Finally , Trump Concedes Defeat.

Following a formal affirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, President Trump said the decision “represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history.”

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement.

“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.

“While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again,” Trump said while repeating false claims about the election that incited a mob to storm the Capitol. – CNN

Uncertainty over Trump’s presidential power mounts after VP gave order instead of him.

Reports emerging from major news outlets in United States have confirmed that President Donald Trump didn’t give the order for the deployment of National Guard to assist local law enforcement in enforcing law and order following invasion of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters.

Large crowd of Trump supporters had earlier stormed US Congress and White house in a latest bid to protest against the election that saw Biden certified as winner, gaining access and occupying the building.

President Trump by virtue of his office is the Commander of the US Armed Forces and the power to order for deployment of troops rest solely on him.

In a report made available by New York Media, defense and administration officials had confirmed it was Vice President Mike Pence who gave the order to deploy the D.C. National Guard.

The development has raised a lot of questions as to why Donald Trump who is till the commander in chief, did not approve the order for the deployment of the troops.

There are insinuations that Trump was not involved in the discussion to deploy the troops, leading to speculations that he may have been stepped aside as reports said he was unwilling to give the order to restore law and order.

Twitter, Facebook block Trump over Capitol attack posts.

Twitter and Facebook suspended Donald Trump on Wednesday over posts accused of inflaming violence in the US Capitol, as social media scrambled to respond to mayhem by supporters buying into his baseless attacks on the integrity of the election.

The unprecedented sanctions came after the president took to social media to repeat his numerous false claims about fraud and other impropriety in the election he lost to Joe Biden.

“This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump’s video,” said Facebook vice president of integrity Guy Rosen.

“We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.”

Facebook barred Trump from posting at the social network or its Instagram service for 24 hours, saying his messages were promoting violence.

Trump’s falsehoods, ranging from specific allegations to broad conspiracy theories, also prompted Facebook to change a label added to posts aiming to undermine the election results.

The new label reads: “Joe Biden has been elected president with results that were certified by all 50 states. The US has laws, procedures, and established institutions to ensure the peaceful transfer of power after an election.”

An activist group calling itself a mock Facebook oversight board said sanctions against Trump at the social network were long overdue.

“This is too little, too late,” the group said in a statement.

“Donald Trump has breached Facebook’s own terms and conditions multiple times. His account is not just a threat to democracy but to human life.”

The crackdown came after Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol in an attack that led to one woman being shot and killed by police, interrupting congressional debate over Biden’s election victory.

The assault came after the president had urged supporters to march on the seat of government during a speech outside the White House in which he alleged baselessly that the election had been stolen from him.

He later released a video on social media in which he repeated the false claim — even telling the mob “I love you.”
YouTube removed the video in line with its policy barring claims challenging election results.

The video is seen below;

Twitter said Trump’s messages were violations of the platform’s rules on civic integrity and that any future violations “will result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump account.”

The messaging platform said Trump’s account would be locked for 12 hours and that if the offending tweets were not removed, “the account will remain locked.”

Facebook said it would search for and remove content which praised the storming of the Capitol or encouraged the violence.
The platform said it would seek to take down additional calls for protests, including peaceful ones, if they violated a curfew imposed by the city of Washington, or any attempts to “re-stage” the storming of Congress.

“The violent protests in the Capitol today are a disgrace,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

“We prohibit incitement and calls for violence on our platform. We are actively reviewing and removing any content that breaks these rules.”

Facebook maintained that it was in contact with law enforcement officials and continued to enforce bans on QAnon conspiracy group, militarized social movements, and hate groups.

A #StormTheCapitol hashtag was blocked at Facebook and Instagram, according to the internet titan.

President Donald Trump Has Been Refused Entry Into Scotland Until Joe Biden Is Sworn-In.

Yesterday, both President Donald Trump and Joe Biden were in Georgia to rally behind their two chosen candidates respectively for their Senatorial contests. But as it is known President Trump actually had another motive besides the electioneering campaign.

The grudging President also wants his two candidates to win the Senatorial election so that he might later use them against swearing-in Joe Biden on the 20th of this month.

Also in furtherance of his efforts at not having Joe Biden sworn-in on the aforementioned day, he has reportedly made plans to jet-o ff to Scotland for a Gulf course. In addition to the reports from the official Twitter handle of Independent news platform the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, has swiftly refused his entry there.

Warding him off, according to @Independent , the Scottish Madame, however hinted that now is not the right time to play gulf as they are presently preparing for a new lockdown measure in Scotland.

See the original Twitter posts below:

Well, I think this is simply a polite way to allow him entry into Scotland; hence they are not in support of what he is been up to.

Hillary Clinton speaks about Trump’s attitude towards presidential election.

“I would begin by saying that, President Trump’s attitude to the result of the presidential election which was carried out last year, is so uncalled for. He keeps claiming that the election was rigged and have been trying all he can ever since to distract people from the fact that he lost the election”.

With just few days to inauguration, president elect, Joe Biden and his vice, Harris, would be inaugurated into power, and until then, there is nothing trump can do about it. That’s if he doesn’t provide a tangible evidence.

Well, Hillary Clinton has just recently slammed the action of Donald trump in a new tweet she made hours ago;

“What we’re seeing right now is a president with nothing left to lose and only one goal, to distract people from the fact that he lost. He doesn’t care that the costs are America’s health, security, and our very democracy.”

Trump supporters turn out in DC to back president, protest election results.

A throng of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to voice support for President Trump and protest the results of the election after the push to overturn them suffered a major court defeat.

Organizers planned demonstrations in front of the Supreme Court, Capitol and Department of Justice as part of the events Saturday, the second time a major march has been organized to back Trump since Election Day.

Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whom the president pardoned after Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador, key-noted an event outside the Supreme Court.

“We’re in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of this country,” Flynn told those gathered. “We will win.”

Trump touted the demonstrations in a tweet, saying “thousands” were gathering in D.C. to march in support of his efforts to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. He also indicated he planned to see supporters.

“Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA,” the president tweeted.

Trump’s presidential helicopter, Marine One, flew over the National Mall as Trump departed the White House en route to the Army-Navy football game on Saturday afternoon at West Point.

Supporters gathered a day after the Supreme Court delivered a devastating blow for the president’s ongoing efforts to overturn election results.

The court rejected a lawsuit filed by Texas seeking to overturn election results in four key battleground states – Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia – with justices ruling that the Lone Star State did not have the legal right to litigate over how other states carry out their elections.

Trump has ripped the decision, saying the court “let us down.”

Demonstrators began gathering early Saturday morning in D.C., with vendors setting up stands selling Trump merchandise and flags as supporters filed into Freedom Plaza.

Organizers with Jericho March and Let the Church Roar prayer rallies plan to convene at a stage near the National Mall until 4 p.m. Saturday, local Nexstar affiliate WDVM reported.

According to the group’s webpage, the Jericho March is gathering in support of Trump and “election integrity, transparency, and reform to preserve free and fair elections in America for this generation and generations to come.”

Last month, Trump supporters gathered for the “Million MAGA March” on Freedom Plaza, where the president drove by in his motorcade to greet the thousands who turned out.

That evening, some supporters of the president and counterprotesters clashed in the streets amid the president’s continued refusal to concede the 2020 election.

The Washington Post reported that permits for Saturday estimate crowds up to 15,000 in size, though noted experts think the gathering will be significantly smaller than last month’s pro-Trump rally.

Since major news outlets called the 2020 election in favor of Biden last month, Trump and his allies have promoted unsupported claims of fraudulent activity and filed various lawsuits ultimately rejected in court.

The Electoral College will vote Monday to make Biden’s win official, paving the way for him to take office Jan 20.

Prominent German news magazine has named President Trump loser of the year.

Prominent German news magazine Der Spiegel on Thursday named President Trump its “loser of the year,” the same day Time magazine named President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris its “Person of the Year.” 

In an article titled “Der Verlierer des Jahres,” which translates as “The Loser of the Year,” the publication’s Washington bureau chief Roland Nelles and Berlin-based correspondent Ralf Neukirch described Trump as “a man who … was never concerned with the common good, but always with one thing – himself.”

“Nothing is normal under Trump,” the article added. “He refuses to admit defeat. Instead, he speaks of massive electoral fraud, although there is no evidence for it. The whole thing is not surprising. Trump’s presidency ends as it began. Without decency and without dignity.”

While several major news outlets declared Biden the projected winner of the election on Nov. 7, Trump has since refused to concede, repeating unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud as part of a Democratic attempt to steal the election from him. 

Since the election, Trump’s legal team has launched a multistate legal battle challenging election results and claiming voting irregularities. Several of these lawsuits have been thrown out by courts, citing a lack of evidence. 

The article came as Time published its selection of Biden and Harris as their top people of the year Thursday evening, noting the challenges facing the duo as they take on rapid coronavirus surges across the country, as well as Harris’s historic win as the first African American, first woman and first South Asian American to serve as vice president.

Germans have consistently shown unfavorable views of Trump, with a January poll from the Pew Research Centershowing that roughly 3 in 4 or more lacked confidence in the American president in Germany, a view shared by people in Sweden, France, Spain and the Netherlands. 

Trump previously vied for Time’s “Person of the Year” title before receiving it himself in 2016, writing the year prior when German Chancellor Angela Merkel received the recognition that Merkel was “ruining Germany.” 

“I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite,” he wrote in 2015.

Even when Trump leaves the White House, his lie machine will be a powerful force-Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN.

(CNN)Jodi Doering can’t believe her ears. The South Dakota nurse toils in an overcrowded hospital tending to Covid-19 victims who still insist their affliction is a hoax. “Their last dying words are, ‘This can’t be happening; it is not real,'” Doering said Monday on CNN’s “New Day.”

Such is the power of an effort by President Donald Trump and conservative media to push an alternative reality in which the pandemic has disappeared and isn’t really all that dangerous anyway. Such bravado sees mask-warning as weak and slavish to the “liberal” prescriptions of elite scientists and doctors. Never mind that 11 million Americans have been infected with the virus, 70,000 are in hospital and the country is approaching a quarter of a million mostly avoidable deaths.

Trump is now treating the US election as he did the pandemic, denying the truth in insisting he won despite every factual, political, constitutional and legal metric showing he lost. But the great political illusionist knows his audience: Cultural and ideological myth-making can squeeze out truth, science and facts in modern politics — which means that even when he leaves the White House, his lie machine will still be a powerful force.

Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, on a book tour for his new memoir, has warned that these gushers of falsehoods threaten to overwhelm the US political system, exacerbated by social media and politicians who will say anything to win power. “If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work,” Obama said in an interview with “The Atlantic.” “And by definition our democracy doesn’t work. We are entering into an epistemological crisis.”Half the country will dismiss his warning out of hand, simply because it was Obama who said it. In fact, many Americans still insist the 44th President should never have occupied the Oval Office because of a nasty “Birther” conspiracy theory. The lie seemed absurd during Obama’s term, but was actually a blueprint for Trump’s misinformation presidency.

‘More people may die if we don’t coordinate’

President-elect Joe Biden warned that the consequences could be deadly if Trump continues to block a smooth transition, particularly when it comes to a vaccine distribution plan. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden warned on Monday during a press conference in Delaware. “How do we get over 300 million Americans vaccinated?” he asked “What’s the game plan? It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done.” “… If we have to wait until Jan. 20, to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month. … So it’s important that it be done, that there be coordination now.”

Trump Says Biden ‘Won Because Election Was Rigged’

US President Donald Trump in tweets on Sunday morning said President-elect Joe Biden “won because election was rigged.”

Trump who had refused to concede defeat despite losing to Democratic party’s candidate Joe Biden, and had been promoting election conspiracy theories, also claimed that the “Mail-in elections are a sick joke!”

“He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!”, Trump tweeted in response to a clip from Fox News’s Jesse Watters.

“All of the mechanical ‘glitches’ that took place on Election Night were really THEM getting caught trying to steal votes. They succeeded plenty, however, without getting caught,” Trump further claimed in another tweet.

The tweets, like previous ones, have been flagged by Twitter as containing disputed claims about election fraud.

Donald Trump fires defence secretary Mark Esper

Defence Secretary Mark Esper is the latest in a series of officials sacked by Donald Trump
image captionDefence Secretary Mark Esper is the latest in a series of officials sacked by Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has sacked Defence Secretary Mark Esper, announcing on Twitter that the top US official has been “terminated”.

Christopher Miller, the current head of the National Counterterrorism Center, will take on the role immediately.

It follows a public falling-out between Mr Trump and Mr Esper in recent weeks.

Mr Trump has so far not conceded the US election to President-elect Joe Biden, and has vowed to challenge the projected result in court.

Mr Esper clashed with the president over the White House’s use of the military to quell public unrest during protests over racial injustice earlier this year.

In the weeks before Mr Biden takes office on 20 January, Mr Trump is still empowered to make decisions.

As protests rocked the US following the death of black man George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in May, Mr Trump threatened to use troops to suppress unrest.

In June, Mr Esper, a former army officer, said the use of active-duty forces was unnecessary, in remarks that were known to have displeased the White House.

Following the clash, it was widely-speculated that the president would fire the defence secretary, although on Monday Mr Trump gave no reason for his dismissal.

Mr Esper has also disagreed with Mr Trump over the president’s dismissive attitude towards Nato.

President Trump has fired a significant number of his officials and advisers during his tenure, often using Twitter to announce the dismissal.

Mr Esper’s predecessor was Jim Mattis, who resigned in 2018 over differences with the president including about the war in Syria.

In June, as racial injustice protests were ongoing, Mr Mattis criticised Donald Trump as the “first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people – does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us.”

Trump campaign plans rallies amid efforts to challenge election results.

President Trump’s campaign intends to hold rallies amid efforts to challenge the election results that saw Joe Biden named president-elect last week.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the events would be “grassroots rallies” similar to boat parades through which supporters voiced backing for Trump during the campaign. He said that Trump would not host the events. Axios first reported on plans to hold campaign-style rallies.

“These would be grassroots rallies, as we’ve already seen pop up in a variety of states since election day, organic shows of support like the tractor and boat parades have been all year,” Murtaugh said in a statement to The Hill. “There is no plan for the President to hold rallies.”

Trump has refused to concede to Biden after the former vice president was projected by news organizations as the winner of the presidential race on Saturday.

“The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor,” Trump said in a prepared statement released by his campaign shortly after Biden was named the victor.

The Trump campaign is challenging the election results in a handful of key states, by participating in recounts and forecasting lawsuits over electoral fraud allegations that have not been substantiated.

The Trump campaign has already said it would seek a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden won by roughly 20,000 votes. On Sunday evening, the campaign announced Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) as the leader of its recount team in Georgia, where officials expect to soon begin a recount of the extremely close race.

Trump claimed without evidence that the election was being stolen from him last week and has raised allegations of widespread fraud. Some Republicans have criticized the president’s rhetoric and while they have said he maintains the right to challenge the results in court, several have doubted his claims of widespread fraud.

REASONS FOR BIDEN’S VICTORY

After nearly 50 years in public office, and a lifetime of presidential ambitions, Joe Biden has captured the White House.

It was not the campaign anyone predicted. It took place amidst a once-in-a-century pandemic and unprecedented social unrest. He was running against an unconventional, precedent-defying incumbent. But in his third try for the presidency, Biden and his team found a way to navigate the political obstacles and claim a victory that, while narrow in the electoral college tally, is projected to surpass Trump’s overall national total by millions of votes.

These are the five reasons the son of a car salesman from Delaware finally won the presidency.

1. Covid, Covid, Covid

Perhaps the biggest reason Biden won the presidency was something entirely out of his control.

The coronavirus pandemic, as well as claiming more than 230,000 lives, also transformed American life and politics in 2020. And in the final days of the general election campaign, Donald Trump himself seemed to acknowledge this.

“With the fake news, everything is Covid, Covid, Covid, Covid,” the president said at a rally last week in Wisconsin, where cases have spiked in recent days.

The media focus on Covid, however, was a reflection rather than a driver of the public’s concern about the pandemic – which translated into unfavourable polling on the president’s handling of the crisis. A poll last month by Pew Research, suggested Biden held a 17 percentage point lead over Trump when it came to confidence about their handling of the Covid outbreak.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionHow much is Covid-19 an election issue?

The pandemic and the subsequent economic decline knocked Trump off his preferred campaign message of growth and prosperity. It also highlighted concerns that many Americans had about his presidency, over its occasional lack of focus, penchant for questioning science, haphazard handling of policies large and small, and prioritisation of the partisan. The pandemic was a lead weight on Trump’s approval ratings, which, according to Gallup, dipped to 38% at one point in the summer – one that the Biden campaign exploited.

2. Low-key campaign

Over the course of his political career, Biden established a well-earned reputation for talking himself into trouble. His propensity for gaffes derailed his first presidential campaign in 1987, and helped ensure that he never had much of a shot when he ran again in 2007.

In his third try for the Oval Office, Biden still had his share of verbal stumbles, but they were sufficiently infrequent that they never became more than a short-term issue.

Part of the explanation for this, of course, is that the president himself was an unrelenting source of news cycle churn. Another factor was that there were bigger stories – the coronavirus pandemic, protests after the death of George Floyd and economic disruption – dominating national attention.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionTrump and Biden stage duelling rallies in Florida

But at least some credit should be given to a concerted strategy by the Biden campaign to limit their candidate’s exposure, keeping a measured pace in the campaign, and minimising the chances that fatigue or carelessness could create problems.

Perhaps in a normal election, when most Americans weren’t worried about limiting their own exposure to a virus, this strategy would have backfired. Maybe then Trump’s derisive “hidin’ Biden” jabs would have taken their toll.

The campaign sought to stay out of the way and let Trump be the one whose mouth betrayed him – and, in the end, it paid off.

3. Anyone but Trump

The week before election day, the Biden campaign unveiled its final television adverts with a message that was remarkably similar to the one offered in his campaign kickoff last year, and his nomination acceptance speech in August.

The election was a “battle for the soul of America”, he said, and a chance for the national to put what he characterised as the divisiveness and chaos of the past four years behind it.

Donald Trump in Las Vegas, October 2020
image captionThe election became a referendum on Trump

Beneath that slogan, however, was a simple calculation. Biden bet his political fortunes on the contention that Trump was too polarising and too inflammatory, and what the American people wanted was calmer, steadier leadership.

“I’m just exhausted by Trump’s attitude as a person,” says Thierry Adams, a native of France who after 18 years living in Florida cast his first vote in a presidential election in Miami last week.

Democrats succeeded in making this election a referendum on Trump, not a binary choice between the two candidates.

Biden’s winning message was simply that he was “not Trump”. A common refrain from Democrats was that a Biden victory meant Americans could go for weeks without thinking about politics. It was meant as a joke, but it contained a kernel of truth.

4. Stay in the centre

During the campaign to be the Democratic candidate, Biden’s competition came from his left, with Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who ran well-financed and organised campaigns that generated rock-concert sized crowds.

Despite this pressure from his liberal flank, Biden stuck with a centrist strategy, refusing to back universal government-run healthcare, free college education, or a wealth tax. This allowed him maximise his appeal to moderates and disaffected Republicans during the general election campaign.

This strategy was reflected in Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate when he could have opted for someone with stronger support from the party’s left wing.https://emp.bbc.com/emp/SMPj/2.36.2/iframe.htmlmedia captionWhat do young Democrats think of Joe Biden?

The one place where Biden moved closer to Sanders and Warren was on the environment and climate-change – perhaps calculating that the benefits of appealing to younger voters for whom the issue is a priority was worth the risk of alienating voters in energy-dependent swing-state industries. It was the exception, however, that proved the rule.

“It’s no secret that we’ve been critical of Vice-President’s Biden’s plans and commitments in the past,” said Varshini Prakash, co-founder of the environmental activist group the Sunrise Movement in July. “He’s responded to many of those criticisms: dramatically increasing the scale and urgency of investments, filling in details on how he’d achieve environmental justice and create good union jobs, and promising immediate action.”

5. More money, fewer problems

Earlier this year, Biden’s campaign coffers were running on empty. He entered the general election campaign at a decided disadvantage to Trump, who had spent virtually his entire presidency amassing a campaign war chest that approached a billion dollars.

From April onward, however, the Biden campaign transformed itself into a fundraising juggernaut, and – in part because of profligacy on the part of the Trump campaign – ended up in a much stronger financial position than his opponent. At the beginning of October, the Biden campaign had $144m more cash on hand than the Trump operation, allowing it to bury the Republicans in a torrent of television advertising in almost every key battleground state.

Biden supporter in Housten, Texas
image captionA Biden supporter in Texas, where a cash advantage enabled him to spend campaign money

Money isn’t everything, of course. Four years ago, the Clinton campaign had a sizeable monetary lead over Trump’s shoestring operation.

But in 2020, when in-person campaigning was curtailed by coronavirus and Americans across the country spent considerably more time consuming media in their homes, Biden’s cash advantage let him reach voters and push his message out until the very end. It allowed him to expand the electoral map, putting money into what once seemed to be longshot states like Texas, Georgia, Ohio and Iowa. Most of those bets didn’t pay off, but he put Trump on the defence, flipping what was once reliably conservative Arizona and staying highly competitive in Georgia.

Money gives a campaign options and initiative – and Biden put his advantage to good use.

US election far from over, I will approach court next week ― Trump

United States President Donald Trump said on Saturday his campaign would begin challenging US election results in court next week after media outlets called the race for Democrat Joe Biden, saying “this election is far from over.”

“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,” he said in a statement. He added that “the simple fact is this election is far from over.”

Trump has repeatedly made unfounded claims of fraud in the election.

However, legal experts have said that the flurry of lawsuits may have little chance of changing the outcome but might cast doubt on the process.

Notably, the campaign sued in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia and asked to join a pending case at the US Supreme Court.

Experts said the litigation serves to drag out the vote count and postpone major media from declaring Biden the victor, which would have dire political implications for Trump.

“The current legal maneuvering is mainly a way for the Trump campaign to try to extend the ball game in the long-shot hope that some serious anomaly will emerge,” said Robert Yablon, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. “As of now, we haven’t seen any indication of systematic irregularities in the vote count.”

Trump campaign manager, Bill Stepien said in a statement Wednesday that the lawsuits were aimed at ensuring legal votes were counted.

“The lawsuits are meritless,” said Bob Bauer, who is part of Biden’s legal team. “They’re intended to give the Trump campaign the opportunity to argue the vote count should stop. It is not going to stop.”

Ultimately, for the lawsuits to have an impact, the race would have to hang on the outcome of one or two states separated by a few thousand votes, according to experts.

Edward Foley, who specializes in election law at the Moritz College of Law, said the cases might have merit but only affected a small number of ballots and procedural issues.

“But merit in that sense is very different from having the kind of consequence that Bush v. Gore did in 2000,” said Foley.

In that case, the Supreme Court reversed a ruling by Florida’s top court that had ordered a manual recount and prompted Democrat Al Gore to concede the election to Republican George W. Bush.

US election:’ It’s history-making ticket, a repudiation of Trump’ – Clitton congratulates Biden, Harris

Former US President, Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary have reacted to the victory of Joe Biden in the 2020 Presidential Election.

Biden is projected to be the winner and expected to be officially declared winner and sworn-in in January as the 46th president of the United States

Clinton on his Twitter page said Americans have spoken and democracy has won.

“America has spoken and democracy has won. Now we have a President-Elect and Vice President-Elect who will serve all of us and bring us all together.

“Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on your momentous victory,” Bill Clinton tweet read.

Also, Hillary Clinton said the voters have spoken and have chosen Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to be president and Vice President.

Her tweet read: “The voters have spoken, and they have chosen Biden and @KamalaHarris to be our next president and vice president.

“It’s a history-making ticket, a repudiation of Trump, and a new page for America.

“Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Onward, together.”

US election result ‘will not affect Iran’s policy’ – Khamenei

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insists the result of the US presidential election “will not affect” Tehran’s policy towards Washington.

“Our policy… is clearly defined. It does not change with the movement of individuals,” he said. “It does not matter to us who comes and goes.”

Donald Trump has pursued a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran since he abandoned a nuclear deal in 2018.

His challenger, Joe Biden, has said he will consider rejoining the accord.

The deal, negotiated in 2015 while Mr Biden was Barack Obama’s vice-president, saw Iran given relief from sanctions in return for limits on sensitive nuclear activities.

President Trump said it was “defective at its core” and reinstated sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy in an attempt to force it to negotiate a replacement.

Iran has refused to do so and retaliated by rolling back a number of key nuclear commitments.

The two countries also came close to war this January, after Mr Trump ordered a drone strike in Iraq that killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, saying the Revolutionary Guards general was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American troops.

Iran responded by firing ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases housing US forces. No Americans were killed, but more than 100 were diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.

Ayatollah Khamenei gave a speech on Tuesday to mark the 41st anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran by radical Iranian students, who took American staff hostage for 444 days.

There have been no diplomatic relations between the US and Iran since then.

“Today is election day in the United States. Things may happen, but they do not concern us,” said the supreme leader, who controls Iran’s armed forces and has final say on all matters of state.

“We follow a sensible, calculated policy [which] cannot be affected by changes of personnel.”

Ayatollah Khamenei also mocked the US for holding a vote that the incumbent president had warned could be “the most rigged election in history”.

“This is American democracy,” he said.

In an interview with CBS on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also declared that the Iranian government did not have a preferred candidate.

“The statements by the Biden camp have been more promising, but we will have to wait and see,” he said. “What counts is the behaviour.”

“The outcome of the ‘maximum pressure’ policy has not been very promising for the United States. It has hurt Iran, but it hasn’t brought the type of political change that the United States desired.”

Asked if Iran would enter into negotiations with a Biden administration on a new nuclear deal, Mr Zarif replied: “No. If we wanted to do that, we would have done it with President Trump four years ago.”

Naomi Campbell Attacks Trump’s ‘Persistent Assault on Truth’

International Model, Naomi Campbell, on Sunday took on United States President Donald Trump over his attacks on Democratic Party vice presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.

In a short post on her Instagram page, accompanied by a short video, the international model faulted President Trump’s ‘‘persistent assault on the truth.”

Ahead of Tuesday Presidential Election, Trump had intensified his virulent attacks on Senator Kamala Harris, a black woman, and former vice President Joe Biden’s running mate on the Democratic ticket.

The Supermodel wrote: “A@45Lies2020 is a national action campaign to UN normalize the president’s dangerous and persistent assault on the truth.”

In the short video, Naomi Campbell said:

“How you gonna call her a monster. Is that a MAGA tactic?  You afraid of Kamala’s blackness?

Attack what you fear. Black woman; Backbone of the party that’s winning this year.

“Yeah, her make-up’s better than yours. She’s not a monster, She’s Nikki verse, doctor of the law. She’s a district attorney, attorney general, Senate judiciary. She can spot a criminal.

“Does that hit a soft spot 45? Is that why you say the sister is unqualified? Or maybe you know deep in your bones. In her black woman body, everything that you loathe; Everything you fear: Smart, female, dark is winning this year. “Yeah, you gonna lie 45. Black women know that You are not qualified. You ain’t got to lie 45. Black women know that you are not qualified.” The supermodel invited @iamcardib @queenlatifah @mslaurynhill @theestallion @missymisdemeanorelliott and @aoc to also participate in the campaign in the spirit of democracy. Watch video

IS PRESIDENT TRUMP REALLY HEALTHY?

US President Donald Trump has completed his course of treatment for Covid-19 and can return to public engagements this weekend, his physician has said.

Dr Sean Conley said the president had responded “extremely well” to medication and had “remained stable”.

Mr Trump later said he would probably take another Covid test on Friday and hoped to hold a rally over the weekend.

Critics have accused the White House of avoiding questions about Mr Trump’s health and testing in recent days.

A White House spokeswoman said the president wanted to return to the campaign trail this weekend.

But an administration official later said Trump was unlikely to travel so soon because the logistics of organising events at short notice was problematic. An appearance is more likely on Monday, they said.

The president is also set to have a televised “medical evaluation” on Fox News on Friday evening.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful Democrat in Washington, on Friday announced legislation to establish a commission to assess a president’s fitness for office.

Mrs Pelosi said it was not meant to rule on Mr Trump’s condition, but any serious consideration of the measure is unlikely.

What’s this commission about?

Democrats are focusing on a clause in the 25th Amendment that allows a president to be removed from office against their will because of a physical or mental incapacity.

The amendment was introduced after the 1963 assassination of President John F Kennedy to clarify issues around the transfer of presidential powers. It can only be invoked if the vice-president and a majority of cabinet secretaries or Congress agree.

Democrats are looking to set up mechanisms that would enable Congress to have more say on a president’s fitness.

Conservatives say this is a political move to attack Mr Trump’s health ahead of the election.

On Friday, Mrs Pelosi said the move was “not about President Trump”, who “will face the judgment of the voters”.

“This legislation applies to future presidents but we are reminded of the necessity of action by the health of the current president.”

Previewing the legislation on Thursday, Mrs Pelosi told reporters that serious questions concerning Mr Trump’s health were still unanswered, and described the president as being in an “altered state”.

Mr Trump called Ms Pelosi “crazy” and said she was “the one who should be under observation”.

What’s the latest on Trump’s health?

Speaking on Fox News late on Thursday, Mr Trump said he was feeling “really good” and hoped to hold a campaign rally on Saturday evening, possibly in Florida.

The president was also heard clearing his throat and coughing during the interview. At one point, he appeared to mute his mic after needing to clear his throat.

Fox News has since said that Mr Trump will appear for a televised “medical evaluation” on Friday at 20:00ET (01:00BST). It will be his first on-camera interview since his diagnosis and he will undergo an evaluation by Dr Mark Siegel, a Fox contributor.

Earlier this week, White House doctor Dr Conley had said that if the president’s condition remained the same or improved throughout the weekend and into Monday, “we will all take that final, deep sigh of relief”.

A Marine and members of US Secret Service are seen outside the West Wing following US President Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office in Washington, DC, 8 October 2020

Although the names of many people who have interacted with the president and tested positive are now known, it remains unclear just how many were exposed at the White House. New Covid safety measures are in place there.

One of the top Republicans, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, said on Thursday that he had not been to the White House since 6 August because its approach to handling Covid with social distancing and masks was “different from mine and what I suggested we do in the Senate”.

Trump denigrates office of US President: Kamala

US Senator Kamala Harris has criticised President Donald Trump’s conduct during the first night of the presidential debates as one that “denigrates the office”, as she extended support to the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, saying Joe Biden understands who are important — the American families.

President Trump and Democratic challenger Biden had heated exchanges on the first of three Presidential Debates in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday night.

“I think the American people deserve to have an ability to compare and contrast the candidates. I think tonight provided a very clear contrast. On the one hand, you have Joe Biden who looked into the camera, who spoke to the American people continuously, who understood who was important on that stage, which is the American families,” Harris told CBS News in an interview.

President Trump and first lady test positive for COVID-19.

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus, the president tweeted.

“Tonight, (at)FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”

Trump announced late Thursday that he and first lady Melania Trump were beginning a “quarantine process” after Hicks came down with the virus, though it wasn’t clear what that entailed. It can take days for an infection to be detectable by a test. This marks a major blow for a president who has been trying desperately to convince the American public that the worst of the pandemic is behind them even as cases continue to rise with less than four months before Election Day. However, it stands as the most serious known public health scare encountered by any sitting American president in recent history.

Hicks traveled with the president multiple times this week, including aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter, and on Air Force One to a rally in Minnesota Wednesday, and aboard Air Force One to Tuesday night’s first presidential debate in Cleveland.Trump had consistently played down concerns about being personally vulnerable to contracting COVID-19, even after White House staff and allies were exposed and sickened.

Trump, the vice president and other senior staff have been tested for COVID-19 daily since two people who work at the White House complex tested positive in early May, prompting the White House to step up precautions. Everyone who comes into contact with the president also receives a quick-result test.

The news was sure to rattle an already shaken nation still grappling with how to safely reopen while avoiding further spikes. The White House has access to near-unlimited resources, including a constant supply of quick-result tests, and still failed to keep the president safe, raising questions about how the rest of the country will be able to protect its workers, students and the public as businesses and schools reopen.Yet since the early days of the pandemic, experts have questioned the health and safety protocols at the White House and asked why more wasn’t being done to protect the commander in chief. Trump continued to shake hands with visitors long after public health officials were warning against it and he initially resisted being tested. He has been reluctant to practice his own administration’s social distancing guidelines for fear of looking weak, including refusing under almost all circumstances to wear a mask in public.

Trump is not the only major world leader known to have contracted the virus. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in intensive care, where he was given oxygen and watched around the clock by medical workers. German Chancellor Angela Merkel self-isolated after a doctor who gave her a vaccination tested positive for the virus, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau worked from home after his wife fell ill.

The White House got its first COVID-19 scare in early March when at least three people who later tested positive came in close proximity to the president at his private Florida club. That included members of the Brazilian president’s delegation, including the Brazilian charge d’affaires, who sat at Trump’s dinner table.In mid-March, as the virus continued to spread across the country, the White House began taking the temperature of everyone entering the White House complex, and in April, it began administering rapid COVID-19 tests to all those in close proximity to the president, with staffers being tested about once a week.