Trump news - live: President posts ‘most important’ 46-minute speech filled with false voter fraud claims

The bombshell came in a partially redacted court filing in Washington DC on Tuesday

Officials say parties at the executive mansion limited to 50 people, despite warnings on Covid

The Federal Reserve intends to keep interest rates low as long as the US economy is slowed and further threatened by the coronavirus pandemic, Chairman Jerome Powell told a House panel.

“Our priority remains supporting the economy until we’re really well through this. We are going to keep our rates low, and keep our tools working until we feel we are very clearly past the danger that’s presented to the economy from the pandemic,” the central bank chief said on Wednesday.

“So we are not considering pulling back our support for the economy,” he added. “And we are not going to until we feel very confident that it’s no longer necessary.”

The World Health Organisation has warned there will not be enough vaccine stock to prevent more surges in coronavirus cases over the next three to six months.

Dr Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies programme, made the stark warning during a social media event as he called on people to maintain social distancing to restrict the spread of Covid-19.

He said: “We are not going to have sufficient vaccinations in place to prevent a surge in cases for three to six months.”

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and a member of President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force, has issued an urgent warning to the incoming White House administration amid an alarming spike in Covid-19 cases nationwide: “Close the bars and keep the schools open.”

Speaking to ABC News on Sunday morning, the immunologist was asked how he would advise President-elect Joe Biden’s administration on the coronavirus pandemic, and specifically how he would go about keeping schools open — something Dr Fauci has insisted should happen despite the rise in infections.

“We say it not being facetiously as a soundbite or anything: close the bars and keep the schools open,” he said. “You don’t have ‘one-size-fits-all,’ but as I said in the past … the default position should be to try as best as possible within reason to keep the children in school, to get them back to school.”

More below:

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters called Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s decision to end several Federal Reserve lending programs amid the pandemic “foolish and reckless.”

But the Trump administration official contended he was just following the intent of a Covid-19 relief bill that the California Democrat and hundreds of other lawmakers passed earlier this year.

Read more here from our Washington Bureau Chief, John T. Bennett: 

A doctor in Nevada said he was left stunned after President Donald Trump helped turn his message of support for hospital workers “into something that it was never meant to be” in a new interview.

Dr Jacob Keeperman, an ICU physician in Reno, told the Washington Post he was “disappointed” and “completely caught off guard” when the president retweeted a post featuring misinformation — and his selfie — on Tuesday.

The doctor had posted a photo of himself to Twitter standing inside of a newly-created hospital wing with 1,500 beds to treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus that has so far killed nearly 270,000 Americans nationwide.

More here by Chris Riotta:

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has tweeted in defence of Section 230 after President Donald Trump called for it to be repealed from a defence bill.

The tweet from the ACLU posted today said: "Section 230 does not just protect Big Tech companies. 

"It is critical to protecting the free speech of online platforms and internet users — including President Trump. Undermining Section 230 will undermine free expression for all of us.”

Mr Trump on Tuesday night threatened to veto the critical $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act unless Section 230 is repealed, claiming that it is "a serious threat to our National Security & Election Integrity."

Read more here: 

Brad Parscale has said some Americans were turned away by the president’s stance on Covid-19, and that it cost him the election.

“People were scared,” Mr Parscale said in an interview with Fox News, which aired on Tuesday. “He could have leaned into it instead of run[ning] away”.    

Speaking about Joe Biden’s successes in American suburbs, Mr Parscale, a former aide of the president, argued that Mr Trump should “have been publicly empathetic, he would have won by a landslide there”.

Read all of it here, by Gino Spocchia:

President-elect Joe Biden says he won't immediately lift tariffs placed by President Donald Trump on many imports from China or break Trump's initial trade deal.

Speaking to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Mr Biden said, "I'm not going to make any immediate moves, and the same applies to the tariffs."

Under Mr Trump, the US and China engaged in a year long trade war that has been largely frozen since a Phase One deal was reached in January. 

While some industries have benefited from Trump's protectionist policies, the policies have been largely panned by the business community and most experts — and most of the cost of tariffs has been borne by American businesses and consumers.

Read the latest on Mr Biden’s transition to power: