President lauds Operation Warp Speed success but says New York will have to wait for vaccine
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Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump broke his eight day silence with an update on Operation Warp Speed, the project to distribute a vaccine when it is approved by the Food & Drug Administration.
The Rose Garden briefing comes on the day that most networks finally called Georgia for Joe Biden and North Carolina for the president, putting the electoral college votes at 306 to 232 in favour of the Democrat.
In a slight verbal stumble, the president came close to acknowledging that the administration may be in its last days. No formal statement was made regarding the election result. He did not answer any questions.
Trump is being tipped to announce a fresh presidential run in 2024 as he continues to refuse to acknowledge his election defeat to Mr Biden, now president-elect and preparing for government as Mr Trump fires out conspiracy theories in angry tweets from the Oval Office.
The president has meanwhile been branded an “elixir of racial anxiety” by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in an advanced extract from the latter’s new memoir A Promised Land, reflecting on the toxic political undercurrent the former real estate mogul and reality TV star was able to capitalise on to win the White House in 2016.
Mr Obama has also made his first remarks on the current undemocratic impasse in Washington, telling Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes that the Republican Party is “humouring” the incumbent in his delusional rejection of the outcome and taking the country down “a dangerous path”.
• Read more: Follow live updates in our dedicated election liveblog
Biden speaking to Republicans even as they stand by Trump’s refusal to concede election
The president-elect has spoken privately with some Republican elected officials even as few agree to publicly acknowledge his victory over Trump.
"Joe Biden has spoken to Republicans. He's spoken to some Republican senators, some Republican governors," Ron Klain, Biden’s incoming White House chief of staff, told MSNBC.
One major conversation Biden is awaiting is with Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
The Kentucky Republican is among the senior GOP lawmakers who say publicly that Trump has a legal right to challenge election results without quite going so far as to claim that the president has a prayer of overturning enough states to secure the 270 Electoral College votes he would need to win.
John T Bennett has the latest.
Biden speaks to unnamed Republicans even as they stand by Trump’s refusal to concede election
Neither the outgoing or incoming commander in chief was slated to get the 'Presidential Daily Brief,' or PDB, on Friday
‘Trump’s refusal to concede defeat is sending shock waves around the world’
For Indy Premium, Borzou Daragahi looks at a president setting a bad example to emerging democracies around the globe right up until the bitter end.
Trump’s refusal to concede defeat sends shock waves around the world
He may have lost the vote, but could Trump’s deligitimizing of the electoral process act as an inspiration to others, reports Borzou Daragahi
Christopher Columbus says Trump ‘bullied’ way into Home Alone 2 appearance
Trump “bullied” Christopher Columbus into giving him a cameo role in the 1992 Christmas blockbuster Home Alone 2, the director has recalled in a new interview.
Speaking ahead of the film’s anniversary this year, Columbus told Insider how Trump had pressured producers into giving him an appearance in the comedy in return for allowing filming to take place in his New York Plaza Hotel.
“Trump said OK," Columbus recalled. "We paid the fee, but he also said, ‘The only way you can use the Plaza is if I’m in the movie.’
"So we agreed to put him in the movie, and when we screened it for the first time the oddest thing happened: People cheered when Trump showed up on screen. So I said to my editor, ‘Leave him in the movie. It’s a moment for the audience.’
“But he did bully his way into the movie.”
The infamous cameo scene is a sensitive topic for the president, who once accused the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) - and prime minister Justin Trudeau - of editing him out of the film when it was aired last Christmas.
In a statement at the time, CBC admitted it had made edits to shorten the length of the film.
Geraldo Rivera has ‘heartfelt’ call with Trump, a ‘realist’ who will ‘do the right thing’
TV host Geraldo Rivera has revealed on Twitter that he has had a “heartfelt” phone call with his friend Donald Trump who told him that he is a “realist” who will do the “right thing”.
Trump campaign eliminates ‘voter fraud’ hotline
It’s been replaced with a website after campaign staff faced a barrage of prank calls. So now they’ll just have to deal with prank emails?
Trump receiving briefing on Operation Warp Speed
More than 160,000 new cases of coronavirus were recorded yesterday.
130 Secret Service personnel in quarantine
More than 130 Secret Service agents have been placed in quarantine after either testing positive for Covid-19 or being exposed to the virus while guarding Donald Trump.
Nearly 10 per cent of the agents' core team has been compromised due to the virus, according to The Washington Post. The Secret Service employs approximately 1,300 officers in its Uniformed Division, which makes up the bulk of the individuals who protect the residences of the president and vice president.
130 Secret Service officers enter quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus or being exposed to Trump
Around 10 per cent of the Secret Service’s core team has been infected or quarantined
Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, described the risk that the service personnel had been put in as “unconscionable”.
McEnany: 'President will attend his own inauguration’
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked on Fox Business whether Donald Trump will attend the inauguration in January.
“I think the president will attend his own inauguration, he would have to be there in fact,” responded the press secretary/ campaign adviser. It’s unclear from the clip below which hat she is wearing today.
Trump supporters demonstrate near White House
NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell is on the scene.
President concludes Operation Warp Speed meeting
Donald Trump has concluded his one public event scheduled for today — an Operation Warp Speed meeting — without inviting in any reporters for questions or even a photo opportunity.
It has now been 10 days since the president has taken questions from journalists, and eight since he has spoken to the press.
There are 67 days left of the Trump presidency.
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