Networks call Georgia for Biden as security officials say vote was ‘secure’
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Your support makes all the difference.As Donald Trump continues to refuse conceding the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden, the president-elect was said to have spoken with Senate Republicans who have begun to admit he should at least receive intelligence briefings that have so far been denied.
On Friday afternoon most networks called Georgia for Mr Biden and North Carolina for Mr Trump bringing their respective electoral college vote totals to 306 to 232.
US federal and state cybersecurity officials, meanwhile, have delivered a direct rebuke to Donald Trump, who continues to allege irregularities and widespread fraud without evidence.
Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the 3 November vote was “the most secure in history" in a report published Thursday, and added that Americans should trust the result. His agency had not find any evidence of ballots being lost, deleted or altered, he said.
Kenneth Copeland laughs maniacally at media for calling US election for Biden
The conservative televangelist Kenneth Copeland laughed uncontrollably over Joe Biden’s presidential win this weekend, and panned media outlets who declared him the winner over Donald Trump, who lost, writes Gino Spocchia.
In a 40-second-long video uploaded to the progressive Twitter account Right Wing Watch, the 83-year-old prosperity gospel preacher mocked both media outlets and Mr Biden, who became president-elect on Saturday.
“The media said what?”, asked Mr Copeland. “The media said Joe Biden’s president,” he said, as he addressed an audience at the Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday, who applauded.
Kenneth Copeland laughs maniacally at media for calling US election for Biden
Television evangelist who claimed Covid-19 would vanish with ‘wind of God’, mocks media and president-elect
US election turn-out hits 50-year high
More than 148 million votes have been counted so far in this year’s US election of which 75 million popular votes were cast for Joe Biden – a 50-year high in the country’s history, writes Isobel Frodsham.
As of Sunday, votes counted represent 62 per cent of eligible voters, according to the US Elections Project, a four per cent increase on the previous record was set by Barack Obama in 2008, when his landslide win against Republican candidate John McCain saw him scoop 69.5 million votes.
Voter turn-out hits 50-year high
Joe Biden named as record-setter in encouraging Americans to head to the polls
BREAKING: Trump official tests positive for Covid after attending White House election party
Ben Carson has become the latest Trump administration official to test positive for Covid-19.
The secretary of housing and urban development attended the election night party at the White House on Tuesday.
Mr Carson’s deputy chief of staff says he is “in good spirits and feels fortunate to have access to effective therapeutics which aid and markedly speed his recovery”.
Oliver O’Connell has more on the breaking news:
Ben Carson tests positive for Covid after attending White House election party
Ben Carson has become the latest Trump administration official to test positive for Covid-19.
Biden’s new transition website focuses on Covid-19 and racial equity
President-elect Joe Biden has already launched his transition website amid the news he’s projected to be the next president of the United States.
The transition website, entitled Build Back Better, lays out four key areas the Biden-Harris administration plans to tackle on day one in office: Covid-19, economic recovery, racial equity, and climate change.
“President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris are confronting a pandemic, an economic crisis, calls for racial justice, and climate change. The team being assembled will meet these challenges on Day One,” the website reads.
Mr Biden held a meeting today with his Covid-19 advisory council about what the country should do moving forward amid a surge in coronavirus in the vast majority of states. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was also in attendance.
Watch live: President-elect Biden delivers press conference about Covid-19 response
Biden urges Americans to wear a mask amid vaccine breakthrough, warning of ‘very dark winter’ ahead
After a briefing from his Covid-19 advisory board on the state of the pandemic, President-elect Joe Biden has urged Americans to wear masks to combat transmissions of the coronavirus, fearing a “very dark winter” in coming weeks.
His message followed positive developments from drug maker Pfizer, which announced on Monday that its coronavirus vaccine candidate is “90 per cent effective” against the disease.
Alex Woodward has more on Mr Biden’s policy speech:
Biden urges Americans to wear a mask amid vaccine breakthrough
After a briefing from his Covid-19 advisory board on the state of the pandemic, president-elect Joe Biden has urged Americans to wear masks to combat transmissions of the coronavirus, fearing a “very dark winter” in coming weeks.
Could climate action be the issue to bring Joe Biden and Boris Johnson together?
As it was finally confirmed late on Saturday that Joe Biden had won the US election, leaders from across the world rushed to bring focus to the climate crisis in their first messages to the president-elect.
Among them was Boris Johnson, who said in his first official statement to Mr Biden: “The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security.”
Later on, he told reporters: “I think now with President Biden in the White House in Washington, we have the real prospect of American global leadership in tackling climate change.”
The Independent’s Daisy Dunne with her report:
Could climate action be the issue to bring Joe Biden and Boris Johnson together?
As the prime minister seeks to distance himself from ties to Trump, priotising climate cooperation could be a ‘natural fit’ for both Johnson and Biden, environment analysts tell Daisy Dunne
Andrew Yang moving to Georgia to help Democrats in Senate runoffs
Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang announced on Monday he would be moving to Georgia for the next couple months to assist in the two Senate runoffs.
“Great news #yanggang - Evelyn and I are moving to Georgia to help @ossoff and @ReverendWarnock win!” Mr Yang wrote in a tweet, referencing Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and the Reverend Raphael Warnock.
“This is our only chance to clear Mitch out of the way and help Joe and Kamala get things done in the next 4 years. More details to come but let’s go,” he added.
Mr Warnock will face off against Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler and Mr Ossoff will face off against Republican Senator David Perdue after no one surpassed a majority of 50 per cent of the votes on Election Day, a Georgia rule.
The Senate runoffs will happen on 5 January and come at a time when Georgia is projected to flip blue for the first time in a presidential election since it did 1992 for President Bill Clinton.
These races are imperative because if Democrats win both, they will take the majority in the Senate and unseat Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican. With Joe Biden projected as the next president of the United States, a Democratic-led senate would further help his administration pass legislation.
If news of the Pfizer vaccine had arrived last week, would Trump have avoided defeat?
Sean O’Grady with his analysis of the latest vaccine development:
Would the Pfizer vaccine have saved Trump from election defeat? | Sean O’Grady
A vaccine announcement might have persuaded enough of Trump’s supporters to stick with him
Fox News pundit calls Biden a ‘downer’ for Covid-19 speech
Fox News’ Laura Ingraham shared a video of Joe Biden from Monday when he delivered a speech about the current coronavirus pandemic.
In the speech, Mr Biden implored Americans to wear a mask and practice social distancing. He also warned that the US could have a very “dark winter” and face an additional 200,000 deaths if trends continued in the wrong direction.
“My God is he a downer...has his handlers not told him about the vaccine that that the Trump Admin funded.” Ms Ingraham wrote.
There was positive news on Monday regarding the coronavirus vaccine after Pfizer revealed early data shows its 90 per cent effective against the novel virus. But Pfizer was quick to correct the Trump administration about where it got its funding. The company did not accept any funding from Operation Warp Speed, launched by the Trump administration, in developing its vaccine.
Ms Ingraham was quick to call Mr Biden a “downer”, but his warning comes at a time when cases and hospitalisations are surging in the vast majority of states across the country.
Prior to the speech, Mr Biden congratulated Pfizer on its recent announcement regarding the vaccine.
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