Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended1606523600

Trump news: President loses Pennsylvania appeal as he backtracks on vow to leave peacefully

Follow the latest updates

Jon Sharman,Harriet Alexander,Danielle Zoellner
Saturday 28 November 2020 00:33 GMT
Comments
Trump says he'll leave the White House if the Electoral College formalises Biden's victory

Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results suffered a severe blow on Friday when a judge he had appointed in Pennsylvania ruled against his fraud appeal.

A blistering ruling from Third District’s Stephanos Bibas – a Trump-appointed judge – said “free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy.”

“Charges of unfairness are serious,” he said in his ruling on Friday. "But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here."

One of his lawyers, Jenna Ellis, said they will take their case to the Supreme Court.

Earlier on Friday Mr Trump, currently playing golf, tweeted en route to his Virginia course that Joe Biden must first “prove” that all of his “ridiculous” 80 million votes were obtained legally, before claiming the White House.

Mr Trump’s admission on Thursday that he would leave if Mr Biden won the electoral college made headlines worldwide - despite the fact that it should not have been necessary to state.

The president on Friday appeared irritated by the response, and tweeted: “Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!”

The president’s legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, are continuing to challenge results in the courts, but their hopes - faint from the start - are fading. They have had more than 35 cases dismissed so far.

1606462115

‘Don’t ever talk to the president that way’: Trump snaps at reporter questioning his election claims

Taking questions from reporters for the first time since the election late on Thursday, Donald Trump lashed out at a reporter who questioned his claims about voter fraud saying: “Don't ever talk to the president that way."

In a White House briefing on Thanksgiving, Mr Trump faced questions from reporters after talking to troops serving overseas. For the first time, the president acknowledged that he will leave office “if” the electoral college formalises president-elect Joe Biden's victory, writes Stuti Mishra.

"Certainly I will, and you know that," Mr Trump said when asked by a reporter about leaving the White House when Mr Biden is declared the winner on 14 December.

‘Don’t ever talk to the president that way’: Trump snaps at reporter questioning his election claims

Trump for the first time acknowledged he would leave the White House if Biden’s victory is confirmed

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 07:28
1606463252

Trump in late-evening tweetstorm

Donald Trump hit a few of his favourite notes in a late-evening tweetstorm on Thanksgiving. Perhaps a big roast dinner gave him extra energy.

He first claimed that news organisations had “co-ordinated” to erase the true message of his press conference, which he had used to push more false claims about the election.

Then, he accused Twitter of inventing its trending topics to make him look bad.

He signed off with a claim that Section 230, a piece of legislation that gives websites immunity in respect of third-party posts, should be scrapped because “national security” demanded it.

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 07:47
1606464092

Trump says election race is ‘far from over yet’ after Thanksgiving Day address to US military

Donald Trump has claimed the “race is far from over”, as he finally answered questions from the media about the 2020 US election, writes Andrew Buncombe.

In a remarkable outburst that followed a video conference with members of the US military, the president claimed — again without evidence — that he had been the victim of “a rigged election”.

He also said he would be heading to Georgia as early as the weekend in order to campaign on behalf of two Republican senate candidates, in races that will determine which party controls the upper chamber of Congress.

Trump says race is ‘far from over yet’ after Thanksgiving Day address to US military

This is the first time the president has directly answered questions by the media since election day

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 08:01
1606464932

Trump to hold campaign event in Georgia

Donald Trump is to hold a campaign event in Georgia to support Republicans in the Senate run-off elections there.

Those votes will decide which party controls the Senate when Joe Biden takes office.

The Republican incumbents are David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.

One of the reasons Republicans have stood by Mr Trump and his baseless claims of fraud has been to keep his loyal base energised ahead of those runoffs on 5 January. But the president, in his Thanksgiving press conference, openly questioned whether that election would be fair.

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 08:15
1606466072

Is Donald Trump the only president to pardon controversial figures?

Donald Trump’s pardon of his former national security adviser, General Michael Flynn, convicted of lying to the FBI, has understandably provoked outrage, writes Sean O’Grady.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi has publicly condemned it as “an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power”. Fair or not, Trump’s controversial act of clemency is hardly unprecedented. Over the centuries, the traditional power of pardon has benefitted the good, the bad and the ugly.

Is Donald Trump the only president to pardon controversial figures?

After the outrage caused by Michael Flynn’s clemency, Sean O’Grady takes a closer looks at other shady characters let off by American leaders

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 08:34
1606466968

Trump lashes out at ‘Diaper Don’ trending topic

I missed this when rounding up Donald Trump’s late-evening tweets before.

His rant about Twitter trending topics was in response to the hashtag #DiaperDon, it turns out.

Twitter users joked that he was wearing a nappy while sat behind his small press conference table. Calling that a national security threat might be overstating it.

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 08:49
1606468144

Trump urged to pardon Julian Assange by his partner and mother of two children: ‘Please bring him home for Christmas’

The partner of detained activist and whistleblower Julian Assange has called on Donald Trump to pardon him so that he can return home for Christmas, and see his two children.

In an appeal to the president a day after Mr Trump announced he was pardoning disgraced former national security advisor Michael Flynn, Stella Morris posted a picture of their young children.

“These are Julian’s sons Max and Gabriel. They need their father. Our family needs to be whole again,” she wrote.

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 09:09
1606469432

‘Isn’t this the language of a dictator?’: Trump confronted after press conference littered with misinformation

Donald Trump was asked if he was using “the language of a dictator” following a brief but extraordinary press conference in which he doubled down on election misinformation, refused to say if he would attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, and angrily assailed a reporter for asking if he would concede to his Democratic rival, writes Tom Embury-Dennis.

The US president on Thursday took reporters’ questions for the first time since the 3 November vote, but he mostly failed to answer accurately as he continued to deny the fact Mr Biden won both the electoral college and the popular vote.

Trump asked if he’s using ‘language of dictator’ after press conference littered with misinformation

US president doubles down on false election claims and angrily rebukes reporter

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 09:30
1606470152

Trump says he’ll leave the White House if the Electoral College formalises Biden’s victory

Trump says he'll leave the White House if the Electoral College formalises Biden's victory
Jon Sharman27 November 2020 09:42
1606471532

Trump says ‘don’t let Biden take credit’ for Covid vaccine

Donald Trump has urged the American public not to give president-elect Joe Biden credit for the development of Covid-19 vaccines, saying “the vaccines were me” in his first press conference since the election, writes Mayank Aggarwal.

Speaking to reporters after a phone call with US troops on Thanksgiving, Mr Trump said of Mr Biden: “Don’t let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they’ve ever been pushed before.

“We are rounding the curve. The vaccines are being delivered. It will start next week and the week after. It will hit the frontline workers, seniors, doctors and nurses. We are going very quickly,” said Mr Trump.

Trump says don’t let Biden take credit for Covid vaccine

Donald Trump claims he pushed very hard for regulatory approval for coronavirus vaccines  

Jon Sharman27 November 2020 10:05

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in