Don Jr tests positive, as his father dodges media questions

In a statement on Thursday, the Trump campaign said it was withdrawing its last remaining legal challenge in Michigan, after the president earlier championed two GOP officials who reversed their decision to certify results in Wayne County - the state’s most populous county, and home to a population that is 80 per cent Black American. 

“We are withdrawing our lawsuit in Michigan as a direct result of achieving the relief we sought: to stop the election in Wayne County from being prematurely certified before residents can be assured every legal vote has counted and every illegal vote has not been counted,,” said the statement, 

There are, however, no such concepts as a “premature” confirmation of election results, and no proof of so called “illegal” ballots", as claimed by the president and his allies. 

Lindsey Graham has laughed off calls for him to resign after he reportedly pressured the Georgia secretary of state to throw out legally-cast ballots.

The South Carolina senator, one of Donald Trump's staunchest allies, was accused on Monday by Brad Raffensperger, the Republican in charge of Georgia's voting, of calling him and asking him to reject some ballots.

Ilhan Omar, congresswoman for Minnesota, and Rashida Tlaib, representing Michigan, joined the chorus of condemnation and demanded Mr Graham resign.

Harriet Alexander has the report: 

An update on the status of all 30 lawsuits tied to Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud, according to NBC News, shows not one success in proving the existence of fraud, or reversing the election result. 

Still, he tries. 

Later on Thursday, lawyers representing the president’s campaign will announce a so-called legal plan for a “path to victory” for Mr Trump, who claimed his election challenges were "falling nicely".

We are now sixteen days past the election, and twelve days past Joe Biden’s projection as the overall winner by all major US media outlets.  

The president’s campaign on Thursday said the decision by two Republicans to rescind their certification of ballots in the state’s most populous county, Wayne, was the reason behind the withdrawal of a legal challenge against statewide results. 

But, hours earlier, a spokesperson for Michigan’s secretary of state shot down the prospect, and said: "There is no legal mechanism for them to rescind their vote,"  

"Their job is done and the next step in the process is for the Board of State Canvassers to meet and certify."

The two Republicans, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, said they were promised that an independent audit of the votes would be conducted if they voted to approve results, and that they had been pressured into reversing on their initial desire to block the certification, according to reports. 

A day later they signed an affidavits saying they regret their votes to certify the election, after reversing their decision not to certify the results a day earlier.

This via White House correspondent Peter Alexander, who in a tweet thread said Monica Palmer told him her work on the canvas is not attached to her support for the president.

“The President and I did not discuss rescission or anything like that... my conversation with the President was about threats coming from the public and my safety," she told him.

Breath is bated and corn is popped for the “path to victory” press conference from Donald Trump’s lawyers momentarily, but the president may be giving a preview of the strategy.

Trump has been tweeting out the inside scoop over the past two hours, which so far amounts to One American News Network (OANN) sees dead people and Georgia will flip republican. And fraud is rampant in Detroit, where the campaign just dropped a lawsuit.

Joe Biden’s meeting Thursday with a group of Democratic and Republican governors is his latest attempt to fight through President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempt to block the president-elect’s transition to power.

Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris planned a virtual session in the afternoon with the National Governors Association’s leadership team, which includes five Republicans and four Democrats. All the Democrats and a majority of the Republicans involved have acknowledged Biden as the winner of the White House election.

One expected participant, Governor Larry Hogan, R-Md., told The Associated Press recently that Trump’s wild and unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud were “dangerous” and “embarrassing.”

The highest-ranking Republican on the NGA’s executive committee, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, said over the weekend that Biden would be the next president and he called on the Trump administration to give Biden access to the intelligence briefings he needs in order to be fully prepared to lead the country on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.

So far, the governors have not swayed the Republican president. AP

Tune in live with The Independent to watch Rudy Giuliani’s “path to victory” press conference.

It’s the hottest ticket in town.

“We will present in brief the evidence we have collected over the last, I guess, two weeks,” he says.

The once-abundant, since-redundant coronavirus taskforce is making a comeback tour.

The White House announced the task force will hold a press conference this afternoon to talk about all the good things happening lately in the Covid space.

No word on whether original band members doctors Anthony Fauci or Deborah Birx will join the reunion and play some of their back catalogue/

But it’s a good bet Dr Scott Atlas will be on lead riffing their new stuff.