President lauds Operation Warp Speed success but says New York will have to wait for vaccine

Trump scrambles to take credit for vaccine in latest tweets

Rather than get busy conceding defeat in the election he just lost, the president is quoting such non-partisan luminaries as right-wing TV presenter Maria Bartiromo and his ex-doctor with political ambitions, Ronny Jackson, on why it’s really him that deserves the credit for the vaccine, not Pfizer and BioNTech who actually created it.

Mike Pence ‘heading to Florida on personal trip’

Having kept his head down very low indeed since Wednesday morning, the veep is dashing off on holiday to the Sunshine State rather than taking part in the president’s spurious legal challenges to swing state results that did not favour their ticket.

Trump proclaims ‘WE WILL WIN’ in all-caps tweets

Here’s the latest from the Man Who Would Be King.

Chris Riotta has the latest.

Trump’s election ‘defence fund’ will also pay off campaign debts, email fine print reveals

Oh, so this is why he’s not conceding - he’s heavily in debt! Of course!

Andrew Buncombe has the details on a discovery that rather indicates the president is not even serious about winning his cases against the states, just wiping out his liabilities through crowdfunding from his already over-stretched supporters.

Make America Rake Again

You’ll be pleased to hear that Four Seasons Total Landscaping, the Philadelphia garden centre situated opposite a sex store that provided the surprise stage for Rudy Giuliani’s embarrassing last stand, has wasted no time in cashing in on its newfound fame with a range of Trump-themed merchandise.

Iana Murray eyes the bargains for Indy100.

Controversial Kentucky attorney general joins Trump's election 'fraud' case 

Daniel Cameron, the state’s top legal authority whose investigation into Breonna Taylor’s death at the hands of police earlier this summer proved highly controversial, is among 10 lawyers supporting the Trump campaign’s lawsuit in Pennsylvania alleging election “fraud”.  

Submitting an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court on Monday, the Republican attorney and nine others alleged that Pennsylvania's High Court had "overstepped its constitutional  responsibility” by allowing mail ballots postmarked by election day to be counted within three days of 3 November.

Gino Spocchia has more details.

Melania reportedly refusing to phone Jill Biden

While Donald Trump refuses to accept last week’s election defeat to Joe Biden, Melania Trump was reported to have so far refused any contact with Jill Biden, who will succeed her in the East Wing of the White House.

There has been no reported discussion between the two women, with Ms Trump appearing to follow the president’s lead - tweeting that “every legal - not illegal” vote should be counted. 

Of course, there are no widespread incidents of voter “fraud" or “illegal” votes from last week’s votes. 

It follows reports from former presidential aides that the first lady was “counting down” to her departure from the White House. 

Donald Trump’s public schedule on Tuesday

….is the same as Monday.

Marco Rubio says he supports Trump campaign lawsuits

In a video message to Twitter on Tuesday, the former 2016 presidential candidate and Florida senator, Marco Rubio, said he supported Donald Trump’s efforts to challenge the results of the election in court. 

That comes despite many of the president’s claims being rejected by judges, who have said there was no basis for claims of voting “irregularities” in last week’s race. 

Still, Mr Rubio, said both sides will be able to “move forward” following the president’s legal challenge in Pennsylvania, alleging voter "fraud". 

“President Trump is well within his legal rights to pursue all these things, under these laws now," said the senator, who then added: “for all those in the media who are angry that Republicans won’t just take their word for it, that Biden won, I think you need some self awareness”. 

Mr Biden, who was projected to have won the presidency on Saturday after he developed an insurmountable lead over Mr Trump in Pennsylvania, had considerable margins in a number of other competitive states, leading to the declaration that he had won. 

Mr Rubio is among many GOP lawmakers who have not congratulated the Democrat, while Mr Trump refuses to concede. 

US government agencies 'warned not to cooperate with Biden transition team’

This is just childish.

The Washington Post reports today the outgoing Trump administration has instructed senior agency officials to not cooperate with the president-elect’s transition team as its ludicrous battleground state legal challenges persist.

Senior officials spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity to say they have been instructed to tell staff who had been preparing briefing books and office space for the incoming administration to not give them access until the election result is confirmed by the General Services Administration (GSA), which oversees the management and basic functioning of federal agencies.

“We have been told: Ignore the media, wait for it to be official from the government,” one senior administration official told The Post.

In a call with reporters on Monday, Biden transition officials said GSA administrator Emily Murphy’s refusal to sign paperwork releasing his $6.3 million share of nearly $10 million in transition resources is blocking his team from State Department-facilitated calls with foreign leaders and access to secure facilities where they can review classified information, among other services traditionally granted during a presidential transition.

The Biden team reportedly added in the call that they are evaluating their legal options should the Trump administration continue to prevent a peaceful transition.