Trump news - Republican senators begin to turn on president as Georgia confirms Biden win
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Donald Trump is facing an increasing revolt among Republican senators, with at least three having openly criticised the US president in the last 48 hours.
Mitt Romney, Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins have all called on the US president to give up his attempts to pressurise state election officials into supporting his baseless claims of mass voter fraud.
Several House Republicans, including Liz Cheney, have made similar calls, describing the legal efforts of the Trump campaign as “embarrassing”.
The criticism comes as Georgia’s secretary of state on Friday certified Joe Biden as the winner of the state’s recount. With the official results reported, Brad Raffensperger certified that Mr Biden won the recount by 12,670 votes.
Trump claims campaign will show ‘unprecedented’ election fraud
Donald Trump has tweeted twice this morning, one a link to a Breitbart article about prescription drug prices, and this second one, in which the US president claims his campaign will show “massive and unprecedented election fraud”.
There is no suggestion of any significant levels of election fraud, and Mr Trump’s claim contradicts the statement shared by Michigan senator Mike Shirley, who after a meeting with the president said he had “not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan”.
Donald Trump Jr ‘doing very well’, president says
Donald Trump has said his son, Donald Trump Jr, who contracted coronavirus earlier this week, is “doing very well!”
Trump promotes Graham boast about calls for him to resign over alleged fraud
Donald Trump has retweeted Lindsay Graham tweet from two days ago in which the North Carolina senator boasts that “he must be going something right” since two Democratic congresswomen are calling for his resignation.
In fact, he allegedly did something very wrong - the Republican secretary of state for Georgia has accused Mr Graham of asking in a phone call whether the secretary could toss out legally cast ballots in a bid to help Mr Trump win the state.
Biden will receive @POTUS Twitter account even if Trump refuses to concede
Joe Biden will be given the official US presidential Twitter account on inauguration day even if Donald Trump refuses to concede.
The social media giant said it was “actively preparing” to transfer the @POTUS account, as well as other official White House accounts including @FLOTUS, @VP and @whitehouse, to the new administration once it takes power early next year.
“Twitter is actively preparing to support the transition of White House institutional Twitter accounts on January 20th, 2021. As we did for the presidential transition in 2017, this process is being done in close consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration,” spokesperson Nick Pacilio said in a statement on Friday.
Read more:
Biden will receive @POTUS Twitter account even if Trump refuses to concede
Social media giant says it is ‘actively preparing’ for transition in January
Trump claims ‘voter fraud information’ is coming out
Donald Trump has tweeted claiming “big voter fraud information coming out” regarding Georgia, where the US president narrowly lost to Joe Biden. A recent recount again showed Mr Biden had won, and Mr Trump’s campaign has provided nothing to back up Mr Trump’s regular claims of fraud.
Georgia certifies Biden won recount after prematurely announcing victory
The Georgia Secretary of State announced it has certified Joe Biden as the winner of the state’s recount.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, made an announcement earlier today that he had certified the results, but the announcement was premature as only unofficial results had been revealed.
With the official results reported, Mr Raffensperger has certified that Mr Biden won the recount by 12,670 votes.
Read more:
Georgia Secretary of State announces official election recount results
The state’s governor says he will accept the certified results on Friday
Republican senators begin to turn on Trump
At least three Republican senators have criticised Donald Trump in the past 48 hours. Mitt Romney, the only Republican senator who voted to convict the president during his impeachment trial, was first when he condemned Mr Trump for attempting to “subvert the will of the people”.
"Having failed to make even a plausible case of widespread fraud or conspiracy before any court of law, the President has now resorted to overt pressure on state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election,” Mr Romney said in a statement. “It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.”
Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee followed yesterday when he called on Mr Trump to allow for the transition process to get underway.
“If there is any chance whatsoever that Joe Biden will be the next president, and it looks like he has a very good chance, the Trump administration should provide the Biden team with all the transition materials, resources, and meetings necessary to ensure a smooth transition so both sides are ready on day one,” he said.
The Susan Collins, a senator who has occasionally broken from Mr Trump, said the president was “wrong” to put pressure on state election officials to assist in his attempts to overturn legitimate election results.
Footage shows Trump praising Obama for ‘peaceful transition of power’
Social media users have been sharing social media footage showing Donald Trump praising Barack Obama for an “orderly and peaceful transfer of power” in 2017. “They have been magnificent,” Mr Trump said of Mr Obama and then-first lady Michelle Obama.
Earlier this week, as the below clip shows, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, defending Mr Trump’s refusal to concede, claimed that “this president was never given an orderly transition of power”.
Trump tells world leaders he ‘looks forward to working with them for long time to come’
Donald Trump, in a virtual summit with other G20 leaders this morning, reportedly told them he looked “forward to working with you again for a long time”, according to The Guardian’s Julian Borger.
Depending on Mr Trump’s interpretation of a long time, this could be considered a false claim, since he will be out of office in less than two months after Joe Biden won the presidential election.
Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany heckled in briefing
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was heckled to concede the president’s defeat during her first briefing in 49 days.
Donald Trump’s spokesperson was shouted at by Playboy reporter Brian Karem as she took questions on the coronavirus.
“When will you admit you lost?” heckled Mr Karem loudly from the back of the briefing room.
Read more:
Kayleigh McEnany heckled in White House briefing
Trump aide also branded CNN reporter an ‘activist’ in confrontation
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