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Trump news: Just 10% of Republicans in Congress acknowledge Biden win as president heads to Georgia

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Tom Embury-Dennis,Danielle Zoellner
Saturday 05 December 2020 16:36 EST
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Trump admits it will be hard to get case in Supreme Court

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Donald Trump's refusal to admit his defeat to Joe Biden in November’s presidential election has trickled down to Republicans in Congress, 90 per cent of whom have failed to publicly acknowledge the loss.

In a survey of all 249 Congressional Republicans by The Washington Post, just 25 recognised Mr Biden as the President-elect. The vast majority failed to respond to the newspaper, while two falsely claimed Mr Trump had won.

It comes as Mr Trump prepares to head to Georgia to deliver his first rally since his election defeat.

The president is due to appear alongside Republican senate candidates David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are in run-off elections against their Democratic opponents.

What the president will say during the rally remains unknown, but it comes after he tweeted against the governor and secretary of state, both of whom are Republicans, for Georgia. Mr Trump implored the pair to do a full audit of absentee ballot signatures, claiming this would prove his victory in the state. 

Georgia already certified its election results, giving the win to President-elect Biden. But Mr Trump refuses to accept those results. 

The goal of his evening rally tonight is to boost support for Mr Purdue and Ms Loeffler as they face off against Democratic challengers for their US Senate seats. Both races are important because they will determine which party has control of the US Senate come January. 

But Mr Trump could make matters worse for the Republican Party if he chooses to attack the US election process instead of boosting enthusiasm among GOP voters at the upcoming rally. 

Key stories:

‘Cruel and traitorous’ Trump belongs in prison, niece Mary Trump says

President Donald Trump’s niece says her uncle is “criminal, cruel and traitorous” and belongs in prison after he leaves the White House

Mary Trump a psychologist, author and outspoken critic of her estranged relative, rejects the notion that putting a former president on trial would deepen the nation’s political divisions.

“It’s quite frankly insulting to be told time after time that the American people can handle it and that we just need to move on,” Mary Trump told The Associated Press in an interview this week.

Read more:

Niece says 'cruel and traitorous' Trump belongs in prison

President Donald Trump’s niece says her uncle is “traitorous” and belongs in prison after he leaves the White House

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 14:58

Trump’s historic popular vote defeats

Rachael Maddow, an MSNBC presenter, has posted a clip discussing Donald Trump’s historic consecutive popular vote defeats in presidential elections.

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 15:13

Latest on Trump campaign court cases in Pennsylvania

Donald Trump has lost repeatedly in Pennsylvania, collecting a series of stinging rebukes from Republican-appointed judges. The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals last week upheld a district judge's dismissal of a key lawsuit argued in an error-filled performance by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

“Voters, not lawyers, choose the president. Ballots, not briefs, decide elections,” wrote Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, nominated by Mr Trump.

The district judge, Matthew Brann, wrote of the complaint, “One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption.” Judge Brann, a member of the conservative Federalist Society, noted that the campaign did not provide that evidence.

Mr Trump's lawyers have vowed to ask for review from the US Supreme Court anyway.

AP

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 15:36

Trump approach to election defeat condemned

Chris Hayes, an MSNBC host, has shared a scathing clip on Twitter of Donald Trump’s handling of coronavirus and his approach to the election. 

“It is the disaster we all knew it would be,” Hayes says of the election fallout. 

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 15:57

Mysterious brain damage among US diplomats in Cuba likely caused by microwaves, scientists say

Mysterious symptoms suffered by diplomats in Cuba and China were likely caused by microwave energy, a scientific committee has concluded, after a year and a half spent researching the still-unexplained incidents.

American and Canadian diplomats began experiencing strange neurological conditions — intense headaches, dizziness, visual disturbances — in late 2016, while posted to Havana.

Cuban authorities always vehemently denied that they had anything to do with what were initially termed “attacks”, affecting as many as 40 people, and indeed the timing was strange, coming during the Obama administration — the most engaged with Cuba in decades.

Read more:

Mysterious brain damage among diplomats in Cuba likely caused by microwaves

The National Academies of Sciences began work in April 2019 and their conclusions have been published

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 16:06

Ninety percent of Congressional Republicans refuse to acknowledge Biden’s win

Ninety per cent of Republican lawmakers in Congress have so far refused to say Joe Biden was the winner of the presidential election, according to a survey.

Of all 249 Republicans in the US House and Senate, only 25 told the Washington Post they believed the Democrat won against the US president last month.

Two lawmakers surveyed by the Post said Donald Trump had actually won the presidential race, in contrast with results and the electoral college, which show Mr Biden won.  

Read more:

Ninety percent of Congressional Republicans refuse to acknowledge Biden's win

Two GOP lawmakers also said they would not acknowledge the Democrat as a ‘legitimate president’ 

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 16:25

Trump promotes Georgia rally

Donald Trump has tweeted for the first time today, promoting his upcoming rally in Georgia in support of Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who are in a run-off election against their Democratic opponents. 

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 16:37

Senior Trump campaign adviser admits he will be unemployed in 10 days

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump re-election campaign, has told a family court judge he expects to be out of work from 15 December, the day after the Electoral College will certify Joe Biden as President-elect, according to Salon reporter Roger Sollenberger.

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 16:42

Trump rape accuser says she will fight president in court

E Jean Carroll, who has accused Donald Trump of rape, has tweeted this morning to say the US president will need to spend money to fight her in court. 

Ms Carroll is suing Mr Trump for defamation after he said she was lying about the alleged rape.

For more on the lawsuit, which is going ahead despite attempts my Mr Trump to delay it, head here: 

E Jean Carroll’s defamation suit against Donald Trump moving forward

The White House previously sought to delay the suit and use the Department of Justice to fight it

Tom Embury-Dennis5 December 2020 16:58

Trump claims he will ‘easily win’ Georgia 

The president has continued to promote claims about massive voter fraud in Georgia ahead of his rally on Saturday evening, despite state officials saying no such fraud took place. 

In a tweet, Donald Trump said he would “easily win” the battleground state if Republican Governor Brian Kemp and the Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reviewed ballots for signature verification. One of his claims has been that thousands of absentee ballots must have their signatures verified before counting them as votes. 

Mr Kemp did call for a signature verification process, he told Fox News, but that power resided with the secretary of state, also a Republican, to carry out. 

Mr Raffensperger told CNN, though, that signature verification was out of his office's legal purview and would need to be a decision made by the courts. He added there was currently no basis for the courts to order signature verification of all absentee ballots. 

Georgia certified its election results on 20 November, declaring Joe Biden as the winner of the state. The certification came after the state entered into a hand recount of every ballot given the close margin between Mr Biden and Mr Trump. 

Danielle Zoellner5 December 2020 17:26

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