Don Jr tests positive, as his father dodges media questions
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Donald Trump held a press conference on Friday to discuss prescription drug prices, but the moment also included him falsely claiming “he won” the 2020 election while accusing Moderna and Pfizer of working to stop his re-election efforts. The two pharmaceutical companies announced their coronavirus vaccines were 90 per cent or more effective against the novel virus following the election.
The press conference was actually not a press conference because the president took no questions. His decision not to take questions potentially came after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany held her press briefing since 1 October on Friday.
Ms McEnany, who defended Mr Trump’s refusal to concede the election, was heckled by one reporter during the briefing over her inability to accept the election results. She also entered into a verbal spat with a CNN reporter, whom she called an “activist”, after refusing to answer more questions.
This comes after Mr Trump was told to to move aside by Republican senator Lamar Alexander, who said on Friday that the US president should allow the transition to a Biden administration to take place after more than two weeks of delay. Sources close to the president suggested that his refusal to concede was, in part, an act of revenge on Democrats who investigated Russian interference in his 2016 win over Hillary Clinton.
And later in the day it was confirmed that the president’s son, Don Jr, had tested positive for coronavirus and was quarantining.
Anderson Cooper savages ‘hot mess’ Giuliani
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper did not hold back on Thursday, following Rudy Giuliani’s “path to victory” press conference that was supposed to outline the basis of the Trump campaign’s legal arguments, but instead turned into - literally - a sweat inducing marathon of wild conspiracy theories and outright lies about the election.
So, in case you missed the anchor’s best criticisms of the spectacle, here’s a few…
On Donald Trump: “He’s not even destroying the village in order to save it. He’s just trying to destroy the village”.
On the press conference: “Did you see it? The train wreck with Rudy Giuliani, and with the sweat and the hair dye dripping like he was the conductor of this train wreck.”
On Rudy Giuliani: “Will the producers from Intervention please get in touch with his people and set something up?”
Again, on the press conference: “It wasn’t a press conference. It was a clown show without any real meaning or reality.”
Obama says he’s ‘troubled’ by Republicans
Former president Barack Obama on Thursday, speaking after the current president’s campaign alleged further false claims of election fraud, said he was “troubled” that the Republican party had mostly refused to challenge Mr Trump’s baseless allegations, and refusal to concede.
“I’m less surprised by Donald Trump doing this, he has shown, you know, only a flimsy relationship with the truth,” Mr Obama said.
Obama says all Americans ‘should be troubled’ by Trump’s efforts to subvert democracy
‘I’m less surprised by Donald Trump doing this, he has shown, you know, only a flimsy relationship with the truth,' says Obama
Trump claims Romney ‘lost his mind’ following criticism
Donald Trump has hit-out at Republican senator Mitt Romney, who on Thursday said attempts by the president and his allies to overturn the election result in Michigan was "undemocratic".
The US president, sharing a far-right blog post to his followers on Twitter, commented that Mr Romney had been “slaughtered” as a presidential nominee in 2012, against former president Barack Obama.
“I’m sure, however, that he feels he got slaughtering by Obama 'fair and square’," tweeted Mr Trump, in reference to a claim he made in 2012 that falsely alleged how voting machines had transferred votes from the Republican to Mr Obama.
The president has made similar remarks about voting machines in the 3 November vote, which he lost to Joe Biden, despite evidence to the contrary.
Mr Trump went on to share a Twitter post that said “Romney has lost his mind since 2016”, in a further attempt to troll the senator for his criticism,
Ivanka Trump says tax investigation ‘harassment’
“This is harassment pure and simple,” wrote Ivanka Trump on Twitter on Thursday, following a New York Times report into her fathers business.
“This ‘inquiry’ by NYC democrats is 100% motivated by politics, publicity and rage. They know very well that there’s nothing here and that there was no tax benefit whatsoever. These politicians are simply ruthless.”
The Times report detailed how inquiries into the president and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, are now investigating payments that appeared to have gone to Ivanka Trump for consultancy.
While there is no indication that the president’s daughter has become focus of either of the two investigations, the subpoenas for those records show the possible legal challenges faced by president Donald Trump and his family after he leaves office.
Ms Trump went on to describe the investigation as a “fishing exercise” and a “vendetta”, despite her father having been shown to have avoided paying little or no federal income tax before entering the Oval Office, according to a recent NYT investigation.
Trump continues desperate bid to retweet his way back to power
The president remains in keyboard warrior mode (as opposed to, you know, governing), fighting the cold hard facts of his brutal election defeat with a deluge of #content.
His latest is this nonsense Giuliani editorial for Breitbart - oh what, weren’t The New York Times or Washington Post interested?
He’s also had himself censored again in humiliating fashion.
‘No evidence’ drug used to treat president’s coronavirus case works
There is no evidence remdesivir is an effective treatment against the coronavirus, the World Health Organisation has said, underlining that the drug given to Donald Trump should not be used on Covid-19 patients regardless of how ill they are.
Remdesivir, which was originally developed as a treatment for Ebola, was one of the medications used to treat Mr Trump after the president became unwell with the coronavirus in early October, and was later approved for use in the US by the Food and Drug Administration .
No evidence remdesivir is effective coronavirus treatment, says WHO
The global body does not recommend the drug
Trump administration has ‘no plans’ to discuss vaccine distribution with Biden team
The Trump administration’s vaccine distribution team on Thursday said it had “no plans” to discuss the matter with Joe Biden’s transition team, and said they had not briefed anyone involved with the transition.
The president-elect had warned earlier this week that the Trump administration’s refusal to fully cooperate on Covid-19 might lead to more deaths, which has now killed over 250,000 Americans, and infected more than 11 million.
However, the incoming Biden administration cannot adequately coordinate a federal response to the availability of Covid-19 vaccinations without formal approval from the General Services Administration, which is coming under increasing pressure to allow a full transition to begin.
Trump team admits to keeping Biden officials in dark over Covid vaccine plan
'Biden will likely want to improve the plan, but he can't do that effectively if he isn't read into ahead of time’
Whitmer says Trump meeting with Republicans ‘an embarrassment’ to Michigan
Donald Trump will meet with two Republican legislators from Michigan, Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield, on Friday in an attempt to convince GOP lawmakers to further undermine election results in the state.
The pair were reportedly invited to the White House at Mr Trump’s request, with speculation that the president’s campaign wants to convince Republican-controlled legislatures in battleground states won by Mr Biden, such as Michigan, to stop the certification of results - and even appoint new electors who will support Mr Trump in an upcoming electoral college vote.
"The entire election frankly in all the swing states should be overturned and the legislatures should make sure that the electors are selected for Trump," Sidney Powell, one of Trump's lawyers, told Fox Business television on Thursday.
"It's incredibly dangerous that they are even entertaining the conversation," Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, told MSNBC. "This is an embarrassment to the state."
Law professor says Trump legal challenges ‘sloppy’
Donald Trump’s legal challenges contesting the 2020 election have not only been largely without evidence, but also without a degree of professionalism, according to a law professor.
The president’s attorneys - who include Rudy Giuliani - have repeatedly made elementary errors in these high-profile cases, from misspelling “poll watcher” as “pole watcher", to forgetting the name of the judge during a hearing.
“The sloppiness just serves to underscore the lack of seriousness with which these claims are being brought,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine.
None of the president’s lawsuits challenging the election result have been successful to date, with his campaign’s attempts to deny the result instead becoming more outlandish.
Trump’s election lawsuits plagued by spelling errors
When President Donald Trump sends lawyers to court, it seems he’s not sending his best
Biden campaign manager says Trump denial ‘insane’
Joe Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Rufus Gifford, says on Twitter that “it’s insane” he still needs to counter-act claims by president Donald Trump, who still refuses to concede the election, 17 days after it took place.
It’s hard to disagree.
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