jpg

This was just one paper on the morning of 2000 election; putting faith in a media declaration.

Bush declared President elect. Hahahaha. Good job I'm here to verify these outright lies.

J
 
Technics 1210 said:
View attachment 104396

This was just one paper on the morning of 2000 election; putting faith in a media declaration.

Bush declared President elect. Hahahaha. Good job I'm here to verify these outright lies.

J
Click to expand...

You're here to verify these outright lies, by posting fake photoshopped news articles...?

This doctored image has been circulated on Twitter by a member of Trump's campaign staff. He quickly deleted it a short time ago after it got pointed out that it was fake.
 
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Here is the real article for you:

bush-president-3.jpg
 
HitWicket said:
You're here to verify these outright lies, by posting fake photoshopped news articles...?

This doctored image has been circulated on Twitter by a member of Trump's campaign staff. He quickly deleted it a short time ago after it got pointed out that it was fake.
Click to expand...

You've exposed him as have many posters...
He'll be scouring the right wing web trying to find something so he can have the last word..
 
HitWicket said:
You're here to verify these outright lies, by posting fake photoshopped news articles...?

This doctored image has been circulated on Twitter by a member of Trump's campaign staff. He quickly deleted it a short time ago after it got pointed out that it was fake.
Click to expand...
This is epic pwnage :)) And this poster was saying how Trump supporters actually vote on policies and research. Yeah, some research
 
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is yet to comment on Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s projected win in the US election.

In 2016 he called President Donald Trump one day after the election and tweeted his congratulations. Similarly, he congratulated Barack Obama shortly after his re-election in 2012.

Erdogan has forged warm ties with President Trump over the past four years,using the personal relationship to guard Ankara from sanctions over Russian arms purchases and other disagreements.

Ahead of the election, Turkish pro-government media outlets struck a strong anti-Biden tone after he criticised Erdogan on foreign policy issues and vowed to support Turkey's opposition.

Vice-President Fuat Oktay said over the weekend that Ankara will “work with the new administration” on issues of interest to the Nato alliance.

Some analysts suggest Erdogan may be keeping a low profile to avoid offending Trump during his final weeks in office. However, the lack of congratulations for Biden so far may signal a rocky road ahead for Turkey and the US.
 
Boris Johnson's congratulatory tweet to Joe Biden revealed to show 'Trump' underneath

Boris Johnson has risked being left red-faced after his message of congratulations to US president-elect Joe Biden was found to have retained traces of Donald Trump's name.

On Saturday, the prime minister offered his congratulations to Mr Biden and his vice-presidential running mate Kamala Harris after they were declared the winners of the US election.

In a graphic attached to his Twitter post, Mr Johnson said in a statement: "Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States and to Kamala Harris on her historic achievement.

Zooming in and altering the brightness and contrast of the image reveals the outlines of previous words
"The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security."

However, it has since been spotted that altering the brightness and contrast of the graphic reveals the outline of what appears to be a previous statement.

Above the word "Biden" the word "Trump" can be seen, while the outlines of other words can also be found.

A government spokesperson said: "As you'd expect, two statements were prepared in advance for the outcome of this closely-contested election.

"A technical error meant that parts of the alternative message were embedded in the background of the graphic."

The SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford posted on Twitter: "Incompetence has become the watchword for this Tory government.

"This just serves as yet another reminder of @BorisJohnson's close relationship with Trump, which has done so much damage."

Meanwhile, a message was posted on Irish PM Micheal Martin's Twitter account saying had spoken to Mr Biden, but was quickly deleted.

Mr Martin said he had "just finished a very positive call" with the president-elect.

However, the message was posted in error and the phone call is still being arranged.

Mr Trump has still yet to concede defeat in the US presidential election and has repeatedly claimed to have "won" the election.

He has also made unsubstantiated claims of fraud in the election process.

https://news.sky.com/story/boris-jo...en-revealed-to-show-trump-underneath-12129146
 
After being re-elected to lead the Republican caucus in the Senate, Mitch McConnell held a brief news conference where he was asked why so few Republicans have congratulated Biden and Harris so far - and what it says about the state of the country.

The Kentucky senator responded: "Until the Electoral College votes, anyone who's running for office can exhaust concerns about counting in any court of appropriate jurisdiction. That's not unusual. It should not be alarming."

Earlier today at Capitol Hill, Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said he had not congratulated Biden yet and there was "nothing to congratulate him about."

Meanwhile, Missouri Senator Roy Blunt said Trump "may not have been defeated at all", while Alabama's Richard Shelby, when asked who the winner of the election was, said: "We don't know yet. It hasn't been certified."

Reporters pointed out to him that four years ago he congratulated Trump on his win before it was certified by the Electoral College, which meets this year to finalise the vote on 14 December.

Trump himself has not conceded, has filed numerous lawsuits seeking to overturn Biden's victory, and made unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

Vice-president Mike Pence was also in Congress today, hours before he is due to head to Florida for a family vacation. He refused to speak to journalists who asked if it was time for his campaign to throw in the towel.
 
Any poster with an ounce of honesty would own up and apologise for the gaffe. I have done many times too and I admit by saying I stand corrected, its too much to expect for the PP's self-crowned 'expert'
 
Pakpak said:
Any poster with an ounce of honesty would own up and apologise for the gaffe. I have done many times too and I admit by saying I stand corrected, its too much to expect for the PP's self-crowned 'expert'
Click to expand...

Hahahahhha. Yes that was funny. Have not heard from him on this thread since. Own up playa. We all místakes. You win some , you lose some. But you live you live to fight another day
 
I am just scratching my head as to why a Brit is so obsessed with Trump and him being the president of the US or any dealings going in the US.
 
GenericBrand said:
I am just scratching my head as to why a Brit is so obsessed with Trump and him being the president of the US or any dealings going in the US.
Click to expand...

I am scratching my head as to why you would ask that question.

The USA has been the UK’s closest ally since 1941. The occupant of the White House exerts an affect on British politics. Had Trump won we would have seen crash-out Brexit and breaking of the GFA. Now Biden has won, he will put pressure on Johnson to honour the GFA. Johnson’s position within his party is now weakened and I think he will be gone in months instead of years.
 
GenericBrand said:
I am just scratching my head as to why a Brit is so obsessed with Trump and him being the president of the US or any dealings going in the US.
Click to expand...

I am scratching my head my head as how can one claim to be a defender of Islam and be a fervent Trump supporter at the same time.
 
BIDEN leads Trump nationally by over 5.1 million and rising.

Biden holds the largest vote share (50.8%) for a challenger since FDR in 1932.

This is not a close race and Biden's lead will continue to grow.
 
The US presidential election was not tainted by widespread voter fraud or irregularities in how ballots were counted, despite continued efforts by President Donald Trump to prove otherwise.

In refusing to concede the election, Trump claims that he would have won were it not for “illegal” votes counted in several states that he lost or where he is currently trailing. But Trump and his allies have not offered any proof, and their legal challenges have largely been rejected by the courts.

Nonpartisan investigations of previous elections have found that voter fraud is exceedingly rare. State officials from both parties, as well as international observers, have also stated that the 2020 election went well.

The New York Times spoke to election officials in 45 US states representing both the Republican and Democratic parties and they all said there is no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities.

“There’s a great human capacity for inventing things that aren’t true about elections,” Ohio’s Republican secretary of state Frank LaRose told the Times. “The conspiracy theories and rumors and all those things run rampant. For some reason, elections breed that type of mythology.”

More than 150 million people voted in the presidential election. As of Tuesday night, one week after the election, President-elect Joe Biden had received approximately five million more votes than Trump.

Biden has 290 votes in the Electoral College to Trump’s 214. The Associated Press news agency has not yet determined the winner in Alaska, Georgia or North Carolina. Georgia’s election results are too close to call.

“Mathematically, you actually have to do a full hand-by-hand recount of all because the margin is so close,” Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference Wednesday. “We want to start this before the week is up.”

Of the states Trump has most targeted as allegedly tainted by fraud, Biden holds small but significant leads in all of them. The Democrat leads in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Several states successfully enacted voting measures during the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic stronghold of California improved its mail-in balloting system, for example, and delivered as expected for Biden. But Trump easily won reliably Republican Nebraska, North Dakota and Montana, all states that also significantly expanded vote by mail this year.

Nearly 20 years after it was at the centre of a disputed recount, Florida has adopted early voting and allowed voters to cast absentee ballots without having an excuse. The AP called Florida for Trump at 12:35am on Wednesday.


Vote counting was slow in three Midwestern states that went for Trump four years ago and flipped to Biden this time: the “blue wall” of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. That is because of an increase in mail-in ballots, which the Biden campaign pushed its supporters to use as a safety measure because of the pandemic. Trump baselessly argued that mail-in ballots were subject to fraud and encouraged his supporters to show up to vote in person on Election Day.

As a result, Trump led all three states in Election Day voting, but those leads were erased as mail-in ballots were counted.

All three states largely ignored advice from nonpartisan observers to expand the window for counting mail-in ballots before Election Day. Michigan gave election officials one day, and Pennsylvania and Wisconsin did not allow counting beforehand. All three states have Republican legislatures.

The Trump campaign has filed more than a dozen lawsuits in at least five states. On Tuesday night, campaign officials said they would file a new lawsuit in Michigan alleging, in part, that their poll watchers were harassed or turned away and asking the secretary of state not to certify the election results. Attorney Mark “Thor” Hearne promised “overwhelming evidence” and piles of affidavits.

In Pennsylvania, the campaign has challenged the state Supreme Court ruling allowing election officials to accept mail-in ballots up to three days after the election as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Trump has also sued over campaign observers allegedly being blocked from witnessing vote tallying in Pennsylvania. And he has challenged the secretary of state instructing counties that voters whose absentee ballots were rejected could cast a provisional ballot.

Trump has had one victory so far: a state court ruled his campaign observers had to be allowed closer to the actual vote counting. That ruling had no effect on the outcome of the race.

Four other lawsuits filed by the campaign have been dismissed. Others are pending.

On Monday, his campaign sued to force Pennsylvania not to certify the results of the election altogether. The 85-page lawsuit itself contained no evidence of voter fraud, other than a smattering of allegations such as an election worker in Chester County altering “over-voted” ballots by changing votes that had been marked for Trump to another candidate.

Top Democratic leaders in the state accused Trump of trying to disenfranchise voters and overturn an election he lost.

Trump’s lawyers and campaign staff say that the election is not over and that they are investigating claims in several states, though they continue to lack any evidence of widespread fraud that affected the outcome of the race. Top Republicans have supported the president’s efforts to fight the election results in court.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump was “100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options”. Attorney General William Barr authorised the Justice Department to investigate “clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities”.

All disputes over the counts in each state must be complete by December 8. Members of the Electoral College vote on December 14. The US House and Senate hold a joint session on January 6, 2021, to count the Electoral votes in each state.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/11/despite-trump-claims-election-validity-intact
 
President-elect Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Arizona.

Mr Biden is projected to win the battleground state for the Democrats for the first time since 1996, reports NBC News.

He was declared the overall winner on 7 November after flipping the key state of Pennsylvania and surpassing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president.

But with postal votes still being counted, the result in Arizona was only declared in the early hours of Friday.

Mr Biden becomes only the second Democratic presidential candidate in seven decades to win the traditionally Republican state. The last Democrat to win Arizona was Bill Clinton, 24 years ago.

It gives Mr Biden 290 Electoral College votes, with Mr Trump on 217.

On the ninth day of counting the remaining mail-in ballots, North Carolina and Georgia are still yet to be decided.

Both are rated "too close to call" after Georgia was forced to recount.

The two states were won by Donald Trump in 2016 and traditionally vote Republican.

Elsewhere, former president Barack Obama criticised Mr Trump and several senior Republicans who continue to allege voter fraud and that he won the election.

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed there is no evidence of voter fraud.

It urged Americans that they should have the "utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections".

https://news.sky.com/story/joe-bide...-margin-of-victory-over-donald-trump-12131320
 
MenInG said:
President-elect Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Arizona.

Mr Biden is projected to win the battleground state for the Democrats for the first time since 1996, reports NBC News.

He was declared the overall winner on 7 November after flipping the key state of Pennsylvania and surpassing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president.

But with postal votes still being counted, the result in Arizona was only declared in the early hours of Friday.

Mr Biden becomes only the second Democratic presidential candidate in seven decades to win the traditionally Republican state. The last Democrat to win Arizona was Bill Clinton, 24 years ago.

It gives Mr Biden 290 Electoral College votes, with Mr Trump on 217.

On the ninth day of counting the remaining mail-in ballots, North Carolina and Georgia are still yet to be decided.

Both are rated "too close to call" after Georgia was forced to recount.

The two states were won by Donald Trump in 2016 and traditionally vote Republican.

Elsewhere, former president Barack Obama criticised Mr Trump and several senior Republicans who continue to allege voter fraud and that he won the election.

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed there is no evidence of voter fraud.

It urged Americans that they should have the "utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections".

https://news.sky.com/story/joe-bide...-margin-of-victory-over-donald-trump-12131320
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That really should be the final nail in the coffin for Trump’s presidency
 
MenInG said:
President-elect Joe Biden is projected to win the state of Arizona.

Mr Biden is projected to win the battleground state for the Democrats for the first time since 1996, reports NBC News.

He was declared the overall winner on 7 November after flipping the key state of Pennsylvania and surpassing the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become president.

But with postal votes still being counted, the result in Arizona was only declared in the early hours of Friday.

Mr Biden becomes only the second Democratic presidential candidate in seven decades to win the traditionally Republican state. The last Democrat to win Arizona was Bill Clinton, 24 years ago.

It gives Mr Biden 290 Electoral College votes, with Mr Trump on 217.

On the ninth day of counting the remaining mail-in ballots, North Carolina and Georgia are still yet to be decided.

Both are rated "too close to call" after Georgia was forced to recount.

The two states were won by Donald Trump in 2016 and traditionally vote Republican.

Elsewhere, former president Barack Obama criticised Mr Trump and several senior Republicans who continue to allege voter fraud and that he won the election.

A statement from the Department of Homeland Security confirmed there is no evidence of voter fraud.

It urged Americans that they should have the "utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections".

https://news.sky.com/story/joe-bide...-margin-of-victory-over-donald-trump-12131320
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Arizona called after 9 days of counting, Georgia and North Carolina still counting and not decided. Are they making care home patients count them?
 
Georgia is done. They did a recount which is why it took longer. Don’t know about NC
 
Donald Trump: ‘Time will tell’ who will be in the White House in January

Donald Trump has said only “time will tell” who will be in the White House in January, in his first public address for a week

Speaking about the coronavirus pandemic, he said his administration would not go into lockdown.

He added: “Whatever happens in the future who knows… which administration will be… I guess time will tell but I can tell you this administration won’t go into lockdown.”

It appeared to be the first time Mr Trump has not insisted he won the election.

The president said he expects a coronavirus vaccine to be available for the entire population as soon as April

He also said he expects an emergency use authorisation for Pzifer’s vaccine “extremely soon”.

https://news.sky.com/story/donald-t...ill-be-in-the-white-house-in-january-12131999
 
US President-elect Joe Biden has won the state of Georgia, the BBC projects, the first Democratic candidate to do so since 1992.

The win solidifies Mr Biden's victory, giving him a total of 306 votes in the electoral college, the system the US uses to choose its president.

President Donald Trump is projected to win North Carolina, reaching 232 votes.

Mr Trump, who has not yet conceded, alluded for the first time to a possible new administration in January.

Looking subdued, the president stopped short of acknowledging his defeat during a briefing of his coronavirus task force at the White House, his first public appearance since his election defeat was projected by US media.

As the country faces growing outbreaks of Covid-19, Mr Trump said he would not impose a lockdown to fight the virus, adding: "Whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be. I guess time will tell."

The president, who did not mention Mr Biden by name, did not take questions from reporters. Pressure is growing on Mr Trump, a Republican, to acknowledge Mr Biden's victory and help prepare the transition from one administration to another.

The results in Georgia and North Carolina were the last to be projected in the race for the White House. Mr Biden's electoral votes equal the tally Mr Trump achieved in his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016. At the time Mr Trump referred to it as "a landslide".

President Trump has launched a flurry of legal challenges in key states and levelled unsubstantiated allegations of widespread electoral fraud. But his efforts suffered three setbacks on Friday:

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign's requests to invalidate several batches of mail-in ballots were rejected
A manual recount is to be carried out in Georgia because of the narrow margin between the two candidates, but the Biden team said they did not expect it to change the results there.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54939212
 
Trump comes close to admitting defeat but stops short of formal concession

Donald Trump has come closer than ever to admitting that he lost the US presidential election, suggesting “time will tell” but stopping short of a formal concession to president-elect Joe Biden.

In his first public remarks since his defeat was announced, Trump appeared to catch himself making a slip of the tongue as he discussed the possibility of a Biden administration imposing a national lockdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

“Ideally we won’t go to a lockdown,” the president told reporters in the White House Rose Garden. “I will not go – this administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the – whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration will be.”

Trump added: “I guess time will tell. But I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”

Biden was proclaimed the winner of the election last Saturday, a result Trump has refused to acknowledge while launching legal challenges based on unsubstantiated claims of fraud. The homeland security department on Thursday declared it the most secure election in US history with no evidence of votes being compromised or altered.

The president had issued dozens tweets and retweets but had not been seen in public except for a Veterans’ Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. It was the longest spell the American people had gone without hearing him speak since he took office.

Finally, on Friday, Trump held a press conference at the White House to provide an update on Operation Warp Speed, the effort to create a vaccine for Covid-19. The event, attended by Vice-President Mike Pence and coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx, took place one day after the US set a single-day record of more than 160,000 new cases.

Trump said he expects a vaccine to be available for the entire population as soon as April and an emergency use authorisation for Pfizer’s vaccine “extremely soon”. Pfizer has said it expects to report required safety data next week and can then apply for an emergency use authorisation.

Although he appeared deflated, his hair grey instead of its customary blond, Trump still dived into familiar territory, boasting about economic recovery and settling scores with one of his political foes, New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

The government would not deliver a coronavirus vaccine to New York state if and when it becomes available, Trump said, because the state has promised to do its own review to ensure their safety.

Cuomo “doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from”, Trump complained. “These are coming from the greatest companies anywhere in the world, greatest labs in the world, but he doesn’t trust the fact that it’s this White House, this administration, so we won’t be delivering it to New York until we have authorisation to do so and that pains me to say that.”

Cuomo dismissed the attack. In an interview on MSNBC, the governor said: “None of what he said is true, surprise surprise. We’re all excited about the possibilities about a vaccine. It’s not that people don’t trust the vaccine companies, the pharmaceutical companies. Pfizer’s a great New York company, Regeneron is a great New York company.

“But an overwhelming percentage of Americans are worried about political interference in the vaccination process, in the approval process, by the president. The American people trust the drug company more than they trust the president.”

Criticism of the administration’s response to the virus, which has killed more than 243,000 in the US, became a central argument for Biden ahead of the 3 November election. There have been more than 100,000 new confirmed cases reported daily for more than a week. The secret service is experiencing a significant number, many believed to be linked to Trump’s rallies in the closing days of the campaign.

Biden has devoted most of his public remarks to encouraging Americans to wear a mask and view the coronavirus as a threat with no regard for political allegiance. He has not endorsed a nationwide shutdown but appealed for Trump to take “urgent action”.

“The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar. It is accelerating right now,” he said in a statement on Friday.

Public health experts have warned that Trump’s refusal to take aggressive action or to coordinate with the Biden team will only worsen the effects of the virus and hinder the nation’s ability to swiftly distribute a vaccine next year.

Yet Trump continues to stall the presidential transition. When an interviewer on Fox Business suggested that it would look sad if Trump does not attend the inauguration on 20 January, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany replied: “I think the president will attend his own inauguration. He would have to be there, in fact.”

There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the election. Officials from both political parties have stated publicly that the election went well, and international observers confirmed there were no serious irregularities. Trump’s legal team continues to pursue election lawsuits that have gained little traction in the courts.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/13/trump-biden-white-house-defeat-election
 
The final score has finally been confirmed this week, and Biden wins by the same margin Trump beat Clinton in 2016.

Biden 306-232 Trump.
 
Biden: 'More people may die' as Trump transition stalls

Joe Biden has warned "people may die" if his incoming presidential administration continues to be impeded by Donald Trump.

Speaking in Delaware, the president-elect said co-ordination was needed to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

He again called President Trump's refusal to acknowledge he lost the vote, despite calls to do so from both sides, "embarrassing".

"This is not a game," former first lady Michelle Obama wrote on social media.

President-elect Biden has 306 votes in the electoral college, surpassing the 270 threshold needed to win.

Yet Mr Trump, a Republican, tweeted on Monday morning: "I won the Election!"

The Trump campaign launched a flurry of legal challenges in the wake of the 3 November vote to contest ballot counts.

The General Services Administration (GSA), the government agency tasked with beginning the transition process for a new president, has yet to recognise Mr Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris as winners, leaving them without access to sensitive government briefings that are normally provided to an incoming administration.

Aides to the Democratic president-elect have said that Mr Trump's refusal to engage in a transition also means Mr Biden's team has been excluded from planning around a vaccination distribution strategy.

In his speech on Monday, Mr Biden called the refusal "totally irresponsible".

"Does anyone understand this?" he said. "It's about saving lives, for real, this is not hyperbole."

"More people may die if we don't co-ordinate," he said. Calling nationwide vaccine distribution a "huge, huge undertaking", Mr Biden said that if his team had to wait until 20 January - his presidential inauguration - until they could begin work on the distribution programme, they would be behind by "over a month, month and a half".

Asked if he would encourage state leaders to reinstate stay-at-home orders, the president-elect sidestepped, and instead called on officials to encourage mask-wearing.

Is pressure growing for Trump to concede?
More than a week after Mr Biden was projected to have won the election, Mr Trump has not conceded.

However, pressure to do so is coming from both parties. On Monday, Republicans abandoned lawsuits challenging election results in four battleground states - Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - where Mr Biden was projected as the winner.

In all four filings, ditched within one hour of each other, no reasons were given for halting the legal action. Each case had been filed by voters - not by the Trump campaign or by Republican officials - though President Trump has continued to urge supporters to challenge election results.

Lawsuits were filed by the Trump campaign after the election to challenge vote counts that projected a loss for the president, but experts judged most to be on shaky legal ground.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54967696.
 
Rajdeep said:
Not my president
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I am always baffled at desis falling for a conman like Donald. He was specificaly designed to fool the American public but I always thought desi were a bit more clever. How does anyone see a raxiet, sexist, lyijg man baby now throwing a tantrum becuae he lost and support him is beyond me. Particularly because he is 100% racist so looks at desis in disdain. No self respect
 
irfan said:
progressive?lol she really is deluded, two candidates who are more right wing than many in the Republican party.
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Hie is free hewlthcwre, free college, mimimum wages, 2 trillion in climate change, not progressive? I can predict which subs some people were frequent, rhey are parroting pure propaganda spread to fool gullible peeople. Some are brainwashed on left wing subs and some on right wing but its the same propaganda
 
Rajdeep said:
Commiserations to all the sane people of USA in advance. But we will fight back. All lives matter.
Click to expand...
An Indian origin person parroting this has to be the saddest thing I have ever read.

I have read in history there wer Indians aupporting with the British rule because they thought someone being Indian uncle toms helped them. But behind it all was an inferiority complex and white savior mentality

Also imagine how dumb this slogan is. If your leg is hurt, imagine your doctor saying, i won't treat your legs as all legs matter

Man imagine being so dumb you fall for a racist, sexiat lyjng conman. And then imagine doing this as a non white person. Parroting right supremacy phrases as a non white person

We should all study trump supporters to find what makes some human beings so bafflingly stupid. But more than that we should study minorities parroting right wing phrases to see what exactly is going through their minds
 
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Angrez Pakistani said:
Same rubbish wrapped in a rainbow flag instead of the confederate flag.
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2 trillion in climate change, free college, healthcare, mimimum wages. The only and only reason people like trump get support is because people are not only ignorant, but are willing to parrot whatever is spoon fed to them

There was a huge propaganda push to portray both sides as same and some people swallowed it hook line and sinker

How can anyone see democrafs support doctors, scientists, economists and call for unity while they see trunp lying and throwing tantrum and asking people to ignore doctors and say both sides are same is beyond me

At this point I have to question the IQ of people playing both sideism
 
US President-elect Joe Biden has warned that "people may die" if his incoming administration continues to be impeded by incumbent Donald Trump.

Mr Biden said co-ordination was needed to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.

He called President Trump's refusal to acknowledge he lost the election, despite calls to do so from both sides, "totally irresponsible".

The Trump campaign launched a flurry of legal challenges in the wake of the 3 November vote to contest ballot counts.

The president's team is trying to have courts overturn votes in key states on the grounds that many ballots were invalid or improperly counted. So far those efforts have failed and no evidence of significant fraud has emerged.

President-elect Biden, a Democrat, has 306 votes in the electoral college, surpassing the 270 threshold needed to win.

Yet Mr Trump, a Republican, tweeted on Monday: "I won the Election!"

How is President Trump challenging the result?Is this Covid wave in US the worst yet?

The government agency that launches transition process - the General Services Administration (GSA), headed by a Trump appointee - has yet to recognise Mr Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris as winners.

This leaves them without access to sensitive government briefings that are normally provided to an incoming administration.

media captionHow to move on after the US election

Aides to the president-elect have said that Mr Trump's refusal to engage in a transition also means Mr Biden's team has been excluded from planning around a vaccination distribution strategy.

Speaking in his home state of Delaware on Monday, Mr Biden said of the stalled transition: "Does anyone understand this? It's about saving lives, for real, this is not hyperbole."

"More people may die if we don't co-ordinate," he added.

Calling nationwide vaccine distribution a "huge undertaking", Mr Biden said that if his team had to wait until 20 January - his presidential inauguration - until they could begin work on the distribution programme, they would be behind by "over a month, month and a half".

Asked if he would encourage state leaders to reinstate stay-at-home orders, the president-elect sidestepped, and instead called on officials to encourage mask-wearing.

Source bbc
 
US election: Trump campaign seeks partial recount in Wisconsin

President Donald Trump is to seek a partial recount of votes in the state of Wisconsin which his rival Joe Biden is projected to win by 20,000 votes.

Hours before a Wednesday deadline, the Trump campaign said it wanted a recount in the counties of Milwaukee and Dane, alleging irregularities.

Mr Trump has been making unsubstantiated claims of fraud and refused to authorise a handover.

Mr Biden says delaying the transition will damage the US pandemic response.

The Trump campaign has filed a flurry of lawsuits contesting the results in key states, although election officials say there is no evidence of widespread irregularities.

President-elect Joe Biden, a Democrat, is projected to have won the popular vote by more than 5.6 million ballots - 3.6 percentage points. In the US electoral college system that decides the presidency, he has 306 votes to Mr Trump's 232.

The president would have to overturn results in at least three states to win the election, which analysts say would be unprecedented. A recount is currently under way in Georgia where Mr Biden is 14,000 votes ahead.

What's happening in Wisconsin?
Under Wisconsin law, Mr Trump has the right to request a recount because the margin of Mr Biden's win was less than 1% but greater than 0.25%. However, his campaign must first cover the expenses of the operation.

State officials said on Wednesday they had received $3m (£2.2m) from the Trump campaign to cover the costs of the recount, which is expected to take about two weeks.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission said on Monday that a full recount would have cost an estimated $7.9m.

In its request for a partial recount, the Trump re-election campaign alleged that absentee ballots - those made by post - had been altered and improperly issued, and voter identity laws had been circumvented. It did not provide any evidence.

Milwaukee and Dane, both traditionally Democratic-leaning areas, together represent more than a third of Mr Biden's Wisconsin votes, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. In Milwaukee, Mr Biden won by 317,270 votes to 134,357 while in Dane County the margin was 260,185 to 78,800 in Mr Biden's favour.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54994212.
 
US election 2020: Biden says Trump denial 'sending horrible message'

US President-elect Joe Biden has condemned Donald Trump's refusal to accept defeat in the presidential election, saying it sent "a horrible message about who we are as a country".

Mr Biden said he was confident Mr Trump knew he was not going to win and had shown "incredible irresponsibility".

Mr Trump has launched lawsuits alleging unsubstantiated election fraud.

He has now also invited state lawmakers to the White House, hinting at a possible change in tactics.

Michigan's Republican lawmakers have been asked to meet him there on Friday.

All but one of Mr Trump's challenges has failed to make any real headway.

Mr Biden's victory margin in the public vote overall stands at more than 5.9 million. The victory in the US Electoral College system, which decides who becomes president, is projected to be 306 to 232.

Each state must certify its result over the next few weeks, although the deadlines vary. As the votes are certified, Mr Trump's chances of overturning the overall result will continue to dwindle.

Mr Trump would probably need to flip at least three states.

One possibility is that Mr Trump will try to get Republican-friendly state legislatures in key states to override the choice of voters and instead select electors favourable to the president.

But there was a fresh setback for the president on Thursday as Georgia said its recount had confirmed Mr Biden's victory in the state.

What did Mr Biden say?
He was speaking after a virtual meeting with governors, including Democrats and Republicans, about the coronavirus crisis.

Asked about Mr Trump's lack of concession, Mr Biden said the president was sending "incredibly damaging messages... to the rest of the world about how democracy functions" and that he would be remembered "as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history".

"It's hard to fathom how this man thinks," he continued, adding: "It's just outrageous what he's doing."

Of the election result, he said: "The vast majority of people believe it's legitimate."

What could this Trump strategy be?
Although Mr Trump is continuing to press the legal challenges, they have had almost no success so far.

US media say the president may try to use Republican lawmakers in states he needs to flip - Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania for example - to target the electoral college system.

The US is a democratic republic, and the president does not win by popular vote, but instead needs a majority of "electors" each state is designated according to its congressional representation.

Each state usually determines these according to who won the popular vote there.

But federal law says statehouse legislators have the power to designate electors if the state has "failed to make a choice".

This would appear a long shot as it is very hard to prove, no evidence of electoral fraud has been shown and to potentially disenfranchise millions of voters would spark national uproar.

Reuters quoted one source familiar with the Trump strategy as saying it was now a "more targeted approach towards getting the legislators engaged".

But even one of the Michigan lawmakers going to the White House, Mike Shirkey, said earlier this week that the legislature appointing electors was "not going to happen".

What of the other legal challenges?
At a briefing, Mr Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani continued to lay out unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and accusations of electoral fraud.

Legal experts have suggested the team's lawsuits are unlikely to succeed in altering results. Many lawsuits have already been dismissed although a number of rulings are still to be made.

Mr Giuliani railed against the reporting of his team's legal challenges, saying the media had shown an "irrational pathological hatred for the president".

President Trump has continued to fire off tweets in support of his legal challenges and has held only two public events since the election, a Veterans Day memorial and an update on coronavirus vaccines.

On Thursday, Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the state's hand audit of ballots had not altered Mr Biden's victory in the state.

Earlier, Republicans lost their final lawsuit in Georgia as a court rejected their effort to block the results' certification, which is due to happen on Friday.

Mr Biden's lead was under 0.5% and the recount was ordered under a new state law on auditing.

Several thousand untallied votes were found - paring back Mr Biden's lead - but they were the result of human error and not fraud, voting system manager Gabriel Sterling said. Officials in Floyd County, Georgia, have fired their election manager over the newly found ballots, it emerged on Thursday.

Mr Giuliani said the campaign was withdrawing its last remaining lawsuit in Michigan. He said it had achieved its aim of stopping the certification of the result in one key county.

However, the vice-chairman of Wayne County's canvassing board said an attempt by its two Republican members to rescind their earlier certification of the result was invalid, and the certification was binding.

One of Republicans said Mr Trump had called her personally after the vote had been certified "to make sure I was safe".

Mr Biden won the county by a huge margin, according to unofficial results, and won Michigan by about 146,000 votes.

In Arizona on Thursday, a judge rejected a lawsuit filed last week by the state Republican Party seeking a new audit of ballots in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix - the state's capital and largest city.

In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign asked a judge to allow them to restore a claim they had dropped on Sunday that Republican observers were improperly blocked from watching the vote count.

A Trump lawsuit has been filed in Nevada and his campaign has paid for a partial recount in Wisconsin, though election officials there say this will probably only favour Mr Biden.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55006188.
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President-elect Joe Biden turns 78 today. When Biden is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, he will be the oldest president in the nation’s history. <a href="https://t.co/ihu5oZ3UlI">pic.twitter.com/ihu5oZ3UlI</a></p>— CBS News (@CBSNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1329775893506613249?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 20, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
US election 2020: Biden certified Georgia winner after hand recount

US President-elect Joe Biden's narrow victory in Georgia has been officially certified by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

It comes as legal efforts by Donald Trump's allies to challenge his defeat were dismissed in three other states.

The Democrat beat his Republican rival in Georgia by 12,670 votes, according to the audit required by state law.

Mr Raffensperger on Friday said he was disappointed that his party lost but that "numbers don't lie".

Mr Biden is set to take office in January as the 46th US president.

Mr Biden's victory margin in the public vote overall stands at more than 5.9 million. His victory in the US Electoral College system, which determines who becomes president, is projected to be 306 to 232 - far above the 270 he needs to win.

Mr Trump has so far refused to concede and has made allegations of widespread electoral fraud, without providing any evidence.

The latest defeat comes as he has summoned Michigan state lawmakers to the White House on Friday ahead of that state's deadline to certify election results.

White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany denied that Mr Trump was holding a campaign "advocacy meeting" with the lawmakers, saying it was instead a routine check-in with local officials.

Also on Friday, Mr Trump gave a briefing from the White House on drug pricing, where he again falsely claimed to have won the election. In his first public appearance in a week, he took no questions and seemed to imply he knew another administration would take over soon.

"There will never be anything like this. I just hope they keep it," he said touting new rules aimed as reducing prescription drug costs.

What happened in Georgia?
Mr Raffensperger said on Friday that the result had been certified, posting the result to the secretary of state's website.

On Thursday, Mr Raffensperger - who oversees the election process - said the hand audit of ballots had not altered Mr Biden's victory in the state.

"Georgia's historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state's new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results," he said in a statement.

On Friday, the self-proclaimed Trump supporter went on to say: "Like other Republicans. I'm disappointed, our candidate didn't win Georgia's electoral votes.

"I live by the motto that numbers don't lie. As secretary of state, I believe that the numbers that we have presented today are correct."

The Democrats' victory is their first in a presidential race in Georgia since Bill Clinton was elected in 1992.

The recount found the error rate was no greater than 0.73% in any county and Mr Biden's margin of victory over Mr Trump remained at under 0.5%. The results will be certified on Friday.

Trump campaign senior legal adviser Jenna Ellis said the audit had gone "exactly as we expected" because, she said without evidence, the state had recounted illegal ballots.

But Gabriel Sterling, a Republican who serves as Georgia's voting system implementation manager, told CNN on Thursday: "One of the big complaints is these machines somehow flipped votes or changed votes or did stuff. They didn't, at least not in Georgia. We proved it."

During the audit this week, nearly 6,000 untallied votes were found - paring back Mr Biden's lead slightly - but they were the result of human error and not fraud, Mr Sterling said.

Officials in Floyd County have fired their election manager over the matter, local media reported on Thursday.

What did Mr Biden say?
He was speaking after a virtual meeting with governors, including Democrats and Republicans, about the coronavirus crisis on Thursday.

Asked about Mr Trump's lack of concession, Mr Biden said the president was sending "incredibly damaging messages... to the rest of the world about how democracy functions" and that he would be remembered "as being one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history".

"It's hard to fathom how this man thinks," he continued, adding: "It's just outrageous what he's doing."

Of the election result, the president-elect - who is due to take office in January - said: "The vast majority of people believe it's legitimate."

Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who lost to Barack Obama in 2012, echoed Mr Biden in a tweet, slamming Mr Trump's "overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election".

"It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President," he wrote.

What of the legal challenges?
Republicans lost their final lawsuit in Georgia as a court rejected their effort to block the results' certification, which happened on Friday. The judge who dismissed the case was appointed by Mr Trump last year.

In Arizona, a judge rejected a lawsuit filed last week by the state Republican Party seeking a new audit of ballots in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix - the state capital and largest city.

In Pennsylvania, the Trump campaign lost their bid in state court to throw out more than 2,000 postal ballots.

At a Thursday briefing, Mr Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani continued to lay out unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and accusations of electoral fraud.

He railed against the reporting of his team's legal challenges, saying the media had shown an "irrational pathological hatred for the president".

What legal challenges is Trump planning?
Mr Giuliani also said the campaign was withdrawing its last remaining lawsuit in Michigan. He said it had achieved its aim of stopping the certification of the result in one key county.

However, the vice-chairman of Wayne County's canvassing board said an attempt by its two Republican members to rescind their earlier certification of the result was invalid, and the certification was binding.

One of the Republicans said Mr Trump had called her personally after the vote had been certified "to make sure I was safe".

Mr Biden won the county by a huge margin, according to unofficial results, and prevailed in Michigan by about 146,000 votes.

What could Trump's next move be?
One possibility that US media are speculating on is that he will try to get Republican-friendly state legislatures in key states to override the choice of voters and instead select members of the US Electoral College who would be favourable to the president.

Mr Trump has invited Michigan's Republican lawmakers to the White House on Friday, hinting at a possible change in tactics.

Instead of winning by direct popular vote, a US president must accumulate a majority of "electors" that each state is designated according to its congressional representation.

Most states determine these based on who won the popular vote there.

But federal law says statehouse legislators have the power to pick electors if the state has "failed to make a choice".

This would appear a long shot as no evidence of electoral fraud has been shown and to potentially disenfranchise millions of voters would spark uproar.

Reuters news agency quoted one source familiar with the Trump strategy as saying it was now a "more targeted approach towards getting the legislators engaged".

But one of the Michigan lawmakers going to the White House, Mike Shirkey, said earlier this week that the legislature appointing electors was "not going to happen".
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55006188.
 
US election: Michigan Republicans seek to delay vote certification

Republican officials in Michigan have written to the state's electoral board to request a two-week adjournment.

They have called for an audit of the presidential vote in the largest county, home to Detroit, after it was contested by President Donald Trump.

However, the Michigan Department of State has quickly objected to the idea, saying delays and audits are not permitted by law.

Democrat Joe Biden was projected as the state's winner earlier this month.

The Michigan electoral board, made up of two Democrats and two Republicans, is set to meet on Monday and certify election results.

Their decision has to be signed off by Michigan's secretary of state and then the governor, both Democrats and so unlikely to support any changes, without substantiated reasoning.

The state department has called claims of widespread fraud, repeated by President Trump and the local Republicans, "wholly meritless".

Mr Trump took the unusual step of meeting members of the Michigan state legislature's Republican leadership at the White House on Friday, reportedly putting pressure on them to disregard Mr Biden's win in the state.

The White House said earlier it was "not an advocacy meeting" and simply part of the president's routine meetings with state lawmakers across the country, although he has conducted very few engagements since the election.

Afterwards two Republican legislators pledged to follow "normal process" in validating the vote, saying they haven't seen any evidence that would change the result.

Yet, in the letter on Saturday, the Michigan Republican Party called for the full audit of votes in Wayne County, where the majority-black city of Detroit heavily leans Democrat.

The letter, signed by Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Michigan Republican Party head Laura Cox, cited allegations of "irregularities" in the county, which have not been substantiated.

The Republican president has refused to recognise the overall national win by his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, who is now the president-elect and is set to take over on 20 January.

The normal transition process has been derailed by Mr Trump's hold-out, with Mr Biden unable to get hold of office space, funding and staff to ease him into position, because a Trump appointee has not confirmed him as the election winner.

On Saturday, social media company Twitter confirmed it would hand over control of the official presidential account (@Potus) to Mr Biden on 20 January. Mr Trump mostly tweets from his personal account, and Twitter has implied that his access to this account could be restricted when he becomes a private citizen again, if he breaks their rules.

Why is election certification important?
When Americans vote in a presidential election, they are actually voting in a state contest, not a national one.

They are voting for state electors who will then cast one vote each for president. These electors usually follow the will of the electorate - in Michigan, for instance, they should all vote for Joe Biden because he won the state.

The states get a varying number of votes, equivalent to the number of their representatives in the US Congress - the House and the Senate.

Mr Biden's victory is projected to have reached a total of 306, as opposed to Mr Trump's 232, which is far above the 270 he needs to win. Mr Biden's lead in the public vote overall stands at more than 5.9 million.

On Friday, Georgia dealt the Trump administration another blow by certifying Mr Biden's razor-thin margin of victory.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55030617.
 
A judge in Pennsylvania has dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump campaign that sought to invalidate millions of mail-in votes in the battleground state.

Judge Matthew Brann said the suit, which rested on allegations of irregularities, was "without merit".

The move paves the way for Pennsylvania to next week certify Joe Biden's win - he leads by more than 80,000 votes.

It is the latest blow to Donald Trump, who is trying to overturn his loss in the 3 November presidential election.

He has refused to concede and made allegations of widespread electoral fraud, without providing any evidence.

The lack of a concession has upended the process that normally follows a US election.

Mr Biden is projected to defeat President Trump 306 to 232 in the US electoral system, which determines who becomes president - far above the 270 he needs to win.

The Trump campaign has lost a slew of lawsuits contesting results from the election, and their latest efforts focus on stopping the swing states that handed Mr Biden his win certifying the results - an essential step for the Democrat to be formally declared victor.

What did the Pennsylvania judge say?

In the ruling Judge Brann wrote that the Trump campaign had tried to "disenfranchise almost seven million voters".

He said his "court has been presented with strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations".

"In the United States of America, this cannot justify the disenfranchisement of a single voter, let alone all the voters of its sixth most populated state," the judge wrote.

The Trump campaign argued that the state had violated the US Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law as some, Democratic-run counties allowed voters to fix errors on their ballots while Republican-run counties did not.

media captionHow to move on after the US election

But in his ruling Judge Brann dismissed the claim, saying "like Frankenstein's Monster" it had been "haphazardly stitched together". He said even if it was the basis for a case then the Trump campaign's solution went too far.

Mr Trump's legal team announced it would urgently seek to appeal against the decision.

Few Republicans have called on the president to concede, but following the judge's ruling Republican Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey said Mr Trump had exhausted all legal options in the state and urged him to accept the result.
 
US election 2020: Trump ally urges him to accept defeat in US vote

A prominent ally of Donald Trump has urged him to drop his efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden in the US presidential election.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called the president's legal team a "national embarrassment".

President Trump has refused to concede the election, making unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud.

Many Republicans have supported his legal efforts but a small but growing number have broken ranks.

On Saturday Mr Trump suffered a major blow in Pennsylvania, after a judge dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump campaign seeking to invalidate millions of mail-in votes in the battleground state.

In a scathing ruling, Judge Matthew Brann said his court had been presented with "strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations".

The move paves the way for Pennsylvania to on Monday certify Mr Biden's win - the Democratic president-elect leads there by more than 80,000 votes.

Mr Biden is projected to defeat President Trump 306 to 232 in the US electoral college, which determines who becomes president - far above the 270 he needs to win.

What did Chris Christie say?
Speaking to ABC's This Week programme on Sunday, Mr Christie, a former New Jersey governor, said: "Quite frankly, the conduct of the president's legal team has been a national embarrassment".

He said the Trump camp was often discussing election fraud "outside the courtroom, but when they go inside the courtroom they don't plead fraud and they don't argue fraud".

"I have been a supporter of the president's. I voted for him twice. But elections have consequences, and we cannot continue to act as if something happened here that didn't happen."

Mr Christie was the first governor to endorse Mr Trump as a presidential candidate back in 2016. He also helped prepare the US president for his debates with Mr Biden earlier this year.

He singled out for criticism Sidney Powell, a lawyer who appeared with Trump's legal team during a press conference on Thursday who, without providing evidence, said that electronic voting systems switched millions of ballots to Biden, and that he also won thanks to "communist money".

But on Sunday the Trump campaign issued a statement distancing themselves from Ms Powell, saying she "is practicing law on her own" and was "not a member of the Trump legal team".

A tweet from President Trump earlier this month explicitly named her as part of the team.

On Sunday other Republicans also urged President Trump to concede.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan told CNN on Sunday that the Trump camp's continued efforts to overturn the election results were "beginning to look like we're a banana republic".

In a post on Twitter, Gov Hogan said Mr Trump should "stop golfing and concede".

Michigan Representative Fred Upton told CNN the voters in his battleground state "spoke" by choosing Mr Biden, while North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer said in an interview to NBC it was "past time to start a transition", although he stopped short of accepting Mr Biden's victory.

What has the Biden camp been up to?
President Trump's refusal to concede has complicated the process that normally follows a US election.

Joe Biden is to announce his first cabinet appointments on Tuesday, said Ron Klain, the president-elect's choice as White House chief-of-staff.

Speaking to ABC on Sunday, Mr Klain called on the Trump administration to facilitate the transition.

"A record number of Americans rejected the Trump presidency, and since then Donald Trump's been rejecting democracy," he said.

And he revealed that the Biden campaign was preparing for a "scaled-down" inauguration on 20 January due to the worsening coronavirus outbreak.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55038777.
 
Joe Biden to nominate Antony Blinken as US secretary of state

The US president-elect, Joe Biden, will nominate the veteran diplomat Antony Blinken as his secretary of state and Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the UN, moving forward on his campaign pledge to restore the US as a leader on the global stage and rely on experts.

Blinken and Thomas-Greenfield bring deep foreign policy backgrounds to the nascent administration while providing a sharp contrast with Donald Trump, who distrusted such experience and embraced an “America First” policy that strained longstanding US relationships.

Blinken could be named as early as Tuesday, according to sources close to Biden, while Axios first reported Thomas-Greenfield’s impending nomination.

Blinken’s appointment made another longtime Biden aide and foreign policy veteran, Jake Sullivan, the top candidate to be US national security adviser, a source told Reuters.

During the campaign, Biden severely criticised Trump’s go-it-alone foreign policy and pledged to recommit to Nato and other global pacts, while promising to tap experts to fight the Covid crisis and other problems at home. He has promised to rejoin the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization and potentially the Iran nuclear deal.

“America First has made America alone,” Biden said in a town-hall meeting in October.

Blinken is a longtime Biden confidant who served as No 2 at the state department and as deputy national security adviser in Barack Obama’s administration, in which Biden served as vice-president.

Thomas-Greenfield, a Black woman who served as the assistant secretary of state for Africa under Obama, was intended to restore morale and help fulfill Biden’s pledge to choose a diverse cabinet, Axios reported.

Sullivan served as Biden’s national security adviser during the Obama administration and also as deputy chief of staff to the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton.

Ron Klain, Biden’s choice as White House chief of staff, told ABC’S This Week that the first Biden cabinet picks would come on Tuesday.

Biden said last week he had settled on a treasury secretary. The former Fed chair Janet Yellen is believed to be the top candidate in Democratic and monetary policy circles.

A spokesman for Biden’s transition team declined to comment.

Klain again urged that the Trump administration – specifically a federal agency called the General Services Administration (GSA) – formally recognise Biden’s victory in order to unlock resources for the transition process.

Biden is due to take office on 20 January.

“A record number of Americans rejected the Trump presidency, and since then Donald Trump’s been rejecting democracy,” Klain told This Week.

Since Biden, a Democrat, was declared the winner of the election two weeks ago, Turmp has launched a barrage of lawsuits and mounted a pressure campaign to try to prevent state officials from certifying their vote totals, suffering another emphatic legal setback on Saturday in Pennsylvania.

Biden received 6m more votes nationwide than Trump and prevailed 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the election’s victor.

Klain said there would be “scaled-down versions of the existing traditions” for Biden’s inauguration. Inauguration ceremonies and related events typically draw huge crowds to Washington. Covid-19 cases and deaths are surging in many parts of the country amid a pandemic that has killed more than 256,000 people in the US.

Critics of Trump, including Democrats and some Republicans, have accused him of trying to undermine faith in the American electoral system and delegitimise Biden’s victory by promoting false claims of widespread voter fraud.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...inate-antony-blinken-as-us-secretary-of-state
 
Trump accepts transition to Biden must begin

Donald Trump has accepted a formal US transition should begin for President-elect Joe Biden to take office.

The president said the federal agency overseeing the handover must "do what needs to be done", even as he vowed to keep contesting his election defeat.

The General Services Administration (GSA) said it was acknowledging Mr Biden as the "apparent winner".

It came as Mr Biden's victory in the state of Michigan was officially certified, a major blow to Mr Trump.

The Biden team welcomed the start of the transition process.

"Today's decision is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track," said its statement.

"This final decision is a definitive administrative action to formally begin the transition process with federal agencies."

What did Trump say?
Mr Trump tweeted as the GSA, which is tasked with formally beginning presidential transitions, informed the Biden camp that it would start the process.

Administrator Emily Murphy said she was making $6.3m (£4.7m) in funds available to the president-elect.

While pledging to keep up the "good fight", the president said: "Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same."

Ms Murphy, a Trump appointee, cited "recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results" in her decision to send the letter.

She said she had received no pressure from the White House over the timing of her decision.

"To be clear I did not receive any direction to delay my determination," said Ms Murphy's letter to Mr Biden.

"I did, however, receive threats online, by phone, and by mail directed at my safety, my family, my staff, and even my pets in an effort to coerce me into making this determination prematurely.

"Even in the face of thousands of threats I have remained committed to upholding the law."

She had faced criticism from both political sides for failing to begin the transition process sooner, usually a routine step between the election and the inauguration.

Ms Murphy missed a deadline on Monday set by Democrats in the House of Representatives to brief lawmakers about the delay.

Have Republicans brought any pressure to bear?
Mr Trump's fellow Republicans have increasingly been breaking ranks over the transition, with several of them speaking out on Monday.

Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander, who is retiring, released a statement saying that Mr Trump should "put the country first" and help Mr Biden succeed.

"When you are in public life, people remember the last thing you do," Mr Alexander said.

West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito said "at some point, the 2020 election must end".

Ohio Senator Rob Portman argued for Mr Biden to receive top-secret briefings on national security and to be updated by the Trump administration on plans for coronavirus vaccine distribution.

More than 160 business leaders had also urged Ms Murphy in an open letter to immediately recognise Mr Biden as president-elect.

"Withholding resources and vital information from an incoming administration puts the public and economic health and security of America at risk,″ they wrote.

What happened in Michigan?
One of two Republicans on the Michigan State Board of Canvassers joined the two Democrats to finalise the result. The other Republican abstained. Mr Biden won the state by more than 150,000 votes.

Abstaining Republican board member Norman Shinkle had suggested delaying the certification over irregularities affecting a few hundred votes in one county.

But his colleague, Republican Aaron Van Langeveld, on Monday said their duty was "simple" and there was no option but certification.

Mr Trump's legal team said they would still challenge Michigan's results.

Adviser Jenna Ellis said certification was "simply a procedural step". She added: "Americans must be assured that the final results are fair and legitimate."

But time is running out. On 14 December, Mr Biden's victory is set to be approved by the US Electoral College.

What about Trump's other legal challenges?
Mr Trump and his allies have suffered a string of court defeats in key states as they race to challenge the results.

His campaign has reportedly tried to convince Republican state lawmakers to appoint their own electors to vote for him instead of Mr Biden, but to no avail.

In Pennsylvania, a Republican judge on Saturday ruled that the Trump campaign had tried to "disenfranchise almost seven million voters" with no real evidence. The president's lawyers have appealed now to the Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

The president's other legal efforts in the state have failed to change Mr Biden's lead of some 80,000 votes.

The Trump campaign has also called for another recount in Georgia, after an earlier recount by hand confirmed Mr Biden's win in the state.

In Wisconsin, a partial recount is under way by request of the Trump campaign. Election officials have accused Trump supporters of obstructing the state's recount of votes.

They said observers for Mr Trump were in some cases challenging every single ballot to deliberately slow down proceedings.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55052640.
 
Janet Yellen: Biden to pick 'first female treasury secretary'

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to name Janet Yellen to lead the treasury department, US media report.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman to hold the position in US history.

The 74-year-old economist previously served as head of America's central bank and as a top economics adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

She is credited with helping steer the economic recovery after the 2007 financial crisis and ensuing recession.

As chair of the US Federal Reserve, Ms Yellen was known for focusing more attention on the impact of the bank's policies on workers and the costs of America's rising inequality.

Donald Trump bucked Washington tradition in 2018 when he opted not to appoint Ms Yellen to a second four-year term at the Fed. Starting with Bill Clinton in the 1990s, presidents kept on bank leaders appointed by their predecessors in an effort to de-politicise the bank.

Since leaving the post in 2018, Ms Yellen has spoken out about climate change and the need for Washington to do more to shield the US economy from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Who is Janet Yellen?
The daughter of a family doctor and an elementary school teacher, she grew up in New York City. She earned her degree in economics from Brown University, before going on to complete a PhD at Yale.

In addition to her work at the Fed and in government, she was a professor at University of California, Berkeley.

She is married to George Akerlof, a Nobel Prize-winning economist whom she met while working as a researcher at the Fed in the 1970s. They have one son, who is also an economics professor.

Her climb to the top of the economics profession also made her a feminist icon in the economics world.

When she left the Fed in 2018, many paid tribute to her leadership by imitating her signature look of a blazer with a popped collar.

How does she fit into the US political scene?
Ms Yellen has a long history of working in Washington. Before Mr Obama named her to lead the Fed in 2014, she had served as one of its board members for a decade, including four years as vice-chair.

At the Treasury, she would likely be charged with guiding the Biden administration's economic response to the pandemic, which has prompted the worst economic contraction the US has seen in decades and cast more than 10 million people out of work.

The office also oversees tax policy, public debt and international finance and sanctions.

Ms Yellen is seen as a pick able to satisfy both progressive and centrist members of Mr Biden's Democratic party. Her nomination to lead the Fed in 2014 won support from some Republicans.

"2 cheers for Janet Yellen at Treasury," liberal public policy professor and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote on Twitter.

While she is not as left-wing as some of the names rumoured to be under consideration, such as Senator Elizabeth Warren, she still "understands the huge toll stagnant wages, systemic racism, and widening inequality have taken on our economy and society", he said.

Ms Warren also chimed in her congratulations, focusing on Ms Yellen's record as bank regulator. One of her final moves as Fed chair was issuing an order limiting Wells Fargo's ability to grow ,in response to a fake accounts scandal at the bank.

"Janet Yellen would be an outstanding choice for Treasury Secretary," Ms Warren said. "She is smart, tough, and principled."

What does Wall Street think of her?
Ms Yellen's focus on employment, rather than inflation, gave her a reputation of favouring low interest rates, which spur economic activity by making it less expensive to borrow money,.

But under her leadership, the Fed raised interest rates for the first time since 2008 - albeit less aggressively than some more conservative commentators supported.

Her stewardship of that process has won praise on Wall Street, even as it remains hotly debated.

On Monday, Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive and economic advisor to Donald Trump, said Mr Biden had made an "excellent choice".

"Having had the opportunity to work with then-Chair Yellen, I have no doubt she will be the steady hand we need to promote an economy that works for everyone, especially during these difficult times. Congratulations," he wrote on Twitter.
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-55051511.
 
Milwaukee recount close to completion

In election news out of Wisconsin, Milwaukee County could complete the recounting of its presidential election results as soon as tomorrow and no later than Friday, a county spokesman said this morning.

The recount got off to a slow start last week as elections officials addressed a myriad of complaints from Donald Trump’s attorneys and observers as part of their increasingly hapless and hopeless long-shot attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state and in the election, which has amounted to no more than legal heckling in a side show starring characters such as Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell.

But as of today, in Wisconsin, the work of confirming the election result was “very close to being back on schedule,” said Brian Rothgery, spokesman for the Milwaukee county board of supervisors.
 
US election 2020: Biden presents team as Trump allows transition

US President-elect Joe Biden is formally introducing the first people he has chosen for his cabinet, as the transition of power gathers pace.

Many of the choices, already announced, are Mr Biden's colleagues from his years in the Obama administration.

John Kerry will be climate envoy, while foreign policy veteran Antony Blinken is nominated for secretary of state.

President Donald Trump has finally agreed that the transition process should start, after weeks of wrangling.

The General Services Administration (GSA), the federal agency overseeing the handover, said it was now acknowledging Mr Biden as the "apparent winner" of the 3 November election.

The move grants the Democrat access to millions of dollars in funds, as well as access to national security briefings and government officials, so he can properly prepare to take over the presidency on 20 January.

Mr Trump said the GSA must "do what needs to be done", but still refuses to concede the election, repeating unsubstantiated claims of a "rigged election".

A statement from the transition team said those being nominated "are experienced, crisis-tested leaders who are ready to hit the ground running on day one".

It said: "These officials will start working immediately to rebuild our institutions, renew and re-imagine American leadership to keep Americans safe at home and abroad, and address the defining challenges of our time - from infectious disease, to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber threats, and climate change."

The transition website has now switched to a .gov domain.

It is not yet clear when Mr Biden will be given his first classified national security briefing as incoming president. The so-called Presidential Daily Brief gives Mr Trump details of the latest international threats and developments.

Mr Biden revealed his key picks for his national security and foreign policy teams on Monday. Almost all of the top posts will require Senate approval.

Antony Blinken was nominated as secretary of state - the most important foreign policy position. He is expected to manage a Biden foreign policy agenda that will emphasise re-engaging with Western allies

Ex-US Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the incoming administration's effort to combat climate change. He was one of the leading architects of the Paris climate agreement, which President Trump withdrew from. Mr Kerry will not require Senate approval

Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA, was nominated as the first female director of national intelligence

Alejandro Mayorkas was the first Latino nominated to serve as secretary of homeland security. He previously served as deputy secretary of homeland security under President Obama

Jake Sullivan was named White House national security adviser. This does not require Senate approval. Mr Sullivan served as Mr Biden's national security adviser during Mr Obama's second term

Long-time diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield was nominated US ambassador to the UN. She also served under President Obama, including as assistant secretary of state for African affairs between 2013 and 2017

Reports say former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen will be the choice for treasury secretary

Senate rejection of a nominee to the cabinet is rare. The last was in 1989, although some nominees have withdrawn from consideration.

Mr Biden's first TV interview as president-elect is scheduled to air in the US on Tuesday evening.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2020-55057751
 
Entire post-election episode from the Trump team was a useless waste of time and money.
 
Can't wait for December 14 when the electoral college votes, it'll be over for the Trumplicans.
 
US election 2020: ‘America is back’, says Biden as he unveils team

US President-elect Joe Biden has unveiled officials for six important posts, as he prepares to take office.

"America is back", he said, and "ready to lead the world, not retreat from it".

If confirmed, Avril Haines will be the first female director of national intelligence and Alejandro Mayorkas the first Latino homeland security boss.

Donald Trump has agreed transition moves must start and Mr Biden will now get a top secret intelligence brief.

However, the sitting president still refuses to admit defeat, repeating unsubstantiated claims that the 3 November vote was "rigged".

As well as getting the Presidential Daily Brief- an update on international threats and developments - Mr Biden can now access key government officials and millions of dollars in funds as he prepares to take over on 20 January.

On Tuesday, Governor Tom Wolf said he had certified Mr Biden's victory in Pennsylvania, a key swing state. Another, Michigan, certified the same outcome on Monday.

What did Biden say?
Speaking in Wilmington, Delaware, the president-elect highlighted the need to rebuild alliances, as well as tackling coronavirus and climate change.

World leaders, he suggested, were "looking forward to the United States reasserting its historic role as a global leader over the Pacific, as well as the Atlantic, all across the world".

Speaking to NBC News, he said: "This president, President Trump, has changed the landscape. It's become America first, America alone. We find ourselves in a position where our alliances are being frayed."

Mr Biden also told reporters he had discussed the Irish border issue with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other leaders.

Mr Biden, who has Irish heritage, said he was against a guarded border, arguing it must be kept open: "The idea of having the border north and south once again being closed, it's just not right."

Speaking to NBC, Mr Biden said outreach from the White House had been "sincere", not "begrudging".

There were, he said, plans for him to meet the Covid task force in the White House about vaccine distribution and access.

Barack Obama's former vice-president said that his time in office would not be a "third Obama term" because "we face a totally different world than we faced in the Obama-Biden administration".
Click to expand...

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55057751.
 
US election 2020: Biden says White House co-operation 'sincere'

US President-elect Joe Biden says the White House has so far been "sincere" in helping his transition to power.

"It has not been begrudging so far, and I don't expect it to be," he told NBC News in an interview.

He spoke as he unveiled his choice of top officials for when he takes over from Donald Trump in January.

Mr Trump finally agreed to allow the formal transition process to begin on Monday, nearly three weeks after the presidential election.

Yet he still refuses to admit defeat, repeating unsubstantiated claims that the 3 November vote was "rigged".

President Trump's efforts to challenge the results in key states in courts have so far failed. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania and Nevada officially certified Mr Biden's victory, a day after the same outcome was announced in Michigan.

https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-55068277
 
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