Trump news: President loses Pennsylvania appeal as he backtracks on vow to leave peacefully
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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.
Cuomo blames Trump justice for Supreme Court Covid-19 decision on NY churches
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo blamed the new, more conservative composition of the Supreme Court for striking down his Covid restrictions on houses of worship this week. Before the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the appointment of the conservative Amy Coney Barrett, the Court had allowed similar restrictions in other states.
“You have a different court, and I think that was the statement that the court was making,” Mr Cuomo, a third-term Democrat, told The New York Times on Thursday. “We know who he appointed to the court. We know their ideology.”
Josh Marcus has the full report:
Cuomo blames conservative majority for high court Covid ruling
The court upheld other coronavirus restrictions on houses of worship earlier this year before the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett
Tulsi Gabbard urges Trump to ‘please consider’ pardons for Julian Assange and Edward Snowden
Democrat lawmaker, Representative Tulsi Gabbard, has urged Donald Trump to pardon the whistleblower Edward Snowden and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, writes Matt Mathers.
Rep. Gabbard, representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional and former presidential candidate, called on the president to reconsider the cases of the two men, both of whom have been charged under the Espionage Act.
Her call comes after Mr Trump pardoned his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who twice admitted lying to the FBI.
Tulsi Gabbard urges Trump to ‘please consider’ pardons for Assange and Snowden
‘Whistleblowers must be protected’, says Democrat lawmaker
Trump aide shares picture with president’s children at Camp David
Dan Scavino, a senior adviser to Donald Trump and the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, shared a picture with the president’s adult children at Camp David on Friday.
In the picture, Mr Scavino was seated around a fire with Donald Trump Jr, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Eric Trump, Lara Trump, Tiffany Trump and her boyfriend Michael Boulos. The Trump family spent the Thanksgiving holiday at the Maryland retreat.
It was revealed last Friday that Don Jr tested positive for Covid-19, but the diagnosis didn’t stop him from attending the Thanksgiving festivities at Camp David.
Mr Trump’s son claimed he was covid-free on the holiday, but CDC guidelines recommend for people to quarantine for 14 days after a positive diagnosis.
CDC advisers voting to decide who gets Covid vaccine first
Scientists and public health experts with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will vote on Tuesday to decide who will be first people to get a coronavirus vaccine, once one is granted emergency authorisation, writes Harriet Alexander.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices has scheduled an emergency meeting to discuss allocation of Covid-19 vaccines, according to a document obtained by CNN.
It is expected that they will decide healthcare workers will be in the first group, along with those most at risk, such as nursing home residents.
Trump’s ex-lawyer rebuked by election technology firm over baseless fraud theory
Dominion Voting Systems has issued a firm rebuttal of ex-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell's baseless claims that the firm interfered in the election to the incumbent's disadvantage.
The election technology company slammed Ms Powell's "bizarre election fraud conspiracy" in a statement on Thursday.
Ms Powell, who the White House cut ties with earlier this week, falsely claimed Dominion switched millions of votes to president-elect Joe Biden.
Matt Mathers reports:
Trump’s ex-lawyer rebuked over baseless election fraud theory
Election fraud ‘simply did not occur,’ says firm
Exasperated Republican congressman urges Trump to accept election defeat
A lone Michigan Republican lawmaker has once again urged Donald Trump to accept the fact that Joe Biden has won the 2020 presidential election.
Congressman Paul Mitchell, who is retiring in January after deciding not to seek re-election this fall, tweeted at the outgoing president on Friday that it is “past time to ‘put up’ or move on” if he can’t prove his claims that the 2020 election was swung by widespread voter fraud.
Mr Trump suggested in a tweet earlier on Friday that he would not leave the White House until President-elect Joe Biden proved he received his more than 80m votes legally.
Griffin Connolly reports:
Exasperated Republican congressman urges Trump to accept election defeat
The burden of proof is on the president — not Joe Biden — regarding election fraud, congressman says
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