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.
Here are the three Republican senators who have congratulated Biden
Josh Marcus breaks down who in the GOP has acknowledged Joe Biden’s win.
Just three Republican senators have congratulated Biden
Meanwhile, the president and his team still maintain they haven’t lost the election
Georgia’s Republican senators call for resignation of GOP secretary of state
Georgia's Republican senators have called for the state’s GOP secretary of state to resign after they were left to face run-off elections in January following this year's election day.
Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue demanded Brad Raffensperger’s resignation in a joint statement released on Monday.
The officials cited “too many failures” in the state’s election process this year, but did not offer any specific evidence to support their claims in the statement.
Here is their statement in full:
Louise Hall has the story:
Georgia’s Republican senators call for resignation of GOP secretary of state
Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue will both face runoff elections in January
BREAKING: Fox news cuts away from McEnany press conference: ‘I can’t in good countenance continue showing this’
Fox News cut away from a Trump campaign press conference outlining its allegations of so-called election fraud in the presidential election.
Host Neil Cavuto cut into White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s opening statement saying the election was far from over.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. I just think we have to be very clear: she's charging the other side as welcoming fraud and illegal voting, unless she has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue to show you this," Mr Cavuto said.
Justin Vallejo reports:
Fox news cuts away from McEnany press conference
Fox News cut away from a Trump campaign press conference outlining its allegations of so-called election fraud in the presidential election.
Trump appointee blocking Biden administration from accessing $9.9m in transition funds
Joe Biden’s transition team is being blocked by a Trump appointee who signs off on releasing the federal funds allocated to the incoming president, sparking widespread anger across the political spectrum.
Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration (GSA), said the the election has not yet been decided.
“An ascertainment has not yet been made,” said Pamela Pennington, a spokeswoman for GSA. “And its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law.”
Harriet Alexander reports:
Trump appointee blocking Biden administration from starting transition
The Biden campaign has urged the Trump official to sign the documents and ‘engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power’
New voter counts push Biden lead in Georgia and Arizona
Joe Biden’s lead in Georgia has now increased to be more than 11,000 votes ahead of Donald Trump. In Arizona, Mr Biden’s lead increased to just over 17,000.
New voter tallies in Pennsylvania slightly shrunk Mr Biden’s lead over Mr Trump. He now leads by just about 45,000 votes with 52,000 absentee ballot still to be counted. About 20,000 of those ballots comes from the large cities of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania.
The Associated Press has already called Arizona and Pennsylvania for Mr Biden, which has led him to be the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election.
But no news organisation has yet projected Georgia, and a recount is expected in the state.
Mitch McConnell backs Donald Trump and says he is ‘100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities’
Mitch McConnell has given Donald Trump his full support as he fights the result of the election, dismaying moderate Republicans with his embrace of the president’s defiant refusal to concede.
Mr McConnell said that Mr Trump was “100 per cent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities”.
He told the Senate on Monday: "Let's not have any lectures - no lectures - about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election."
Harriet Alexander reports:
Mitch McConnell backs Donald Trump
The most senior Republican in the Senate has thrown his weight behind Trump to contest the election results
Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller shuts down rumours he may concede
One of Donald Trump’s leading campaign advisers has shut down rumours that the president may concede.
Jason Miller predicted that Mr Trump will not concede the election to Joe Biden any time soon as the word is “not even in our vocabulary.”
Graeme Massie reports:
Trump campaign advisor shuts down idea he may concede ‘that word is not in our vocabulary’
Republican aide says ‘fraud’ investigations will continue
Georgia Senate runoffs: How Trump’s ongoing war against elections is endangering the GOP’s Senate majority
Griffin Connolly with his analysis on the upcoming Senate runoffs:
Trump’s ongoing war against elections is infusing Georgia Senate runoffs with chaos
Siding with Trump, GOP senators call on Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to resign
Dr Fauci says he has ‘no intention of leaving’ his governmental role under a Biden administration
Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, was asked if he would stay in the government after President-elect Joe Biden was inaugurated in January.
The lead expert told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he had “no intention of leaving” his post.
"This is an important job. I've been doing it now for a very long time. I've been doing it under six presidents. It's an important job and my goal is to serve the American public no matter what the administration is," he said.
Mr Biden would likely welcome Dr Fauci staying in his role given the severity of the coronavirus pandemic within the United States.
Dr Fauci was also asked if he’s talked to Mr Biden since the Democrat was projected to be the 46th president of the United States. “I would prefer not to talk about any of that,” Dr Fauci said.
"I want to focus on what I'm doing now with regard to getting a vaccine and getting this country well in the sense of towards normality, which I think we are able to get this with this vaccine. That's really what I want to talk about," he added.
BREAKING: Attorney General Barr authorises DOJ to pursue investigation into voter irregularities
Attorney General Bill Barr gave Department of Justice prosecutors the go ahead to "pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections," according to a memo released by the DOJ.
This determination has contrasted the longstanding practice of the DOJ to stay out of election processes that would impact the results.
There has been little to no evidence of voter fraud, but that hasn’t stopped the Trump campaign from alleging that the election was “stolen” because of “massive voter fraud”. The campaign has yet to back up these claims with evidence.
Lawsuits were filed in the battleground states of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan.
What the DOJ would investigate remains unclear.
Mr Trump has not yet conceded the election as he believes that results will be overturned pending the legal avenue his campaign intends to pursue.
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