Joe Biden
May have some long-lost cousins in india
US President-elect Joe Biden solidified his election victory on Friday by winning the state of Georgia, and President Donald Trump said “time will tell” if another administration takes over soon, the closest he has come to acknowledging Biden could succeed him.
Edison Research, which made the Georgia call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalising the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump.
The numbers gave Biden, a Democrat, a resounding defeat of Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes that Trump, a Republican, won to defeat Hillary Clinton in a 2016 victory Trump called a “landslide.”
According to CNN report, the former vice-president is the first Democratic nominee to triumph in Georgia since Bill Clinton did it in 1992.
At a White House event where he predicted a coronavirus vaccine would be available for the whole population by April, Trump edged closer to acknowledging he might leave the White House in January but stopped short.
“This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the, uh, whatever happens in the future — who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell,” Trump said in his first public remarks since Biden was projected as the election’s winner on November 7. Trump did not take questions after the event.
Meanwhile, the White House is planning for Trump to serve a second term despite his reelection loss, a top official said on Friday.
“We are moving forward here at the White House under the assumption that there will be a second Trump term,” the outgoing president’s trade advisor Peter Navarro said on Fox Business Network.
Trump, a Republican, has claimed without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud and has refused to concede. State election officials report no serious irregularities, and several of his legal chal
lenges have failed in court. While Trump had yet to concede, Biden officials reiterated they were moving ahead with transition efforts regardless.
Although the national popular vote does not determine the election outcome, Biden was ahead
by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points. His share of the popular vote, at 50.8%, was slightly higher than Ronald Reagan’s share of the vote in 1980 when he defeated Jimmy Carter.
Biden’s legal team in Georgia said on Friday they do not expect a
hand recount of votes in the state to change the results there. Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh told Fox News the campaign has “great confidence” it can prevail in the Georgia recount.
A Michigan state court rejected on Friday a request by Trump’s sup
porters to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of Biden. And lawyers for Trump’s campaign dropped a lawsuit in Arizona after the final vote count rendered it moot.
Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, “or was in any way compromised,” two security groups said in a statement released on Thursday by the lead US cybersecurity agency.
Biden officials said on Friday they would press forward with the transition, identifying legislative priorities, reviewing federal agency policies and preparing to fill thousands of jobs in the new administration.
“We’re charging ahead with the transition,” Jen Psaki, a senior adviser to Biden’s transition team, said on a conference call while stressing that Biden still needs “real-time information” from the Trump administration to deal with the resurgent pandemic and national security threats.
Psaki urged Trump’s White House to allow Biden and Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris to receive daily intelligence briefings on potential threats around the world.
“With every day that passes on, it becomes more concerning that our national security team and the president-elect and the vice president-elect don’t have access to those threat assessments, intelligence briefings, real-time information about our engagements around the world,” Psaki said. “Because, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know.” —
This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the, uh, whatever happens in the future — who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell.”
Donald Trump, US President
Again, that’s many steps away here, we are talking January and President Trump believes that he will be President Trump — have a second term. I think the president will attend his own inauguration — he would have to be there in fact.”
Kayleigh McEnany, White House Press Secretary
With every day that passes on, it becomes more concerning that our national security team and the presidentelect and the vice president-elect don’t have access to those threat assessments, intelligence briefings, real-time information about our engagements around the world. Because, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know.”
Jen Psaki, senior adviser to Biden’s transition team