Fifty-nine of the country’s top computer scientists and election security experts rebuked President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and hacking on Monday, writing that such assertions are “unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.”

The rebuttal, in a letter to be published on various websites, did not mention Trump by name but amounted to another forceful corrective to the torrents of disinformation that he has posted on Twitter.

“Anyone asserting that a U.S. election was ‘rigged’ is making an extraordinary claim, one that must be supported by persuasive and verifiable evidence,” the scientists wrote. In the absence of evidence, they added, it is “simply speculation.”

“To our collective knowledge, no credible evidence has been put forth that supports a conclusion that the 2020 election outcome in any state has been altered through technical compromise,” they wrote.

The letter followed a similarly strong rebuttal of the president’s claims last week by the Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, which includes top officials from the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and secretaries of state and state election directors from around the country.

In a joint statement on Thursday, that group declared that the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history” and that “there is no evidence” any voting systems had been compromised. Some of those officials expect to be fired in the coming weeks for their refusal to echo the president’s claims.

Over the past week, Trump has tweeted various conspiracy theories involving Dominion, a major supplier of voting machines and other election technology. Among them, Trump wrote that Dominion machines had “deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide,” a claim with no basis in fact.

Of five counties that experienced different software problems on Election Day in Michigan and Georgia, only two used Dominion software, and in each case the problems were fixed and did not affect results.

Over the weekend, Trump also shared a video clip taken last year at the annual DefCon hacking conference in Las Vegas, where hackers probe voting machines sold by Dominion and Elections Systems &amp;amp; Software, looking for ways to manipulate the vote. The effort was meant to draw awareness to election security, and there is no evidence that the machines have ever been manipulated in an election.

“We have never claimed that technical vulnerabilities have actually been exploited to alter the outcome of any U.S. election,” the election security experts wrote in their statement Monday.

For years, election integrity and digital security specialists have called for improved security on voting machines and other election technical infrastructure, to add greater transparency and postelection auditing procedures.

They were largely rebuffed at the federal level. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, killed three election security measures last year, arguing that they were unnecessary and “partisan.”

Last year, one day after Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, testified that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2020 election, McConnell made clear that he was not going to pass election security legislation.

“Clearly something so partisan that it only received one single solitary Republican vote in the House is not going to travel through the Senate by unanimous consent,” McConnell said on the Senate floor in July 2019.

Now Trump and other Republicans have called for some of the same measures, like risk-limiting audits, that McConnell blocked. Those Republicans include Rand Paul, McConnell’s fellow senator for Kentucky.

“I wrote, and the House passed, the toughest election security reform bill to date, which then died in the Senate at Mitch McConnell’s hands,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in an email. “It takes a special kind of chutzpah to block every single bill to make our elections more secure and then question the legitimacy of this election.”

That inaction, coupled with the unfounded claims against the election technology companies, has exasperated researchers.

“It has been extremely frustrating that the existence of serious vulnerabilities is now being confused with the actual exploitation to tamper with elections, which is something that we’ve never seen any evidence for,” said Matt Blaze, a computer science professor at Georgetown University who signed the letter.

The group has persuaded some states to strengthen security. It helped get Colorado to put in place rigorous audits that examine samples of ballots for evidence of incorrect tallying, for example, but has been unsuccessful in pushing those measures at the federal level.

Other signers of the letter include Ronald Rivest, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a pioneer in cryptography; Steven M. Bellovin, a computer science professor at Columbia University; Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the senior vice president at the nonprofit Internet Society; J. Alex Halderman, an election security expert; and Harri Hursti, an election security expert who was in Georgia during the election.

Fifty-nine of the country’s top computer scientists and election security experts rebuked President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and hacking on Monday, writing that such assertions are “unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.

Fifty-nine of the country’s top computer scientists and election security experts rebuked President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and hacking on Monday, writing that such assertions are “unsubstantiated or are technically incoherent.” The rebuttal, in a letter to be published on various websites, did not mention Trump by name but amounted to another forceful corrective to the torrents of disinformation that he has posted on Twitter. “Anyone asserting that a U.S. election was ‘rigged’ is making an extraordinary claim, one that must be supported by persuasive and verifiable evidence,” the scientists wrote. In the absence of evidence, they added, it is “simply speculation.” “To our collective knowledge, no credible evidence has been put forth that supports a conclusion that the 2020 election outcome in any state has been altered through technical compromise,” they wrote. The letter followed a similarly strong rebuttal of the president’s claims last week by the Elections Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, which includes top officials from the Department of Homeland Security’s cybersecurity agency, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and secretaries of state and state election directors from around the country. In a joint statement on Thursday, that group declared that the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history” and that “there is no evidence” any voting systems had been compromised. Some of those officials expect to be fired in the coming weeks for their refusal to echo the president’s claims. Over the past week, Trump has tweeted various conspiracy theories involving Dominion, a major supplier of voting machines and other election technology. Among them, Trump wrote that Dominion machines had “deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide,” a claim with no basis in fact. Of five counties that experienced different software problems on Election Day in Michigan and Georgia, only two used Dominion software, and in each case the problems were fixed and did not affect results. Over the weekend, Trump also shared a video clip taken last year at the annual DefCon hacking conference in Las Vegas, where hackers probe voting machines sold by Dominion and Elections Systems &amp; Software, looking for ways to manipulate the vote. The effort was meant to draw awareness to election security, and there is no evidence that the machines have ever been manipulated in an election. “We have never claimed that technical vulnerabilities have actually been exploited to alter the outcome of any U.S. election,” the election security experts wrote in their statement Monday. For years, election integrity and digital security specialists have called for improved security on voting machines and other election technical infrastructure, to add greater transparency and postelection auditing procedures. They were largely rebuffed at the federal level. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, killed three election security measures last year, arguing that they were unnecessary and “partisan.” Last year, one day after Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, testified that Russia was trying to sabotage the 2020 election, McConnell made clear that he was not going to pass election security legislation. “Clearly something so partisan that it only received one single solitary Republican vote in the House is not going to travel through the Senate by unanimous consent,” McConnell said on the Senate floor in July 2019. Now Trump and other Republicans have called for some of the same measures, like risk-limiting audits, that McConnell blocked. Those Republicans include Rand Paul, McConnell’s fellow senator for Kentucky. “I wrote, and the House passed, the toughest election security reform bill to date, which then died in the Senate at Mitch McConnell’s hands,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said in an email. “It takes a special kind of chutzpah to block every single bill to make our elections more secure and then question the legitimacy of this election.” That inaction, coupled with the unfounded claims against the election technology companies, has exasperated researchers. “It has been extremely frustrating that the existence of serious vulnerabilities is now being confused with the actual exploitation to tamper with elections, which is something that we’ve never seen any evidence for,” said Matt Blaze, a computer science professor at Georgetown University who signed the letter. The group has persuaded some states to strengthen security. It helped get Colorado to put in place rigorous audits that examine samples of ballots for evidence of incorrect tallying, for example, but has been unsuccessful in pushing those measures at the federal level. Other signers of the letter include Ronald Rivest, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a pioneer in cryptography; Steven M. Bellovin, a computer science professor at Columbia University; Joseph Lorenzo Hall, the senior vice president at the nonprofit Internet Society; J. Alex Halderman, an election security expert; and Harri Hursti, an election security expert who was in Georgia during the election.

Election security experts contradict Trump’s voting claims

Here's a surprise (not).

US President Donald Trump, for the umpteenth number of time, Sunday (Monday morning IST) tweeted to say he has won the recently conducted US election.

"I WON THE ELECTION," he posted.

What looked funnier though was the Twitter notice which appeared in a matter of seconds below his post. It said, "Official sources called this election differently."

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I WON THE ELECTION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328200072987893762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

Indeed.

US media networks have declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner with more than 300 electoral votes.

But the incumbent president is not willing to accept defeat, something that no American President has dared to do so far.

Furthermore, he is calling the election 'fraud' of which no evidence has been found to date. To this end, the Trump administration has even started culling top senior defence officials, replacing them with an array of “yes men”.

Trump’s continued refusal to concede defeat in the November 3 vote is making many democracies across the world look good. No kidding here.

His latest tweet met with similar reactions from several "blue tickers" -- most of whom asked him to chill and let go.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Lol, no, you didn’t.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) <a href="https://twitter.com/eugenegu/status/1328200343147085824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
You lost, bro. Start packing.
— Brandon Farmahini (@MrFarmahini) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrFarmahini/status/1328200446268362753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
For the love of all things good and sacred...KICK THIS MAN OFF OF TWITTER!
— Reggie Watkins (@ReggieWatkinsJr) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReggieWatkinsJr/status/1328200523497963520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
You are a sad, delusional little man with a tiny brain and an even tinier heart. Shut up and concede already.
— Serena Daniari (@serenajazmine) <a href="https://twitter.com/serenajazmine/status/1328200335505154048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
<div class="twitter-block" draggable="false">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This is just sad <a href="https://t.co/vbCV673iSM">pic.twitter.com/vbCV673iSM</a>
— Law'bron JaMEMEs (@ElTrife) <a href="https://twitter.com/ElTrife/status/1328200193158901760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>
<a class="close-mark close-div" href="#" id="jqclosemark">×</a></div>

FOR A MOMENT

In a tweet Sunday morning, Trump appeared accidentally to acknowledge Joe Biden's victory -- before quickly reversing course to claim he won, and again push unsubstantiated claims of mass electoral fraud while ignoring soaring coronavirus cases.

"He won because the Election was Rigged," Trump tweeted.

The first two words -- coming days after a verbal slip in which Trump said "time will tell" if he remains president -- were immediately seized upon as one more step towards a concession.

But the president soon made a U-turn, tweeting: "He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Looking at the current state of affairs, Trump will not budge so easily. His continued refusal to concede defeat poses a host of national security dangers.

Persuading those who voted for Trump may be a different matter.

More than 10,000 Trump supporters rallied in Washington on Saturday to back his claims of fraud -- massing in Washington's Freedom Plaza before marching to the Supreme Court in a raucous atmosphere.

At least 20 people were arrested after skirmishes erupted, reports said, including four for firearm violations and one for assault on a police officer.

Trump himself made a drive-past of the rally in his armored motorcade, on his way to play golf, smiling through his limousine window to wild cheers.

Near the Supreme Court, some counter-protesters carried black umbrellas and makeshift shields, while others formed a line of bicycles to prevent pro-Trump protesters from approaching their group from the rear. They called Trump supporters “Nazis;” the protesters shouted back a profanity about antifa.

Until now, the president has refused to cooperate in the shift to a Biden administration -- denying the Democrat both federal funding for transition work and vital briefings by outgoing officials.

Democrats say this could have a damaging impact both on national security and on the grave and mounting challenges posed by the coronavirus, with cases soaring past 11 million since the start of the pandemic Sunday -- one million of those in the last six days alone.&nbsp;

Biden won 306 votes to Trump’s 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the winner, according to Edison Research, far more than the 270 required to win the election. He also leads in the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6%.

With the election results becoming clearer, Trump has discussed with advisers possible media ventures and appearances that would keep him in the spotlight ahead of a possible 2024 White House bid, aides said. But his repeated allegations that the election was “rigged” have inflamed his supporters and stalled the transition to a new administration.

The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states with little success thus far. Legal experts have said the litigation is extremely unlikely to alter the election outcome.

In the real world though, President-elect Joe Biden continues to hurtle toward his January 20 inauguration.

And Trump appears ready to announce his next candidacy as soon as he stops pretending that he won this time around.

Here's a surprise (not). US President Donald Trump, for the umpteenth number of time, Sunday (Monday morning IST) tweeted to say he has won the recently conducted US election.

Here's a surprise (not). US President Donald Trump, for the umpteenth number of time, Sunday (Monday morning IST) tweeted to say he has won the recently conducted US election. "I WON THE ELECTION," he posted. What looked funnier though was the Twitter notice which appeared in a matter of seconds below his post. It said, "Official sources called this election differently." I WON THE ELECTION! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020 × Indeed. US media networks have declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner with more than 300 electoral votes. But the incumbent president is not willing to accept defeat, something that no American President has dared to do so far. Furthermore, he is calling the election 'fraud' of which no evidence has been found to date. To this end, the Trump administration has even started culling top senior defence officials, replacing them with an array of “yes men”. Trump’s continued refusal to concede defeat in the November 3 vote is making many democracies across the world look good. No kidding here. His latest tweet met with similar reactions from several "blue tickers" -- most of whom asked him to chill and let go. Lol, no, you didn’t. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) November 16, 2020 × You lost, bro. Start packing. — Brandon Farmahini (@MrFarmahini) November 16, 2020 × For the love of all things good and sacred...KICK THIS MAN OFF OF TWITTER! — Reggie Watkins (@ReggieWatkinsJr) November 16, 2020 × You are a sad, delusional little man with a tiny brain and an even tinier heart. Shut up and concede already. — Serena Daniari (@serenajazmine) November 16, 2020 × This is just sad pic.twitter.com/vbCV673iSM — Law'bron JaMEMEs (@ElTrife) November 16, 2020 × FOR A MOMENT In a tweet Sunday morning, Trump appeared accidentally to acknowledge Joe Biden's victory -- before quickly reversing course to claim he won, and again push unsubstantiated claims of mass electoral fraud while ignoring soaring coronavirus cases. "He won because the Election was Rigged," Trump tweeted. The first two words -- coming days after a verbal slip in which Trump said "time will tell" if he remains president -- were immediately seized upon as one more step towards a concession. But the president soon made a U-turn, tweeting: "He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go." WHAT'S NEXT? Looking at the current state of affairs, Trump will not budge so easily. His continued refusal to concede defeat poses a host of national security dangers. Persuading those who voted for Trump may be a different matter. More than 10,000 Trump supporters rallied in Washington on Saturday to back his claims of fraud -- massing in Washington's Freedom Plaza before marching to the Supreme Court in a raucous atmosphere. At least 20 people were arrested after skirmishes erupted, reports said, including four for firearm violations and one for assault on a police officer. Trump himself made a drive-past of the rally in his armored motorcade, on his way to play golf, smiling through his limousine window to wild cheers. Near the Supreme Court, some counter-protesters carried black umbrellas and makeshift shields, while others formed a line of bicycles to prevent pro-Trump protesters from approaching their group from the rear. They called Trump supporters “Nazis;” the protesters shouted back a profanity about antifa. Until now, the president has refused to cooperate in the shift to a Biden administration -- denying the Democrat both federal funding for transition work and vital briefings by outgoing officials. Democrats say this could have a damaging impact both on national security and on the grave and mounting challenges posed by the coronavirus, with cases soaring past 11 million since the start of the pandemic Sunday -- one million of those in the last six days alone. Biden won 306 votes to Trump’s 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the winner, according to Edison Research, far more than the 270 required to win the election. He also leads in the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6%. With the election results becoming clearer, Trump has discussed with advisers possible media ventures and appearances that would keep him in the spotlight ahead of a possible 2024 White House bid, aides said. But his repeated allegations that the election was “rigged” have inflamed his supporters and stalled the transition to a new administration. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states with little success thus far. Legal experts have said the litigation is extremely unlikely to alter the election outcome. In the real world though, President-elect Joe Biden continues to hurtle toward his January 20 inauguration. And Trump appears ready to announce his next candidacy as soon as he stops pretending that he won this time around.

'I WON THE ELECTION': Trump is at it again. Social media too

On November 7, 2020 American networks declared Joe Biden the President-elect. 16 days in, and the incumbent president Donald Trump has not conceded.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted the following: “Joe Biden won in the eyes of the fake news media. I concede nothing. This was a rigged election".

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/us-elections-2020-why-poll-watcher-complaints-dont-amount-to-fraud-343250" hreflang="en">US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud</a>

This marked the first time Trump has come close to admitting that Biden won. Even though he feels the whole process was rigged, Trump's twitter feed right now is a long list of flagged tweets. Trump claims that poll watchers were thrown out of counting rooms, but there is no evidence to prove this.

How is Trump planning to cling on to the White House?

Part one of his plan to stay in power hinges on his base, of which we saw a glimpse on Sunday at his mega rally in Washington.&nbsp;

Thousands of the president's supporters were out in full force, which was dubbed as the “Million MAGA march”.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/trump-almost-admits-he-lost-us-election-says-time-will-tell-343056" hreflang="en">Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'</a>

Much like Trump himself, these protesters have rejected the election results. They say that there is no president-elect, and that it's all a lie.

In some places these protests turned violent. A right-wing group “Proud boys” cashed with Antifa a far-left movement. One person was stabbed and taken to the trauma centre.

How is Trump doing in courts?

The Trump campaign filed a flurry of cases in swing states, starting with Pennsylvania which Biden won on November 7.

The Trump campaign immediately filed a lawsuit, alleging that around 680,000 ballots were illegally processed. It wanted these votes to be removed from the final tally. But that demand has now been dropped, making Trump's lawsuit in Pennsylvania effectively toothless.

Since election night - Trump has spent most of his time at his golf course. The White House has virtually stopped addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in the US. His administration is yet to ratify Biden's victory, which has delayed the transition process.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/us-election-2020-georgia-to-conduct-a-full-recount-of-election-ballots-342474" hreflang="en">US election 2020: Georgia to conduct a full recount of election ballots</a>

Joe Biden's team on the other hand - is eager to get cracking. The incoming Chief of Staff Ron Klain feels it's time that Biden and Harris start receiving intelligence briefings.

There is bipartisan criticism against what Trump is trying to do. Among the more vocal critiques has been Trump's predecessor - Barack Obama.

He is promoting his new memoir and Obama is not mincing his words. He said - nobody is above the law, whether it's a dog catcher, or a president.

&nbsp;“They obviously didn't think there was any fraud going on because they didn't say anything about it for the first two days.&nbsp; But there's damage to this because what happens is that the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether it's a dogcatcher or a president, are servants of the people. It's a temporary job. We're not above the rules. We're not above the law. That's the essence of our democracy”, Obama said.

Obama is expecting a change in the prestige of the office with Biden at the helm.&nbsp;

However, Trump will not hand over the White House without a fight. This so-called “lameduck” period is leading up to the most messy presidential transition in American history.

On November 7, 2020 American networks declared Joe Biden the President-elect. 16 days in, and the incumbent president Donald Trump has not conceded. On Sunday, Trump tweeted the following: “Joe Biden won in the eyes of the fake news media.

On November 7, 2020 American networks declared Joe Biden the President-elect. 16 days in, and the incumbent president Donald Trump has not conceded. On Sunday, Trump tweeted the following: “Joe Biden won in the eyes of the fake news media. I concede nothing. This was a rigged election". Also read: US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud This marked the first time Trump has come close to admitting that Biden won. Even though he feels the whole process was rigged, Trump's twitter feed right now is a long list of flagged tweets. Trump claims that poll watchers were thrown out of counting rooms, but there is no evidence to prove this. How is Trump planning to cling on to the White House? Part one of his plan to stay in power hinges on his base, of which we saw a glimpse on Sunday at his mega rally in Washington. Thousands of the president's supporters were out in full force, which was dubbed as the “Million MAGA march”. Also read: Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell' Much like Trump himself, these protesters have rejected the election results. They say that there is no president-elect, and that it's all a lie. In some places these protests turned violent. A right-wing group “Proud boys” cashed with Antifa a far-left movement. One person was stabbed and taken to the trauma centre. How is Trump doing in courts? The Trump campaign filed a flurry of cases in swing states, starting with Pennsylvania which Biden won on November 7. The Trump campaign immediately filed a lawsuit, alleging that around 680,000 ballots were illegally processed. It wanted these votes to be removed from the final tally. But that demand has now been dropped, making Trump's lawsuit in Pennsylvania effectively toothless. Since election night - Trump has spent most of his time at his golf course. The White House has virtually stopped addressing the COVID-19 outbreak in the US. His administration is yet to ratify Biden's victory, which has delayed the transition process. Also read: US election 2020: Georgia to conduct a full recount of election ballots Joe Biden's team on the other hand - is eager to get cracking. The incoming Chief of Staff Ron Klain feels it's time that Biden and Harris start receiving intelligence briefings. There is bipartisan criticism against what Trump is trying to do. Among the more vocal critiques has been Trump's predecessor - Barack Obama. He is promoting his new memoir and Obama is not mincing his words. He said - nobody is above the law, whether it's a dog catcher, or a president. “They obviously didn't think there was any fraud going on because they didn't say anything about it for the first two days. But there's damage to this because what happens is that the peaceful transfer of power, the notion that any of us who attain an elected office, whether it's a dogcatcher or a president, are servants of the people. It's a temporary job. We're not above the rules. We're not above the law. That's the essence of our democracy”, Obama said. Obama is expecting a change in the prestige of the office with Biden at the helm. However, Trump will not hand over the White House without a fight. This so-called “lameduck” period is leading up to the most messy presidential transition in American history.

US election 2020: 16 days after Biden was declared President-elect, what is Trump up to?

Former US president Barack Obama would not take a position in Democrat Joe Biden’s cabinet -- because if he did, he fears, his wife would leave him.

The 44th US president made the remark in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, two days ahead of publication of his memoir, A Promised Land.

The publication of Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land, which covers the events of his eight years in the White House coincides with his interview with Oprah Winfrey -- two short clips from which have been released.

Biden, Obama’s vice-president from 2009 to 2017, was declared as the president-elect by the US media networks while incumbent president Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede defeat in the November 3 vote.

Biden would become the 46th US president in January, 2021.

Asked how he will help Biden, Obama said: “He doesn’t need my advice, and I will help him in any ways that I can. Now, I’m not planning to suddenly work on the White House staff or something.”

Obama elaborated on his reaction to Biden and future vice-president Kamala Harris's victory, and what it means for the future of the country. "I was thrilled," he told Oprah.

"Joe is somebody who stood by me on every major decision I had for eight years. He's become a brother and a genuinely good friend. Kamala was one of my earliest supporters when I first launched my presidency. I'm personally invested in them. They have the character and experience to do an outstanding job in a very difficult, very challenging time in this country," Obama continued.

The 44th president also expressed his hope that Biden and Harris's election would usher in the restoration of a different, less incendiary tone of politics in the US.

Asked if he would consider a cabinet position, Obama said: “There are some things I would not be doing because Michelle would leave me. She’d be like, what? You’re doing what?”

In a released clip from the conversation with Oprah Winfrey, Obama said he and Michelle “went through our rough patches in the White House, as she’s written about, she’s talked about. But I tell you that the thing that I think we were good about was talking stuff through, never losing fundamental love and respect for each other, and prioritising our kids.”

On CBS, Obama discussed what it is like to have the luxurious trappings of office.

“I’m driving along,” Obama said, laughing. “I’m still not driving, but [I’m] in the car. I’m in the car in the backseat and I’m looking at my iPad or something. And suddenly, we stop and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ There’s a red light. There’s a car right next to us. Some kids are eating a burrito or something in the backseat.

“Back to life.”

Talking of the memoir, Obama considers what his meteoric rise to the US Senate and then the White House meant for his marriage to Michelle and family life with their daughters, Sasha and Malia.

“My career in politics, with its prolonged absences, had made it even tougher” for his wife to pursue her own law career, he writes. “More than once Michelle had decided not to pursue an opportunity that excited her but would have demanded too much time away from the girls.

“… With my election [as president] she’d been forced to give up a job with real impact for a role [as first lady] that – in its original design, at least – was far too small for her gifts.”

In a&nbsp;clip about vanity and ego, Obama says that understanding the work is not about yourself. In another,&nbsp;Obama shares that the Sandy Hook shooting was the hardest day of his presidency and expresses disappointment that there was no policy change following the tragedy.

A Promised Land is part of a reported $65m deal with Penguin Random House that also covered Becoming, Michelle Obama’s memoir, released in 2018, and which has sold more than 10 million copies.

Barack Obama's interview on 'The Oprah Conversation' will be free to watch on Apple TV+ through December 1, and available for subscribers afterwards.&nbsp;

(with inputs)

Former US president Barack Obama would not take a position in Democrat Joe Biden’s cabinet -- because if he did, he fears, his wife would leave him. The 44th US president made the remark in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, two days ahead of publication of his memoir, A Promised Land.

Former US president Barack Obama would not take a position in Democrat Joe Biden’s cabinet -- because if he did, he fears, his wife would leave him. The 44th US president made the remark in an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, two days ahead of publication of his memoir, A Promised Land. The publication of Obama's new memoir, A Promised Land, which covers the events of his eight years in the White House coincides with his interview with Oprah Winfrey -- two short clips from which have been released. Biden, Obama’s vice-president from 2009 to 2017, was declared as the president-elect by the US media networks while incumbent president Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede defeat in the November 3 vote. Biden would become the 46th US president in January, 2021. Asked how he will help Biden, Obama said: “He doesn’t need my advice, and I will help him in any ways that I can. Now, I’m not planning to suddenly work on the White House staff or something.” Obama elaborated on his reaction to Biden and future vice-president Kamala Harris's victory, and what it means for the future of the country. "I was thrilled," he told Oprah. "Joe is somebody who stood by me on every major decision I had for eight years. He's become a brother and a genuinely good friend. Kamala was one of my earliest supporters when I first launched my presidency. I'm personally invested in them. They have the character and experience to do an outstanding job in a very difficult, very challenging time in this country," Obama continued. The 44th president also expressed his hope that Biden and Harris's election would usher in the restoration of a different, less incendiary tone of politics in the US. Asked if he would consider a cabinet position, Obama said: “There are some things I would not be doing because Michelle would leave me. She’d be like, what? You’re doing what?” In a released clip from the conversation with Oprah Winfrey, Obama said he and Michelle “went through our rough patches in the White House, as she’s written about, she’s talked about. But I tell you that the thing that I think we were good about was talking stuff through, never losing fundamental love and respect for each other, and prioritising our kids.” On CBS, Obama discussed what it is like to have the luxurious trappings of office. “I’m driving along,” Obama said, laughing. “I’m still not driving, but [I’m] in the car. I’m in the car in the backseat and I’m looking at my iPad or something. And suddenly, we stop and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ There’s a red light. There’s a car right next to us. Some kids are eating a burrito or something in the backseat. “Back to life.” Talking of the memoir, Obama considers what his meteoric rise to the US Senate and then the White House meant for his marriage to Michelle and family life with their daughters, Sasha and Malia. “My career in politics, with its prolonged absences, had made it even tougher” for his wife to pursue her own law career, he writes. “More than once Michelle had decided not to pursue an opportunity that excited her but would have demanded too much time away from the girls. “… With my election [as president] she’d been forced to give up a job with real impact for a role [as first lady] that – in its original design, at least – was far too small for her gifts.” In a clip about vanity and ego, Obama says that understanding the work is not about yourself. In another, Obama shares that the Sandy Hook shooting was the hardest day of his presidency and expresses disappointment that there was no policy change following the tragedy. A Promised Land is part of a reported $65m deal with Penguin Random House that also covered Becoming, Michelle Obama’s memoir, released in 2018, and which has sold more than 10 million copies. Barack Obama's interview on 'The Oprah Conversation' will be free to watch on Apple TV+ through December 1, and available for subscribers afterwards. (with inputs)

Vanity, ego and Biden: Barack Obama is at his candid best ahead of book launch

US President Donald Trump's campaign on Sunday dropped a major part of a lawsuit it brought seeking to halt Pennsylvania from certifying its results in the recently conducted presidential election.

In an amended complaint filed in federal court, the Trump campaign dropped a claim that election officials unlawfully blocked observers from watching the counting of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

The lawsuit for now focusses on the claim that Democratic-leaning counties unlawfully allowed voters to fix errors in their mail-in ballots in violation of state law.&nbsp;In Pennsylvania's populous Montgomery County, less than 100 voters fixed ballots with technical errors, a county official testified at a court hearing on Nov. 4.

Officials have, however, said the dispute affects a small number of ballots in the state, where Democrat Joe Biden is projected to win by more than 60,000 votes.

Biden clinched the election after news media and Edison Research called him as the victor in Pennsylvania, putting him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Edison Research said on Friday that Biden had won 306 Electoral College votes to Trump's 232.

Trump on Sunday briefly appeared to acknowledge that Biden's victory, but then recanted and claimed he would soon file fresh challenges. His campaign has filed a string of long-shot lawsuits in several battleground states.

On Twitter on Sunday, Trump said many cases being filed were not from his campaign. 
"Our big cases showing the unconstitutionality of the 2020 Election, &amp; the outrage of things that were done to change the outcome, will soon be filed!," he tweeted.

The Trump campaign continues to seek a court order blocking the Pennsylvania secretary of state from ratifying the result. Legal experts say the lawsuits have little chance of changing the outcome of the election.

US President Donald Trump's campaign on Sunday dropped a major part of a lawsuit it brought seeking to halt Pennsylvania from certifying its results in the recently conducted presidential election.

US President Donald Trump's campaign on Sunday dropped a major part of a lawsuit it brought seeking to halt Pennsylvania from certifying its results in the recently conducted presidential election. In an amended complaint filed in federal court, the Trump campaign dropped a claim that election officials unlawfully blocked observers from watching the counting of mail-in ballots in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The lawsuit for now focusses on the claim that Democratic-leaning counties unlawfully allowed voters to fix errors in their mail-in ballots in violation of state law. In Pennsylvania's populous Montgomery County, less than 100 voters fixed ballots with technical errors, a county official testified at a court hearing on Nov. 4. Officials have, however, said the dispute affects a small number of ballots in the state, where Democrat Joe Biden is projected to win by more than 60,000 votes. Biden clinched the election after news media and Edison Research called him as the victor in Pennsylvania, putting him over the 270 electoral votes needed to win. Edison Research said on Friday that Biden had won 306 Electoral College votes to Trump's 232. Trump on Sunday briefly appeared to acknowledge that Biden's victory, but then recanted and claimed he would soon file fresh challenges. His campaign has filed a string of long-shot lawsuits in several battleground states. On Twitter on Sunday, Trump said many cases being filed were not from his campaign. "Our big cases showing the unconstitutionality of the 2020 Election, & the outrage of things that were done to change the outcome, will soon be filed!," he tweeted. The Trump campaign continues to seek a court order blocking the Pennsylvania secretary of state from ratifying the result. Legal experts say the lawsuits have little chance of changing the outcome of the election.

Trump campaign drops major part of Pennsylvania election lawsuit

In Pennsylvania, much of President Donald Trump’s attention since the election has focused on Philadelphia, where he has baselessly insisted there is a “mountain of corruption.” In Michigan, litigation by Trump’s campaign has concentrated on Detroit, where Republican poll watchers say they felt intimidated by election workers in Black Lives Matter apparel. And in Wisconsin, legal challenges and rumors have circled around Milwaukee, where one internet conspiracy turns on a briefly misplaced flash drive of election results.

That these three cities would become the chief sites of Republican claims of fraud in this election is unsurprising. All three are heavily Democratic. They have large African American populations. And in their respective states, they have long been targets of racialized charges of corruption.

But in one revealing way, the fixation this year is misplaced. All three cities voted pretty much the same way they did in 2016. Turnout barely budged, relative to other areas in these states. Joe Biden saw no remarkable surge in support — certainly nothing that would bolster claims of ballot stuffing or tampered vote tallies. Trump even picked up marginally more votes this year in all three cities than he did four years ago.

Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Detroit, in other words, were not decisive in explaining why the Northern battleground states flipped from Trump four years ago to Biden in 2020. Voters&nbsp;outside&nbsp;of these cities made the difference.

But the president and his allies have said little about those voters — in places like the Milwaukee suburbs of Ozaukee County, or in predominantly white Kent County, Michigan.

“From a partisan perspective, Trump’s vilification of cities makes no sense,” Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an email. “It has little to do with his loss in Wisconsin, which resulted mostly from small shifts in the white vote outside of the city, particularly the suburbs, Dane County, and other parts of Milwaukee County.”

Instead, Burden said, the president appears to be practicing thinly veiled race-baiting, by blaming communities of color for his loss.

Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, concluded the same in criticizing lawsuits brought by the president’s campaign and allies.

“Really the themes that we see, that persist, are this: Black people are corrupt, Black people are incompetent and Black people can’t be trusted,” Nessel said during a call with reporters last week.

These cities did prove central to Trump’s defeat in more symbolic ways.

Biden’s vote count in Wisconsin jumped in the middle of the night after Election Day when the city of Milwaukee completed its count of mail-in ballots about 3:30 a.m. That helped explain why many Americans woke up Wednesday morning to a different picture of the race in Wisconsin.

In Michigan, the TCF Center in Detroit became a center of pro-Trump protests as election workers tallied votes in the city and as Biden’s lead continued to grow on the Friday after the election.

And in Pennsylvania, it was a tabulation of votes in Philadelphia on Saturday that pushed Biden across the threshold where many media outlets were prepared to call the state — and the election — for him. Philadelphia, too, was the scene of some of the most raucous celebrations that followed.

In the unofficial results, however, these cities shifted little from 2016 in their vote tallies for the Democrat, unlike many surrounding suburbs. And Trump picked up about 3,000 additional votes in Milwaukee, about 5,000 in Detroit, and about 21,000 in Philadelphia, in counts that are not yet completed.

Part of what makes these cities perennial targets is their size, said Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University. Because of that, they’re slower to count ballots, feeding suspicions about late-changing results. And if a campaign is looking to narrow vote margins through litigation, it makes more sense to go after the county with half a million voters than one with only a few hundred.

But Gillespie said the racial implications of these fraud claims would not be lost on African American voters.

“In one minute, he’s talking about how he’s the greatest president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln, which is historically inaccurate,” she said. “And then in the next breath, you now are trying to disqualify voters in cities with large Black populations, in ways that look like disenfranchisement and voter suppression.”

Recent lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin proposed doing exactly that — excluding millions of votes cast in these large urban centers (including Atlanta) from vote totals in these states. Collectively, those legal challenges are highly unlikely to go anywhere. But they’re notable for how literally they embrace the common partisan claim that urban votes shouldn’t count as much as votes from rural America — that Republicans win Wisconsin, if you just take away Milwaukee and Madison; that Trump wins the popular vote, if you just lop off California and New York.

Such arguments about fraud are clearly alluring for many Americans. Political science research suggests that resentment of immigrants and minorities is correlated with beliefs about voter fraud, said Nyron Crawford, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. Once you believe African Americans or immigrants are more likely to be corrupt or criminal, it’s not such a stretch to believe their communities steal elections.

“It’s easier to lay those claims if you already harbor some resentment toward the group,” Crawford said.

It would be harder to argue there’s something fishy about the entire eastern half of Pennsylvania, where counties of all kinds shifted toward Biden this year.

(STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL MATERIAL FOLLOWS.)

On a map of how the state changed from 2016, Philadelphia actually stands out as the lone county in eastern Pennsylvania where Trump improved on his margins this year. Turnout in the city was below expectations, in part because many college students didn’t vote on campus during the pandemic. But turnout was also down in predominantly Black and Hispanic wards. Hispanic parts of North Philadelphia both turned out less and swung toward Trump, as did a number of other Hispanic communities around the country.

Those results didn’t match what local organizers believed would happen this year.

“I’ve never seen such enthusiasm from voters,” said Carol Jenkins, who is a longtime Democratic ward leader in Philadelphia and a retired professor. “Everybody was calling me asking: ‘What can I do? I’ll do anything that I can to help, we’ve got to defeat this man.’” She thought that would mean much higher turnout this year. She anticipated lower numbers in her own ward, normally full of college students.

“But I did not expect it in the rest of the city,” she said. “It was disappointing.”

Broad disruption in Philadelphia this year from the pandemic and protests over police brutality may have affected the results, Crawford suggested, including the unrest after the police shooting of a Black man in the last week before the election. Those events may have both dampened Black turnout and bolstered appeal for Trump among residents who believed the protest movement and pandemic restrictions this year had gone too far.

If, as expected, none of the fraud claims by Republicans change the election result, party leaders appear to be gambling they may at least energize conservative voters vital to one last election this cycle — the January runoffs in Georgia that will determine both of that state’s Senate seats and which party controls the chamber.

But it is possible, too, that Democratic voters in and around Atlanta will be motivated by what has often looked like an attack on African American voters. And Atlanta, unlike these northern battleground cities, did see a surge in turnout this year that was crucial to handing Biden the state.

“If you did not have African Americans being as loyal as they have been to Democratic candidates,” Todd Shaw, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina, said about Georgia, “then you would have no base from which the college-educated white vote would build upon to make a majority.”

In Pennsylvania, much of President Donald Trump’s attention since the election has focused on Philadelphia, where he has baselessly insisted there is a “mountain of corruption.

In Pennsylvania, much of President Donald Trump’s attention since the election has focused on Philadelphia, where he has baselessly insisted there is a “mountain of corruption.” In Michigan, litigation by Trump’s campaign has concentrated on Detroit, where Republican poll watchers say they felt intimidated by election workers in Black Lives Matter apparel. And in Wisconsin, legal challenges and rumors have circled around Milwaukee, where one internet conspiracy turns on a briefly misplaced flash drive of election results. That these three cities would become the chief sites of Republican claims of fraud in this election is unsurprising. All three are heavily Democratic. They have large African American populations. And in their respective states, they have long been targets of racialized charges of corruption. But in one revealing way, the fixation this year is misplaced. All three cities voted pretty much the same way they did in 2016. Turnout barely budged, relative to other areas in these states. Joe Biden saw no remarkable surge in support — certainly nothing that would bolster claims of ballot stuffing or tampered vote tallies. Trump even picked up marginally more votes this year in all three cities than he did four years ago. Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Detroit, in other words, were not decisive in explaining why the Northern battleground states flipped from Trump four years ago to Biden in 2020. Voters outside of these cities made the difference. But the president and his allies have said little about those voters — in places like the Milwaukee suburbs of Ozaukee County, or in predominantly white Kent County, Michigan. “From a partisan perspective, Trump’s vilification of cities makes no sense,” Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an email. “It has little to do with his loss in Wisconsin, which resulted mostly from small shifts in the white vote outside of the city, particularly the suburbs, Dane County, and other parts of Milwaukee County.” Instead, Burden said, the president appears to be practicing thinly veiled race-baiting, by blaming communities of color for his loss. Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, concluded the same in criticizing lawsuits brought by the president’s campaign and allies. “Really the themes that we see, that persist, are this: Black people are corrupt, Black people are incompetent and Black people can’t be trusted,” Nessel said during a call with reporters last week. These cities did prove central to Trump’s defeat in more symbolic ways. Biden’s vote count in Wisconsin jumped in the middle of the night after Election Day when the city of Milwaukee completed its count of mail-in ballots about 3:30 a.m. That helped explain why many Americans woke up Wednesday morning to a different picture of the race in Wisconsin. In Michigan, the TCF Center in Detroit became a center of pro-Trump protests as election workers tallied votes in the city and as Biden’s lead continued to grow on the Friday after the election. And in Pennsylvania, it was a tabulation of votes in Philadelphia on Saturday that pushed Biden across the threshold where many media outlets were prepared to call the state — and the election — for him. Philadelphia, too, was the scene of some of the most raucous celebrations that followed. In the unofficial results, however, these cities shifted little from 2016 in their vote tallies for the Democrat, unlike many surrounding suburbs. And Trump picked up about 3,000 additional votes in Milwaukee, about 5,000 in Detroit, and about 21,000 in Philadelphia, in counts that are not yet completed. Part of what makes these cities perennial targets is their size, said Andra Gillespie, a political scientist at Emory University. Because of that, they’re slower to count ballots, feeding suspicions about late-changing results. And if a campaign is looking to narrow vote margins through litigation, it makes more sense to go after the county with half a million voters than one with only a few hundred. But Gillespie said the racial implications of these fraud claims would not be lost on African American voters. “In one minute, he’s talking about how he’s the greatest president for Black people since Abraham Lincoln, which is historically inaccurate,” she said. “And then in the next breath, you now are trying to disqualify voters in cities with large Black populations, in ways that look like disenfranchisement and voter suppression.” Recent lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin proposed doing exactly that — excluding millions of votes cast in these large urban centers (including Atlanta) from vote totals in these states. Collectively, those legal challenges are highly unlikely to go anywhere. But they’re notable for how literally they embrace the common partisan claim that urban votes shouldn’t count as much as votes from rural America — that Republicans win Wisconsin, if you just take away Milwaukee and Madison; that Trump wins the popular vote, if you just lop off California and New York. Such arguments about fraud are clearly alluring for many Americans. Political science research suggests that resentment of immigrants and minorities is correlated with beliefs about voter fraud, said Nyron Crawford, a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia. Once you believe African Americans or immigrants are more likely to be corrupt or criminal, it’s not such a stretch to believe their communities steal elections. “It’s easier to lay those claims if you already harbor some resentment toward the group,” Crawford said. It would be harder to argue there’s something fishy about the entire eastern half of Pennsylvania, where counties of all kinds shifted toward Biden this year. (STORY CAN END HERE. OPTIONAL MATERIAL FOLLOWS.) On a map of how the state changed from 2016, Philadelphia actually stands out as the lone county in eastern Pennsylvania where Trump improved on his margins this year. Turnout in the city was below expectations, in part because many college students didn’t vote on campus during the pandemic. But turnout was also down in predominantly Black and Hispanic wards. Hispanic parts of North Philadelphia both turned out less and swung toward Trump, as did a number of other Hispanic communities around the country. Those results didn’t match what local organizers believed would happen this year. “I’ve never seen such enthusiasm from voters,” said Carol Jenkins, who is a longtime Democratic ward leader in Philadelphia and a retired professor. “Everybody was calling me asking: ‘What can I do? I’ll do anything that I can to help, we’ve got to defeat this man.’” She thought that would mean much higher turnout this year. She anticipated lower numbers in her own ward, normally full of college students. “But I did not expect it in the rest of the city,” she said. “It was disappointing.” Broad disruption in Philadelphia this year from the pandemic and protests over police brutality may have affected the results, Crawford suggested, including the unrest after the police shooting of a Black man in the last week before the election. Those events may have both dampened Black turnout and bolstered appeal for Trump among residents who believed the protest movement and pandemic restrictions this year had gone too far. If, as expected, none of the fraud claims by Republicans change the election result, party leaders appear to be gambling they may at least energize conservative voters vital to one last election this cycle — the January runoffs in Georgia that will determine both of that state’s Senate seats and which party controls the chamber. But it is possible, too, that Democratic voters in and around Atlanta will be motivated by what has often looked like an attack on African American voters. And Atlanta, unlike these northern battleground cities, did see a surge in turnout this year that was crucial to handing Biden the state. “If you did not have African Americans being as loyal as they have been to Democratic candidates,” Todd Shaw, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina, said about Georgia, “then you would have no base from which the college-educated white vote would build upon to make a majority.”

The cities accused in fraud conspiracies didn’t cost Trump the election

For the very first time since his defeat, incumbent US President Donald Trump has acknowledged that his rival Joe Biden has won the White House. But, also reiterated his claims that the vote was actually rigged.

Incumbent US President Donald Trump acknowledges rival Joe Biden's win

US President Donald Trump asserted on Twitter on Sunday that the US constitution has been badly shattered and violated during the 2020 Elections. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/biden-won-because-donald-trump-acknowledges-democrats-victory-for-first-time-343333">Also read | Biden 'won because...': Donald Trump retracts after acknowledging Democrat's victory for first time</a> 
 
"Why does the Fake News Media continuously assume that Joe Biden will ascend to the Presidency, not even allowing our side to show, which we are just getting ready to do, how badly shattered and violated our great Constitution has been in the 2020 Election," he said on Twitter.

<div class="ui-state-default" contenteditable="false">
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Why does the Fake News Media continuously assume that Joe Biden will ascend to the Presidency, not even allowing our side to show, which we are just getting ready to do, how badly shattered and violated our great Constitution has been in the 2020 Election. It was attacked,..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328152462331699202?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 16, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"From large numbers of Poll Watchers that were thrown out of vote counting rooms in many of our States, to millions of ballots that have been altered by Democrats, only for Democrats, to voting after the election was over, to using Radical Left owned Dominion Voting Systems, turned down by Texas and many others because it was not good or secure, those responsible for the safeguarding of our Constitution cannot allow the Fake results of the 2020 Mail-In Election to stand. The World is watching!" he said. 
 
<img alt="Trump" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="529dd4de-6bc9-4a7c-a63b-e9e64a70bdf8" src="//cdn.wionews.com/sites/default/files/inline-images/trump_5.JPG" />

Earlier he said that he would soon file “big cases” challenging the 2020 election results in which Joe Biden defeated him, even after his campaign has lost numerous court battles over the results.

Trump did not specify if his campaign would file new lawsuits but said on Twitter “our big cases showing the unconstitutionality of the 2020 Election, &amp; the outrage of things that were done to change the outcome will soon be filed!”

(With inputs from agencies)

US President Donald Trump asserted on Twitter on Sunday that the US constitution has been badly shattered and violated during the 2020 Elections. Also read | Biden 'won because.

US President Donald Trump asserted on Twitter on Sunday that the US constitution has been badly shattered and violated during the 2020 Elections. Also read | Biden 'won because...': Donald Trump retracts after acknowledging Democrat's victory for first time "Why does the Fake News Media continuously assume that Joe Biden will ascend to the Presidency, not even allowing our side to show, which we are just getting ready to do, how badly shattered and violated our great Constitution has been in the 2020 Election," he said on Twitter. Why does the Fake News Media continuously assume that Joe Biden will ascend to the Presidency, not even allowing our side to show, which we are just getting ready to do, how badly shattered and violated our great Constitution has been in the 2020 Election. It was attacked,.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2020 × "From large numbers of Poll Watchers that were thrown out of vote counting rooms in many of our States, to millions of ballots that have been altered by Democrats, only for Democrats, to voting after the election was over, to using Radical Left owned Dominion Voting Systems, turned down by Texas and many others because it was not good or secure, those responsible for the safeguarding of our Constitution cannot allow the Fake results of the 2020 Mail-In Election to stand. The World is watching!" he said. Earlier he said that he would soon file “big cases” challenging the 2020 election results in which Joe Biden defeated him, even after his campaign has lost numerous court battles over the results. Trump did not specify if his campaign would file new lawsuits but said on Twitter “our big cases showing the unconstitutionality of the 2020 Election, & the outrage of things that were done to change the outcome will soon be filed!” (With inputs from agencies)

US constitution has been badly shattered and violated in the 2020 election:  Trump

President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election has entered a more dangerous phase as he stokes resistance and unrest among his supporters and spreads falsehoods aimed at undermining the integrity of the American voting system.

More than a week after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner, Trump continues to block his successor’s transition, withholding intelligence briefings, critical information about the coronavirus pandemic, and access to the vast machinery of government that Biden will soon oversee.

Some former top advisers to Trump have said that his refusal to cooperate is reckless and unwise. John F. Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, called it “crazy” on Friday. John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser who wrote a scathing memoir about his time in the administration, said the refusal “harms the country.”

“Every day that he delays under the pretense that he’s simply asking for his legal remedies ultimately is to the country’s disadvantage,” Bolton said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday morning.

The president’s attempt to cling to power played out against a backdrop of protests by Trump supporters and opponents late Saturday, with sporadic clashes near the White House. The police arrested 21 people as one protester was stabbed and four officers were injured. Rather than seek to calm tensions, Trump lashed out.

“ANTIFA SCUM ran for the hills,” he posted on Twitter on Saturday as he urged the police to move in aggressively. “DC Police, get going — do your job and don’t hold back!!!”

By Sunday morning, the president seemed to briefly acknowledge defeat, but he quickly reversed himself, declaring “I concede NOTHING!” He repeated lies about the vote-counting process, falsely insisting that Biden’s victory was the result of a “RIGGED ELECTION” orchestrated by the “Fake &amp;amp; Silent” news media.

Facing his final 65 days in office, Trump appears unwilling to break from the gut instincts that have guided his pursuit of the presidency and his exercise of authority in the past 5-1/2 years: a fierce determination to act only in his self-interest and a near-total refusal to accept blame or responsibility for his failures.

President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election has entered a more dangerous phase as he stokes resistance and unrest among his supporters and spreads falsehoods aimed at undermining the integrity of the American voting system.

President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election has entered a more dangerous phase as he stokes resistance and unrest among his supporters and spreads falsehoods aimed at undermining the integrity of the American voting system. More than a week after President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner, Trump continues to block his successor’s transition, withholding intelligence briefings, critical information about the coronavirus pandemic, and access to the vast machinery of government that Biden will soon oversee. Some former top advisers to Trump have said that his refusal to cooperate is reckless and unwise. John F. Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, called it “crazy” on Friday. John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser who wrote a scathing memoir about his time in the administration, said the refusal “harms the country.” “Every day that he delays under the pretense that he’s simply asking for his legal remedies ultimately is to the country’s disadvantage,” Bolton said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday morning. The president’s attempt to cling to power played out against a backdrop of protests by Trump supporters and opponents late Saturday, with sporadic clashes near the White House. The police arrested 21 people as one protester was stabbed and four officers were injured. Rather than seek to calm tensions, Trump lashed out. “ANTIFA SCUM ran for the hills,” he posted on Twitter on Saturday as he urged the police to move in aggressively. “DC Police, get going — do your job and don’t hold back!!!” By Sunday morning, the president seemed to briefly acknowledge defeat, but he quickly reversed himself, declaring “I concede NOTHING!” He repeated lies about the vote-counting process, falsely insisting that Biden’s victory was the result of a “RIGGED ELECTION” orchestrated by the “Fake &amp; Silent” news media. Facing his final 65 days in office, Trump appears unwilling to break from the gut instincts that have guided his pursuit of the presidency and his exercise of authority in the past 5-1/2 years: a fierce determination to act only in his self-interest and a near-total refusal to accept blame or responsibility for his failures.

Trump, trying to cling to power, fans unrest and conspiracies

The top Democrat in the US Congress on Friday joined in criticism against Facebook for allowing disinformation to spread over the social media platform, saying it was "part of the problem." 
 
Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-almost-admits-he-lost-us-election-says-time-will-tell-343056">Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'</a>

Nancy Pelosi, a speaker of the House of Representatives, made the comments in response to a question about efforts being made by tech giants against disinformation spreading online during the presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden. 
 
Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-elections-2020-why-poll-watcher-complaints-dont-amount-to-fraud-343250">US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud</a>

"I'm not a big fan of Facebook," Pelosi told journalists.

"I don't know what they have been doing but I know they've been part of the problem, all along."

Since US news media projected Biden the winner over Republican incumbent Donald Trump on Saturday, the outgoing president and his supporters have been spreading claims of massive electoral fraud without evidence.

Facebook and Twitter have slapped warning messages on many recent posts by Trump and others.

Facebook and Google have also decided to maintain their bans on political advertising in the United States pending certification of the results.

However, social media companies have been accused by a wide range of voices of not doing enough and allowing false information and hate speech to spread for too long.

Many from the right-wing allege censorship when it comes to the warning messages and other actions taken by tech companies.

The incoming Biden administration will likely face questions over whether the action is needed to address the issue.

One issue being debated is a section of a law that exempts social media companies from legal action for content posted by their users apart from certain exceptions.

The top Democrat in the US Congress on Friday joined in criticism against Facebook for allowing disinformation to spread over the social media platform, saying it was "part of the problem.

The top Democrat in the US Congress on Friday joined in criticism against Facebook for allowing disinformation to spread over the social media platform, saying it was "part of the problem." Also read | Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell' Nancy Pelosi, a speaker of the House of Representatives, made the comments in response to a question about efforts being made by tech giants against disinformation spreading online during the presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden. Also read | US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud "I'm not a big fan of Facebook," Pelosi told journalists. "I don't know what they have been doing but I know they've been part of the problem, all along." Since US news media projected Biden the winner over Republican incumbent Donald Trump on Saturday, the outgoing president and his supporters have been spreading claims of massive electoral fraud without evidence. Facebook and Twitter have slapped warning messages on many recent posts by Trump and others. Facebook and Google have also decided to maintain their bans on political advertising in the United States pending certification of the results. However, social media companies have been accused by a wide range of voices of not doing enough and allowing false information and hate speech to spread for too long. Many from the right-wing allege censorship when it comes to the warning messages and other actions taken by tech companies. The incoming Biden administration will likely face questions over whether the action is needed to address the issue. One issue being debated is a section of a law that exempts social media companies from legal action for content posted by their users apart from certain exceptions.

Facebook part of the problem: Nancy Pelosi over misinformation spread during US elections 

Donald Trump lost the election. He knows it. But he won’t admit it.

He still hopes and believes that there is a way for the courts to erase enough votes to tip the election in his favor. This will not happen.

His legal challenges in swing states across the country are largely being met with defeat and setback. In court, you have to provide evidence. Lies, accusations and conspiracy theory don’t cut it. Trump has spent his life gaming the system. It is unfathomable to him that this system can’t be gamed.

In the end, Trump hopes to push his case to the Supreme Court, where he has seated three conservative justices. That is also not likely to be a winning strategy.

Trump believes he can use the judiciary as a weapon against the American people. The judiciary is not likely to allow itself to be used.

Barring that, he is committed to destroying faith in the electoral process itself. If he didn’t win, he insists he must have been cheated because, in his mind, failure is not a possibility.

Like he has done for the entirety of his presidency, he is lying, concocting a narrative detached from reality.

His Twitter feed since the election — he has made precious few appearances or official statements during this time — has been an unprecedented attack on election integrity and the voting franchise as a whole.

He keeps complaining that the election was rigged, that it was stolen from him, that computer software switched millions of votes from him to Joe Biden.

On Sunday, in reference to Biden, he tweeted: “He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!”

But Trump has gone further, appearing to attack the voters who cast their ballots for Biden. He retweeted a post by a Richmond, Virginia, television station that read: “Virginia Wesleyan University business professor and dean Paul Ewell wrote that anyone who chose Biden for president is ‘ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian.’ ” To that tweet, Trump appended, “Progress!”

Trump will no longer be president on Jan. 20. That is a hard fact, an unmovable date. Biden will be sworn in and will become the president.

But Trump is not going to allow this transition to be smooth. He rose in spectacle and he will flame out in it. We should put nothing beyond him. He will do everything he can do not to assume the posture of the defeated. He will do everything to secure a future for himself and his family that is comfortable and secure. He will do everything with the last bits of power from his presidency.

His attack on the election system is doing damage to our democracy. So is his refusal to concede. So is his sulking. But, of course, Trump doesn’t care about our democracy. He doesn’t care about democracy, period. He cares about money and power. He cares about managing the mob. He cares about adoration.

But the problem here is bigger than Trump. Republicans in Congress are indulging Trump’s delusion, which has the effect of granting his derangement credence in the eyes of his loyal followers.

Trump became president in part because the Russians interfered with our election to help him in 2016. That was a fact. Trump repeatedly called the investigation into that interference a hoax. Election officials have deemed this election “the most secure in American history.” That is a fact. Trump keeps claiming it was wracked with corruption.

Trump is depressingly predictable: constantly lying and denying, constructing a world in which he is the winner and hero.

We know why Trump does what he does. He is depraved. Republicans in Congress, by going along with this nonsense, are proving once again that they are so cowardly and craven that they will join Trump in his depravity.

They underscore that the Republican Party is a thing that now exists in name only. This is Trump’s party, bought and paid for.

In other years, the rising stars of the party would emerge in this period offering a post-loss vision for an alteration that would ensure victory the next time out. Not this year. They are all too afraid to tell the loser that he lost.

And, if Trump declares soon that he will run again in 2024, as some have speculated, it will further cow other 2024 contenders. Any suggestion that they would run would put them immediately in a fight with the man who just received a record number of Republican votes.

After Republicans lost in 2012, they produced an autopsy report designed to grow the party. With Trump, they threw that out and doubled down on being the party of white grievance. This year’s election and Trump’s reaction to it is not likely to produce an autopsy but induce a séance.

The Republican Party is dead. Trump killed it. MAGA is dancing on the grave. The way to remember that party is in spirit.

Donald Trump lost the election. He knows it. But he won’t admit it. He still hopes and believes that there is a way for the courts to erase enough votes to tip the election in his favor.

Donald Trump lost the election. He knows it. But he won’t admit it. He still hopes and believes that there is a way for the courts to erase enough votes to tip the election in his favor. This will not happen. His legal challenges in swing states across the country are largely being met with defeat and setback. In court, you have to provide evidence. Lies, accusations and conspiracy theory don’t cut it. Trump has spent his life gaming the system. It is unfathomable to him that this system can’t be gamed. In the end, Trump hopes to push his case to the Supreme Court, where he has seated three conservative justices. That is also not likely to be a winning strategy. Trump believes he can use the judiciary as a weapon against the American people. The judiciary is not likely to allow itself to be used. Barring that, he is committed to destroying faith in the electoral process itself. If he didn’t win, he insists he must have been cheated because, in his mind, failure is not a possibility. Like he has done for the entirety of his presidency, he is lying, concocting a narrative detached from reality. His Twitter feed since the election — he has made precious few appearances or official statements during this time — has been an unprecedented attack on election integrity and the voting franchise as a whole. He keeps complaining that the election was rigged, that it was stolen from him, that computer software switched millions of votes from him to Joe Biden. On Sunday, in reference to Biden, he tweeted: “He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!” But Trump has gone further, appearing to attack the voters who cast their ballots for Biden. He retweeted a post by a Richmond, Virginia, television station that read: “Virginia Wesleyan University business professor and dean Paul Ewell wrote that anyone who chose Biden for president is ‘ignorant, anti-American and anti-Christian.’ ” To that tweet, Trump appended, “Progress!” Trump will no longer be president on Jan. 20. That is a hard fact, an unmovable date. Biden will be sworn in and will become the president. But Trump is not going to allow this transition to be smooth. He rose in spectacle and he will flame out in it. We should put nothing beyond him. He will do everything he can do not to assume the posture of the defeated. He will do everything to secure a future for himself and his family that is comfortable and secure. He will do everything with the last bits of power from his presidency. His attack on the election system is doing damage to our democracy. So is his refusal to concede. So is his sulking. But, of course, Trump doesn’t care about our democracy. He doesn’t care about democracy, period. He cares about money and power. He cares about managing the mob. He cares about adoration. But the problem here is bigger than Trump. Republicans in Congress are indulging Trump’s delusion, which has the effect of granting his derangement credence in the eyes of his loyal followers. Trump became president in part because the Russians interfered with our election to help him in 2016. That was a fact. Trump repeatedly called the investigation into that interference a hoax. Election officials have deemed this election “the most secure in American history.” That is a fact. Trump keeps claiming it was wracked with corruption. Trump is depressingly predictable: constantly lying and denying, constructing a world in which he is the winner and hero. We know why Trump does what he does. He is depraved. Republicans in Congress, by going along with this nonsense, are proving once again that they are so cowardly and craven that they will join Trump in his depravity. They underscore that the Republican Party is a thing that now exists in name only. This is Trump’s party, bought and paid for. In other years, the rising stars of the party would emerge in this period offering a post-loss vision for an alteration that would ensure victory the next time out. Not this year. They are all too afraid to tell the loser that he lost. And, if Trump declares soon that he will run again in 2024, as some have speculated, it will further cow other 2024 contenders. Any suggestion that they would run would put them immediately in a fight with the man who just received a record number of Republican votes. After Republicans lost in 2012, they produced an autopsy report designed to grow the party. With Trump, they threw that out and doubled down on being the party of white grievance. This year’s election and Trump’s reaction to it is not likely to produce an autopsy but induce a séance. The Republican Party is dead. Trump killed it. MAGA is dancing on the grave. The way to remember that party is in spirit.

Trump, the absolute worst loser

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

Russian authorities moved quickly to cancel flights in southern Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced military action against Ukraine.

Newswire AFP reported that Ukraine was under attack from Russia and Belarus border.

Russian and Belarus had earlier taken part in large scale military exercise although Russia had said it had pulled out some troops from Belarus but satellite photos a few days ago suggested military units were still deployed in the area.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/latest-satellite-pictures-show-russian-troop-deployment-near-ukraine-455540">Also Read in Pictures:&nbsp;Latest satellite pictures show Russian troop deployment near Ukraine</a>

As loud explosions were heard across Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "a glaring violation" and a "dark day" for Europe.

The Ukrainian government-held town of Shchastya said it had fallen to Russian-backed eastern insurgents.

"Germany condemns in the strongest possible terms this unscrupulous act by President Putin. Our solidarity goes out to Ukraine and its people," the German chancellor said.

Amid the explosions, air raid sirens rang out in Ukraine's capital Kyiv as the Russian defence ministry said it will not target Ukrainian cities with missiles.

Watch:&nbsp;Russia announces military operations in Ukraine&nbsp;

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/russia-announces-military-operations-in-ukraine-as-tensions-mount-to-their-climax-455839/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

Reports said Belarusian troops had joined Russian forces to attack Ukraine.&nbsp;

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos. Russian authorities moved quickly to cancel flights in southern Russia after President Vladimir Putin announced military action against Ukraine. Newswire AFP reported that Ukraine was under attack from Russia and Belarus border. Russian and Belarus had earlier taken part in large scale military exercise although Russia had said it had pulled out some troops from Belarus but satellite photos a few days ago suggested military units were still deployed in the area. Also Read in Pictures: Latest satellite pictures show Russian troop deployment near Ukraine As loud explosions were heard across Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was "a glaring violation" and a "dark day" for Europe. The Ukrainian government-held town of Shchastya said it had fallen to Russian-backed eastern insurgents. "Germany condemns in the strongest possible terms this unscrupulous act by President Putin. Our solidarity goes out to Ukraine and its people," the German chancellor said. Amid the explosions, air raid sirens rang out in Ukraine's capital Kyiv as the Russian defence ministry said it will not target Ukrainian cities with missiles. Watch: Russia announces military operations in Ukraine Reports said Belarusian troops had joined Russian forces to attack Ukraine.

Behind Trump’s yearslong effort to turn losing into winning

President Donald Trump's legal allies have launched a flurry of lawsuits arguing that widespread fraud could have been committed because its poll watchers didn't get proper access to the voting process.

Most of those lawsuits have been dismissed over lack of evidence of election fraud.

Trump has tried to argue that there is a link between some of the complaints of partisan poll watchers and the results of the election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden.

But there has been no credible information to validate his assertions.

In fact, both state and federal officials have praised the 2020 election as safe and secure.

WHAT IS A POLL WATCHER?

A poll watcher is a partisan appointee who monitors voting or ballot counting to help ensure their party gets a fair shot.

They are not supposed to interfere in the electoral process, except to report issues to party officials or polling place authorities, and are typically required to register in advance with the local election office.

Tasked this year with monitoring a record number of mail ballots, poll watchers are designated by a political party or campaign to report any concerns they may have.

With a few reports of overly aggressive poll watchers, election officials said they were carefully balancing access with the need to minimise disruptions and social distance concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

In many places, they were ordered to stand 6 feet away.

Monitoring polling places and election offices are allowed in most states, but rules vary and there are certain limits to avoid any harassment or intimidation.

WERE TRUMP'S POLL WATCHERS DENIED ACCESS?

The Trump campaign said from the beginning that Republican poll watchers were being improperly denied access to observe the counting of ballots.

Not so, countered election officials in key battleground states, who said rules were being followed and they were committed to transparency.

In Pennsylvania, for example, state election officials said poll watchers were certified in every county.

Republican lawyers acknowledged in court that they had observers watching polls and mail-in ballots being processed.

In Michigan, a Trump campaign lawsuit included assertions from their observers that poll workers rolled their eyes when viewing votes for Trump, wore masks or clothing supporting the Black Lives Matter movement or appeared to double-count ballots.

Other lawsuits claimed poll watchers were temporarily denied access in some locations, but there has been no evidence to back it up.

Nor was there evidence of votes being miscounted out of political bias.

And most of the litigation alleging this has been dismissed.

WAS THERE ANY VOTER FRAUD IN THE 2020 ELECTION?

No, not according to multiple election officials in key states.

The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has called the voting and count the most secure in American history.

Trump's legal allies have tried to argue that if poll workers weren't on hand, anything could have happened out of their view.

But they have not provided any evidence of nefarious activity.

President Donald Trump's legal allies have launched a flurry of lawsuits arguing that widespread fraud could have been committed because its poll watchers didn't get proper access to the voting process.

President Donald Trump's legal allies have launched a flurry of lawsuits arguing that widespread fraud could have been committed because its poll watchers didn't get proper access to the voting process. Most of those lawsuits have been dismissed over lack of evidence of election fraud. Trump has tried to argue that there is a link between some of the complaints of partisan poll watchers and the results of the election, which was won by Democrat Joe Biden. But there has been no credible information to validate his assertions. In fact, both state and federal officials have praised the 2020 election as safe and secure. WHAT IS A POLL WATCHER? A poll watcher is a partisan appointee who monitors voting or ballot counting to help ensure their party gets a fair shot. They are not supposed to interfere in the electoral process, except to report issues to party officials or polling place authorities, and are typically required to register in advance with the local election office. Tasked this year with monitoring a record number of mail ballots, poll watchers are designated by a political party or campaign to report any concerns they may have. With a few reports of overly aggressive poll watchers, election officials said they were carefully balancing access with the need to minimise disruptions and social distance concerns over the coronavirus pandemic. In many places, they were ordered to stand 6 feet away. Monitoring polling places and election offices are allowed in most states, but rules vary and there are certain limits to avoid any harassment or intimidation. WERE TRUMP'S POLL WATCHERS DENIED ACCESS? The Trump campaign said from the beginning that Republican poll watchers were being improperly denied access to observe the counting of ballots. Not so, countered election officials in key battleground states, who said rules were being followed and they were committed to transparency. In Pennsylvania, for example, state election officials said poll watchers were certified in every county. Republican lawyers acknowledged in court that they had observers watching polls and mail-in ballots being processed. In Michigan, a Trump campaign lawsuit included assertions from their observers that poll workers rolled their eyes when viewing votes for Trump, wore masks or clothing supporting the Black Lives Matter movement or appeared to double-count ballots. Other lawsuits claimed poll watchers were temporarily denied access in some locations, but there has been no evidence to back it up. Nor was there evidence of votes being miscounted out of political bias. And most of the litigation alleging this has been dismissed. WAS THERE ANY VOTER FRAUD IN THE 2020 ELECTION? No, not according to multiple election officials in key states. The federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has called the voting and count the most secure in American history. Trump's legal allies have tried to argue that if poll workers weren't on hand, anything could have happened out of their view. But they have not provided any evidence of nefarious activity.

US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud

President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump </a>on Sunday said for the first time that President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden </a>won the election before retracting it, saying he was victorious only because the election was "rigged" in tweets that were again labelled by Twitter for being unverified claims.&nbsp;

"He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company," Trump tweeted first.&nbsp;

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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 &amp; bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake &amp; Silent Media, &amp; more! <a href="https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg">https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1327956491056279552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1327979630477922304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 15, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go," he later tweeted.

This is the first time Trump has said Biden won despite continuing his argument that election was rigged.

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-almost-admits-he-lost-us-election-says-time-will-tell-343056">Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'</a>

Two days ago, the Republican had said "time will tell" of who will come to power while writing on a nationwide lockdown on Twitter.

Also read | <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-elections-2020-why-poll-watcher-complaints-dont-amount-to-fraud-343250">US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud</a>

"Hopefully, the, the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," he had said.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, thousands of Trump supporters protested on Saturday, claiming of fraud in the presidential polls.

The protests also caused clashes, which led to the arrest of at least 20 people, four people for firearm violations and one for assault on a policeman, reports said.&nbsp;

Trump also made an appearance at the protests as he was on his way to play golf in his Limousine, smiling at the demonstrations from inside his car at wild cheers and signs that read: "Best prez ever" "Best prez ever" and "Trump 2020: Keep America Great."

President Donald Trump on Sunday said for the first time that President-elect Joe Biden won the election before retracting it, saying he was victorious only because the election was "rigged" in tweets that were again labelled by Twitter for being unverified claims.

President Donald Trump on Sunday said for the first time that President-elect Joe Biden won the election before retracting it, saying he was victorious only because the election was "rigged" in tweets that were again labelled by Twitter for being unverified claims. "He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company," Trump tweeted first. 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! https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020 × He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020 × "He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go," he later tweeted. This is the first time Trump has said Biden won despite continuing his argument that election was rigged. Also read | Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell' Two days ago, the Republican had said "time will tell" of who will come to power while writing on a nationwide lockdown on Twitter. Also read | US elections 2020: Why poll watcher complaints don't amount to fraud "Hopefully, the, the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," he had said. Meanwhile, on Saturday, thousands of Trump supporters protested on Saturday, claiming of fraud in the presidential polls. The protests also caused clashes, which led to the arrest of at least 20 people, four people for firearm violations and one for assault on a policeman, reports said. Trump also made an appearance at the protests as he was on his way to play golf in his Limousine, smiling at the demonstrations from inside his car at wild cheers and signs that read: "Best prez ever" "Best prez ever" and "Trump 2020: Keep America Great."

Biden 'won because...': Donald Trump retracts after acknowledging Democrat's victory for first time

Thousands of supporters of the incumbent president of the United States, Donald Trump, marched through downtown Washington on Saturday -- in coherence with his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

Trump notably has refused to accept the outcome of the recently conducted US election -- even a week after Democrat Joe Biden clinched the polls, and has launched a flurry of dubious legal challenges to overturn the results.

Election officials around the country have, however, said they saw no evidence of serious irregularities.

On Saturday, the protesters carried flags, chanted "stop the steal", and walked from Freedom Plaza near the White House to the US Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill as part of the "Million MAGA March," referring to Trump's campaign mantra of "Make American Great Again."

Trump's motorcade briefly drove through the crowds on the way to his golf course in Sterling, Virginia. Demonstrators cheered as the president, wearing a red baseball cap emblazoned with the slogan, waved from inside the presidential limousine.

Donald Tarca Jr, who travelled to Washington from West Palm Beach, Florida, held a massive US flag sporting a giant portrait of Trump.

Scores of members of the far-right Proud Boys group, mostly clad in black with some wearing helmets and ballistic vests, were among the marchers. Some left-wing groups staged small counter-demonstrations, including members of the loose movement known as antifa.

Near the Supreme Court, some counter-protesters carried black umbrellas and makeshift shields, while others formed a line of bicycles to prevent pro-Trump protesters from approaching their group from the rear.

In one of at least half a dozen scuffles and several tense standoffs in which police manned barricades between groups, several counter-protesters near Union Station attacked a Trump supporter, who fell to the ground and received medical care after suffering a cut to the head.

The city's police department had made 10 arrests by mid-afternoon, a spokeswoman told Reuters.

Biden, however, spent the morning at his beach house in Delaware meeting with transition advisors. He has largely ignored Trump's repeated claims of fraud, instead focussing on preparing to govern and fielding congratulatory calls from world leaders.

A little progress was made on Trump's part on Friday, when he began to sound doubtful about his prospects for the first time. He told reporters "time will tell" who occupies the White House starting on Inauguration Day, January 20.

Biden won 306 votes to Trump's 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the winner, according to Edison Research, far more than the 270 required to win the election. He also leads in the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6%.

The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states with little success thus far. Legal experts have said the litigation is extremely unlikely to alter the election outcome.

Thousands of supporters of the incumbent president of the United States, Donald Trump, marched through downtown Washington on Saturday -- in coherence with his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.

Thousands of supporters of the incumbent president of the United States, Donald Trump, marched through downtown Washington on Saturday -- in coherence with his unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. Trump notably has refused to accept the outcome of the recently conducted US election -- even a week after Democrat Joe Biden clinched the polls, and has launched a flurry of dubious legal challenges to overturn the results. Election officials around the country have, however, said they saw no evidence of serious irregularities. On Saturday, the protesters carried flags, chanted "stop the steal", and walked from Freedom Plaza near the White House to the US Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill as part of the "Million MAGA March," referring to Trump's campaign mantra of "Make American Great Again." Trump's motorcade briefly drove through the crowds on the way to his golf course in Sterling, Virginia. Demonstrators cheered as the president, wearing a red baseball cap emblazoned with the slogan, waved from inside the presidential limousine. Donald Tarca Jr, who travelled to Washington from West Palm Beach, Florida, held a massive US flag sporting a giant portrait of Trump. Scores of members of the far-right Proud Boys group, mostly clad in black with some wearing helmets and ballistic vests, were among the marchers. Some left-wing groups staged small counter-demonstrations, including members of the loose movement known as antifa. Near the Supreme Court, some counter-protesters carried black umbrellas and makeshift shields, while others formed a line of bicycles to prevent pro-Trump protesters from approaching their group from the rear. In one of at least half a dozen scuffles and several tense standoffs in which police manned barricades between groups, several counter-protesters near Union Station attacked a Trump supporter, who fell to the ground and received medical care after suffering a cut to the head. The city's police department had made 10 arrests by mid-afternoon, a spokeswoman told Reuters. Biden, however, spent the morning at his beach house in Delaware meeting with transition advisors. He has largely ignored Trump's repeated claims of fraud, instead focussing on preparing to govern and fielding congratulatory calls from world leaders. A little progress was made on Trump's part on Friday, when he began to sound doubtful about his prospects for the first time. He told reporters "time will tell" who occupies the White House starting on Inauguration Day, January 20. Biden won 306 votes to Trump's 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the winner, according to Edison Research, far more than the 270 required to win the election. He also leads in the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6%. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in multiple states with little success thus far. Legal experts have said the litigation is extremely unlikely to alter the election outcome.

Trump supporters protest in Washington, echo his election fraud claims

Fox News has come under criticism over a promotional video that strengthens <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump's </a>claim that the presidential election was rigged.&nbsp;

Andrew Laurence of Media Matters for America, shared the video on Twitter, in which the channel's anchors were questioning the legality of the election.&nbsp;

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Oh my god, Fox is running a promo of their "opinion" hosts casting doubt on the election results and I guess trying to keep their rabid viewers sated lmao <a href="https://t.co/Al1bfzStSZ">pic.twitter.com/Al1bfzStSZ</a>
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) <a href="https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1327406000513699840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 14, 2020</a></blockquote>
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"Oh my god, Fox is running a promo of their "opinion" hosts casting doubt on the election results and I guess trying to keep their rabid viewers sated," Laurence wrote on Twitter.&nbsp;

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-supporters-protest-in-washington-echo-his-election-fraud-claims-343197">Trump supporters protest in Washington, echo his election fraud claims</a>

In the video, anchor Tucker Carlson was heard saying: "There are apparent irregularities".&nbsp;

"The media mob, and the Democrats, they lie," said Sean Hannity, in the video.&nbsp;

Trump has refused to concede defeat to President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>, stressing that the election was rigged, but has not provided any evidence to substantiate his claims.&nbsp;

Fox News, which is known for favouring Trump and Republicans, has been facing severe slamming since it was quick to say that key battleground state of Arizona has been won by Biden like other networks.&nbsp;

"Fox News daytime ratings have completely collapsed," Trump on Thursday said in a tweet,&nbsp;

"Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was Fox News!"

Fox News has come under criticism over a promotional video that strengthens Donald Trump's claim that the presidential election was rigged. Andrew Laurence of Media Matters for America, shared the video on Twitter, in which the channel's anchors were questioning the legality of the election.

Fox News has come under criticism over a promotional video that strengthens Donald Trump's claim that the presidential election was rigged. Andrew Laurence of Media Matters for America, shared the video on Twitter, in which the channel's anchors were questioning the legality of the election. Oh my god, Fox is running a promo of their "opinion" hosts casting doubt on the election results and I guess trying to keep their rabid viewers sated lmao pic.twitter.com/Al1bfzStSZ — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) November 14, 2020 × "Oh my god, Fox is running a promo of their "opinion" hosts casting doubt on the election results and I guess trying to keep their rabid viewers sated," Laurence wrote on Twitter. Also read | Trump supporters protest in Washington, echo his election fraud claims In the video, anchor Tucker Carlson was heard saying: "There are apparent irregularities". "The media mob, and the Democrats, they lie," said Sean Hannity, in the video. Trump has refused to concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden, stressing that the election was rigged, but has not provided any evidence to substantiate his claims. Fox News, which is known for favouring Trump and Republicans, has been facing severe slamming since it was quick to say that key battleground state of Arizona has been won by Biden like other networks. "Fox News daytime ratings have completely collapsed," Trump on Thursday said in a tweet, "Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose. The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was Fox News!"

Fox News faces criticism for video supporting Trump's election rigging claim

The government in Edinburgh has been urged to order a probe into the financing of Donald Trump's business interests in Scotland.

The incumbent US president owns Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, and Turnberry, in southwest Ayrshire.

Scottish Green Party leader Patrick Harvie asked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to use the Criminal Finances Act to investigate Trump's two golf courses in the country. He apparently said there was a "need to protect Scotland's good name from association with the toxic Trump brand".

Harvie also highlighted accusations the Trump Organisation repeatedly reporting different financial details in the United States to those in the UK about his Scottish golf courses.&nbsp;

"Now that Trump is due to lose immunity from prosecution in the US, he may finally be held to account there. Is it not the case that he is also held to account here?" he said, according to AFP.

"Unexplained wealth orders -- also called "McMafia laws" -- were introduced by the UK government in 2017 as a mechanism to fight money laundering. It gives law enforcement agencies the power to seize and, if necessary, sell suspicious assets, particularly property, whose owners cannot explain how they paid for them.

Harvie's party has opposed the development of Trump's Aberdeenshire course -- and proposals to build a second nearby -- on environmental grounds.

Trump bought the 1,400 acres (567 hectares) of land in Aberdeenshire in 2006, pledging to build "the world's best golf course" and to create 6,000 jobs. His mother was from the Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. He bought the Turnberry golf resort in 2014 and also owns a course in Ireland.

In October last year Trump International Golf Club Scotland reported a loss of £1.07 million for 2018 after a £1.25 million loss in 2017. 
&nbsp;

The government in Edinburgh has been urged to order a probe into the financing of Donald Trump's business interests in Scotland. The incumbent US president owns Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, and Turnberry, in southwest Ayrshire.

The government in Edinburgh has been urged to order a probe into the financing of Donald Trump's business interests in Scotland. The incumbent US president owns Trump International Golf Links Scotland in Aberdeenshire, northeast Scotland, and Turnberry, in southwest Ayrshire. Scottish Green Party leader Patrick Harvie asked First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to use the Criminal Finances Act to investigate Trump's two golf courses in the country. He apparently said there was a "need to protect Scotland's good name from association with the toxic Trump brand". Harvie also highlighted accusations the Trump Organisation repeatedly reporting different financial details in the United States to those in the UK about his Scottish golf courses. "Now that Trump is due to lose immunity from prosecution in the US, he may finally be held to account there. Is it not the case that he is also held to account here?" he said, according to AFP. "Unexplained wealth orders -- also called "McMafia laws" -- were introduced by the UK government in 2017 as a mechanism to fight money laundering. It gives law enforcement agencies the power to seize and, if necessary, sell suspicious assets, particularly property, whose owners cannot explain how they paid for them. Harvie's party has opposed the development of Trump's Aberdeenshire course -- and proposals to build a second nearby -- on environmental grounds. Trump bought the 1,400 acres (567 hectares) of land in Aberdeenshire in 2006, pledging to build "the world's best golf course" and to create 6,000 jobs. His mother was from the Isle of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland. He bought the Turnberry golf resort in 2014 and also owns a course in Ireland. In October last year Trump International Golf Club Scotland reported a loss of £1.07 million for 2018 after a £1.25 million loss in 2017.

Scottish govt calls for probe into Trump’s golf investments

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden solidified his victory over President Donald Trump on Friday after the state of Georgia went his way, leaving Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recounts.

Edison Research, which made the call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalizing the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump.

The numbers gave Biden, a Democrat, a resounding defeat over Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes Trump, a Republican, won to defeat Hillary Clinton, a 2016 victory that Trump called a "landslide."

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.

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 challenges have failed in court.

To win a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden`s lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them. States face a Dec. 8 "safe harbor" deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on Dec. 14.

A Michigan state court rejected on Friday a request by Trump to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of Biden. [L1N2HZ23E] 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 U.S. cybersecurity agency.

Trump was set on Friday afternoon to make his first public remarks since Biden was projected as the election`s winner on Nov. 7. The White House said he would address the nation on the efforts by the government and drugmakers to develop effective treatments for the coronavirus pandemic.

TRANSITION TALK

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 on Friday, 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 President-elect 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."

Biden will be briefed by his own group of national-security experts next week, she said. He met with transition advisers again on Friday at his Delaware beach house where he is mapping out his approach to the pandemic and prepares to name his top appointees, including Cabinet members.

Trump`s refusal to accept defeat has stalled the official transition. The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognize Biden`s victory, denying him access to federal office space and resources.

Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera, a Trump confidant, said he had spoken to the president by phone on Friday and that Trump had given him the impression that he would follow the U.S. Constitution and surrender his office after every vote was counted.

"He told me he`s a realist. He told me he would do the right thing," Rivera said in an interview with Fox. "I got no impression that he was plotting the overthrow of the elected government. He just wants a fair fight."

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden solidified his victory over President Donald Trump on Friday after the state of Georgia went his way, leaving Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recounts.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden solidified his victory over President Donald Trump on Friday after the state of Georgia went his way, leaving Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recounts. Edison Research, which made the call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalizing the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump. The numbers gave Biden, a Democrat, a resounding defeat over Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes Trump, a Republican, won to defeat Hillary Clinton, a 2016 victory that Trump called a "landslide." 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. 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 challenges have failed in court. To win a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden`s lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them. States face a Dec. 8 "safe harbor" deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on Dec. 14. A Michigan state court rejected on Friday a request by Trump to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of Biden. [L1N2HZ23E] 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 U.S. cybersecurity agency. Trump was set on Friday afternoon to make his first public remarks since Biden was projected as the election`s winner on Nov. 7. The White House said he would address the nation on the efforts by the government and drugmakers to develop effective treatments for the coronavirus pandemic. TRANSITION TALK 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 on Friday, 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 President-elect 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." Biden will be briefed by his own group of national-security experts next week, she said. He met with transition advisers again on Friday at his Delaware beach house where he is mapping out his approach to the pandemic and prepares to name his top appointees, including Cabinet members. Trump`s refusal to accept defeat has stalled the official transition. The federal agency that releases funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognize Biden`s victory, denying him access to federal office space and resources. Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera, a Trump confidant, said he had spoken to the president by phone on Friday and that Trump had given him the impression that he would follow the U.S. Constitution and surrender his office after every vote was counted. "He told me he`s a realist. He told me he would do the right thing," Rivera said in an interview with Fox. "I got no impression that he was plotting the overthrow of the elected government. He just wants a fair fight."

Biden solidifies US victory over Trump, 306-232 electoral votes

US national security advisor Robert O'Brien will represent the United States at back-to-back virtual summits with Asian countries this weekend, the White House said on Friday.

O'Brien will lead the US delegation in talks with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) beginning on Friday evening US time, or Saturday morning in Asia.

"Ambassador O'Brien will reaffirm the commitment of the United States to prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific during virtual remarks," the White House said in a statement.

O'Brien will participate in a broader East Asia Summit on Sunday, when 15 Asia-Pacific economies - excluding the United States - are expected to sign a China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which could become the world's largest free trade agreement.

It will be the third year in a row that the United States has been represented in the East Asia meetings at a relatively low level, even though the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump had declared the Asia Pacific and competition with China a foreign policy priority.

Trump is preoccupied with challenging the results of last week's U.S. presidential election and has refused to concede defeat to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to take office in January.

While Trump attended the US-ASEAN summit in Manila in 2017, he has never attended a full EAS meeting. Vice-President Mike Pence represented the United States at the meetings in Singapore in 2018, while O'Brien did so in Thailand last year.

US national security advisor Robert O'Brien will represent the United States at back-to-back virtual summits with Asian countries this weekend, the White House said on Friday.

US national security advisor Robert O'Brien will represent the United States at back-to-back virtual summits with Asian countries this weekend, the White House said on Friday. O'Brien will lead the US delegation in talks with the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) beginning on Friday evening US time, or Saturday morning in Asia. "Ambassador O'Brien will reaffirm the commitment of the United States to prosperity and security in the Indo-Pacific during virtual remarks," the White House said in a statement. O'Brien will participate in a broader East Asia Summit on Sunday, when 15 Asia-Pacific economies - excluding the United States - are expected to sign a China-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which could become the world's largest free trade agreement. It will be the third year in a row that the United States has been represented in the East Asia meetings at a relatively low level, even though the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump had declared the Asia Pacific and competition with China a foreign policy priority. Trump is preoccupied with challenging the results of last week's U.S. presidential election and has refused to concede defeat to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to take office in January. While Trump attended the US-ASEAN summit in Manila in 2017, he has never attended a full EAS meeting. Vice-President Mike Pence represented the United States at the meetings in Singapore in 2018, while O'Brien did so in Thailand last year.

Trump picks NSA Robert O'Brien to represent US at Asia meetings

Many countries have expressed a change in a relationship after Joe Biden was unofficially declared the President-elect of the US. The Chilean health minister, too, said he hopes the US will not get involved in COVID-19 vaccine false trade wars under the new leadership.

Enrique Paris, Chile's health minister, said he believes Biden's leadership will allow other countries to present a more united front against the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine.

"There was a trade war in which those who could pay more got more and those who could take things out of or even rupture distribution chains did so," he said in an interview.

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Paris said he has seen one of the worst dealings of medical supplies from the side of the US. "It was horrible and I hope it doesn't happen again," Paris said. "I believe that Mr. Biden has another vision of what is diplomacy and global understanding between countries."

He hopes now that under Biden's leadership will allow for countries to present a more united front against the coronavirus pandemic. He also said he is expecting that the commercial battles by several countries will come to a halt, including in the United States, now with a change in leadership.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/us-records-more-than-150000-covid-19-cases-in-a-day-343058" hreflang="en">US records more than 150,000 COVID-19 cases in a day</a>

"We should not think of ourselves as in a zone of stability," he said. "We must not lower our guard."

Chile is worried that vaccine, such as&nbsp;Pfizer which has proved 90 per cent effective in trials, would not be provided to the Latin American states, as the countries prepare for the second wave of coronavirus.

"We proposed as ministers that there should be just one format ... a more equitable way for everyone to choose or for everyone to receive the vaccines that the WHO deems appropriate for each country," he said.

Many countries have expressed a change in a relationship after Joe Biden was unofficially declared the President-elect of the US. The Chilean health minister, too, said he hopes the US will not get involved in COVID-19 vaccine false trade wars under the new leadership.

Many countries have expressed a change in a relationship after Joe Biden was unofficially declared the President-elect of the US. The Chilean health minister, too, said he hopes the US will not get involved in COVID-19 vaccine false trade wars under the new leadership. Enrique Paris, Chile's health minister, said he believes Biden's leadership will allow other countries to present a more united front against the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine. "There was a trade war in which those who could pay more got more and those who could take things out of or even rupture distribution chains did so," he said in an interview. × Paris said he has seen one of the worst dealings of medical supplies from the side of the US. "It was horrible and I hope it doesn't happen again," Paris said. "I believe that Mr. Biden has another vision of what is diplomacy and global understanding between countries." He hopes now that under Biden's leadership will allow for countries to present a more united front against the coronavirus pandemic. He also said he is expecting that the commercial battles by several countries will come to a halt, including in the United States, now with a change in leadership. Also read| US records more than 150,000 COVID-19 cases in a day "We should not think of ourselves as in a zone of stability," he said. "We must not lower our guard." Chile is worried that vaccine, such as Pfizer which has proved 90 per cent effective in trials, would not be provided to the Latin American states, as the countries prepare for the second wave of coronavirus. "We proposed as ministers that there should be just one format ... a more equitable way for everyone to choose or for everyone to receive the vaccines that the WHO deems appropriate for each country," he said.

Chile hopes Biden's administration will not repeat COVID-19 vaccine 'trade war'

President-elect Joe Biden has won the crucial state of Georgia. This is the first time in last 28 years that a democrat has flipped a traditionally blue state. Meanwhile Donald Trump has won North Carolina.

Breaking News: US President-elect Joe Biden sweeps Georgia, Donald Trump wins North Carolina

Already bursting with pride at Kamala Harris's ancestry, India has now started digging up potential local roots for US President-elect Joe Biden.

The next leader of the United States has speculated that he might have had relatives in colonial India. While there is no proof, the Biden name has become a genealogical target of investigation across the country.&nbsp;

A plaque commemorating 19th-century British ship captain Christopher Biden has been a popular selfie spot in the eastern city of Chennai since the US election.

And a Biden family in western India says it has become "exhausted" by calls since their namesake staked his claim to the White House.

The American vote has been under the spotlight in India because Biden's running mate is the daughter of a migrant from Tamil Nadu state.

The 56-year-old Harris has made much of her Indian connections and how she likes to eat "idli with a really good sambar" -- typical food from the south.

Less attention has been paid to Biden, who has established Irish links. But he spoke of possible Indian connections on a trip to Mumbai in 2013 when he was vice president.

Biden said in a speech that he had received a letter from an Indian Biden after becoming a senator in 1972, suggesting they could be related.

"One of the first letters I received and I regret I never followed up on it," he said.

- Mumbai Bidens lie low -

The letter said their "mutual, great, great, great, something or other worked for the East India Trading Company back in the 1700s".

It sparked excitement in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, which is also home to Harris's Indian relatives.

A plaque at St George's Cathedral in Chennai that celebrates Christopher Biden, born in 1789, has suddenly become a local tourist draw.

"We've come to know the records of two Bidens -- William Biden and Christopher Biden -- who were brothers and became captains of the East India Company on merchant ships in the 19th century," the Bishop&nbsp;of Madras, Reverend J. George Stephen, told AFP.

"While William Biden died at an early age, Christopher Biden went on to captain several ships, and eventually settled down in Madras," which is now known as Chennai.

Despite the speculation, there has been no confirmation that the Biden brothers are related to the 77-year-old American.

If the president-elect does have an Indian ancestor, Christopher is considered the most likely candidate, according to experts who have studied family records.

There are also Bidens in Mumbai and Nagpur in Maharashtra state who could be descendants of Christopher, one of eight children of a John Biden who could be the common link.&nbsp;

The media attention has been overwhelming, according to the Maharashtra Bidens. Indian media has speculated that their late grandfather Leslie wrote to the US politician.

Rowena Biden, a family member in Mumbai, insisted that they were not trying to establish any relationship.

"We wish Mr. Joe Biden all the best for his new role as president of the USA but we are not trying to establish any connections or linkages," she told AFP.

"We share a last name and that's about it," she said.

"All of us are well-to-do financially and have well-settled lives so we don't need any gains -- monetary or non-monetary."

Rowena Biden said that after the first reports came out about the possible links, "people started tracking us to our house and everyone in the family had to bear the brunt of it".

The "undue limelight" had cast a shadow over "the primacy of Mr. Biden's win and our privacy as well", she said.

Already bursting with pride at Kamala Harris's ancestry, India has now started digging up potential local roots for US President-elect Joe Biden. The next leader of the United States has speculated that he might have had relatives in colonial India.

Already bursting with pride at Kamala Harris's ancestry, India has now started digging up potential local roots for US President-elect Joe Biden. The next leader of the United States has speculated that he might have had relatives in colonial India. While there is no proof, the Biden name has become a genealogical target of investigation across the country. A plaque commemorating 19th-century British ship captain Christopher Biden has been a popular selfie spot in the eastern city of Chennai since the US election. And a Biden family in western India says it has become "exhausted" by calls since their namesake staked his claim to the White House. The American vote has been under the spotlight in India because Biden's running mate is the daughter of a migrant from Tamil Nadu state. The 56-year-old Harris has made much of her Indian connections and how she likes to eat "idli with a really good sambar" -- typical food from the south. Less attention has been paid to Biden, who has established Irish links. But he spoke of possible Indian connections on a trip to Mumbai in 2013 when he was vice president. Biden said in a speech that he had received a letter from an Indian Biden after becoming a senator in 1972, suggesting they could be related. "One of the first letters I received and I regret I never followed up on it," he said. - Mumbai Bidens lie low - The letter said their "mutual, great, great, great, something or other worked for the East India Trading Company back in the 1700s". It sparked excitement in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state, which is also home to Harris's Indian relatives. A plaque at St George's Cathedral in Chennai that celebrates Christopher Biden, born in 1789, has suddenly become a local tourist draw. "We've come to know the records of two Bidens -- William Biden and Christopher Biden -- who were brothers and became captains of the East India Company on merchant ships in the 19th century," the Bishop of Madras, Reverend J. George Stephen, told AFP. "While William Biden died at an early age, Christopher Biden went on to captain several ships, and eventually settled down in Madras," which is now known as Chennai. Despite the speculation, there has been no confirmation that the Biden brothers are related to the 77-year-old American. If the president-elect does have an Indian ancestor, Christopher is considered the most likely candidate, according to experts who have studied family records. There are also Bidens in Mumbai and Nagpur in Maharashtra state who could be descendants of Christopher, one of eight children of a John Biden who could be the common link. The media attention has been overwhelming, according to the Maharashtra Bidens. Indian media has speculated that their late grandfather Leslie wrote to the US politician. Rowena Biden, a family member in Mumbai, insisted that they were not trying to establish any relationship. "We wish Mr. Joe Biden all the best for his new role as president of the USA but we are not trying to establish any connections or linkages," she told AFP. "We share a last name and that's about it," she said. "All of us are well-to-do financially and have well-settled lives so we don't need any gains -- monetary or non-monetary." Rowena Biden said that after the first reports came out about the possible links, "people started tracking us to our house and everyone in the family had to bear the brunt of it". The "undue limelight" had cast a shadow over "the primacy of Mr. Biden's win and our privacy as well", she said.

Biden's possible India links spark genealogical frenzy

This is probably the closest one can get to a concession speech when it comes to the incumbent president of the United States Donald Trump.

Trump on Friday almost admitted that he lost the November 3 vote, while discussing how the White House planned to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming months.

Of course, 'almost' is the operative word here. Because Trump has been peddling 'lies' as per US media networks and vouching he has not lost to Democratic rival Joe Biden since it was declared the latter had won.

The remarks were Trump's first since November 5, when he falsely claimed to have won and said the election was "rigged" against him.

"Ideally we won't go to a lockdown," Trump said. "I will not go. This administration will not be going to a lockdown.

"Hopefully, the, the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," Trump said.

Trump then stood by while several other speakers addressed the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 243,000 people dead in the United States.

Trump then left the event in the White House Rose Garden without responding to reporters who were shouting questions such as, "When will you admit you lost the election, sir?" &nbsp;

US networks projected on Friday that Biden won the state of Georgia, giving him 306 votes in the Electoral College that determines the White House winner. Trump finished with 232.

This is probably the closest one can get to a concession speech when it comes to the incumbent president of the United States Donald Trump. Trump on Friday almost admitted that he lost the November 3 vote, while discussing how the White House planned to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming months.

This is probably the closest one can get to a concession speech when it comes to the incumbent president of the United States Donald Trump. Trump on Friday almost admitted that he lost the November 3 vote, while discussing how the White House planned to handle the COVID-19 pandemic in the coming months. Of course, 'almost' is the operative word here. Because Trump has been peddling 'lies' as per US media networks and vouching he has not lost to Democratic rival Joe Biden since it was declared the latter had won. The remarks were Trump's first since November 5, when he falsely claimed to have won and said the election was "rigged" against him. "Ideally we won't go to a lockdown," Trump said. "I will not go. This administration will not be going to a lockdown. "Hopefully, the, the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," Trump said. Trump then stood by while several other speakers addressed the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 243,000 people dead in the United States. Trump then left the event in the White House Rose Garden without responding to reporters who were shouting questions such as, "When will you admit you lost the election, sir?" US networks projected on Friday that Biden won the state of Georgia, giving him 306 votes in the Electoral College that determines the White House winner. Trump finished with 232.

Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'

What happens to campaign merch after the votes are counted?

Most often, unsold leftovers are donated to charities, recycled, or given to staff and volunteers as keepsakes. Optimistic candidates tuck away excess inventory for possible reuse. Items already in circulation are converted overnight into memorabilia, tokens of victory or defeat. A few bumper stickers hang on to say “I told you so,” or just because they’re a pain to peel off.

Mostly, shirts and buttons languish in closets and drawers. Next stop: thrift store, then the vintage store. Finally, they’re collectible, even if only as ironic accessories. The afterlife of campaign merchandise is unusually literal, because, after Election Day, these objects experience something like death.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-almost-admits-he-lost-us-election-says-time-will-tell-343056">Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'</a>

All of this relies, though, on the campaign actually coming to an end. What if it doesn’t?

From the earliest days of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, it was clear that the red “Make America Great Again” hat was here to stay. It was an unusual item from the start, promoting a slogan rather than a logo or a name, and frequently worn by the candidate himself. On Trump, the cap perched incongruously atop a laboriously manufactured image: expensive suit, expensive tie, the face, the hair and then, suddenly, siren red.

Most campaign merchandise simply inhabits a generic garment and leaves it unchanged. This year, the Biden-Harris campaign distributed enormous numbers of signs, shirts, buttons and accessories to supporters around the country, but to the extent they’ll be remembered, it’s for what they said — “Truth Over Lies,” for instance — not the form they took.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/could-state-legislatures-pick-their-own-electors-to-vote-for-trump-not-likely-343158" hreflang="en">Could state legislatures pick their own electors to vote for Trump? Not likely</a>

The MAGA hat, in contrast, claimed a shape and a color. By 2016, red hats of any variety drew double takes. In late 2019, the Trump campaign announced it was about to sell its millionth MAGA hat, but the true count — including unauthorized Trump hats sold at rallies, in gift shops and around Washington, D.C. — is surely much higher. These hats aren’t so much souvenirs or keepsakes; they’re part of an ongoing show and continue to be produced.

On Amazon, unofficial MAGA hats are sold by the thousand by Chinese e-commerce entrepreneurs, under brands such as VPCOK (trademark of Shenzhenshi Nuobei Muying Yongpin Youxian Gongsi; top-rated Amazon review: “I’ll be wearing mine to go vote :)”) and AMASSLOVE (trademark of Shenzhen Longhua New area Yemili GarmentFactory; 1,000 reviews). These hats vary in design and text, decorated with additional flags, or with subtly different typography, but they get the point across. On Nov. 9, the AMASSLOVE hat was week’s top seller in Amazon’s “Men’s Novelty Baseball Caps” section.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/donald-trump-will-never-want-to-lose-again-like-badly-mary-trump-343149" hreflang="en">Donald Trump will never want to lose again like badly: Mary Trump</a>

Despite winning in 2016, Trump never fully accepted the results of the election, fabricating claims about voter fraud to account for his loss of the popular vote. He never stopped campaigning, either. On the president’s head, the MAGA hat worked to bridge two images: Trump, the candidate, and Trump, the president.

Perched atop the actual head of government, the MAGA hat took on new meaning. It was still a way to express support of the president, his policies and his orientation toward the world, but its power to provoke grew alongside the power of its best-known wearer.

The MAGA hat, of course, was never so simple as a way to express a voting preference — it was embroidered with a historically freighted phrase and understood to suggest that America, under attack by external and internal enemies, had to be taken back from them.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-almost-admits-he-lost-us-election-says-time-will-tell-343056">Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'</a>

In January 2019, Robin Givhan of The Washington Post described the hat’s evolution as a symbol. “In the beginning, the MAGA hat had multiple meanings and nuance,” she wrote. “But the definition has evolved. The rosy nostalgia has turned specious and rank.”

“The MAGA hat speaks to America’s greatness with lies of omission and contortion,” she continued. “To wear a MAGA hat is to wrap oneself in a Confederate flag.” Charles Blow, an opinion columnist at The Times, wrote that what was once Trump merch had become a visual stand-in for “Trumpism” — “a new iconography of white supremacy, white nationalist defiance and white cultural defense.”

Their analysis was dismissed by many of the president’s supporters as yet another slander — as an attempt to smear people who supported the president as neo-Confederates, when, in overwhelming numbers, they were just voting along party lines. Christine Rosen, of Commentary, characterized their columns as an “effort to demonize their opponents by casting Trump supporters as ‘the other.’”

Even granting that criticism, and setting aside insinuations about ideological overlap, months later, in a fresh political context, the comparisons made by Givhan and Blow still pose precisely the right questions about what happens to political symbols after defeat.

If particulars of the future of the MAGA hat are in doubt, that it has a future is all but assured. With the president’s refusal to acknowledge losing the election, expressions of support are now bound up with his denial, defiance and insistence that he has been wronged.

In 2015, the MAGA slogan was defended as a broad expression of yearning for a nonspecific past; after 2016, the particulars of that yearning became much harder to deny. In 2021, a MAGA hat, true to its slogan, might still refer to a desire for restoration, only not of the vague “good old days” generations in the past, but of the four years immediately behind it. There are hints of the MAGA hat’s future abroad, already, as loosely connected right wing movements around the world have adopted it, or versions of it, understanding, correctly, that its slogan was never merely literal.

The MAGA hat of the future would be a symbol of a lost cause; a hope, or a threat, that a movement might rise again; and, finally, an expression of an ideology that sees any government but one run by its own as illegitimate but that would be defended, however implausibly, as a mere expression of support for fairness and security in elections.

Had there never been a MAGA hat, it would be hard to come up with an item better suited to the needs of the president and his most ardent supporters, tomorrow and in the years after, slogan and all. It’s merchandise turned symbol of state now ready to fulfill its ultimate destiny as a commercial product. A president who never concedes, even if he steps aside, is telling a story that leaves open a comforting option for the millions of people with MAGA hats at home: to keep wearing them.

What happens to campaign merch after the votes are counted? Most often, unsold leftovers are donated to charities, recycled, or given to staff and volunteers as keepsakes.

What happens to campaign merch after the votes are counted? Most often, unsold leftovers are donated to charities, recycled, or given to staff and volunteers as keepsakes. Optimistic candidates tuck away excess inventory for possible reuse. Items already in circulation are converted overnight into memorabilia, tokens of victory or defeat. A few bumper stickers hang on to say “I told you so,” or just because they’re a pain to peel off. Mostly, shirts and buttons languish in closets and drawers. Next stop: thrift store, then the vintage store. Finally, they’re collectible, even if only as ironic accessories. The afterlife of campaign merchandise is unusually literal, because, after Election Day, these objects experience something like death. Also read| Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell' All of this relies, though, on the campaign actually coming to an end. What if it doesn’t? From the earliest days of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, it was clear that the red “Make America Great Again” hat was here to stay. It was an unusual item from the start, promoting a slogan rather than a logo or a name, and frequently worn by the candidate himself. On Trump, the cap perched incongruously atop a laboriously manufactured image: expensive suit, expensive tie, the face, the hair and then, suddenly, siren red. Most campaign merchandise simply inhabits a generic garment and leaves it unchanged. This year, the Biden-Harris campaign distributed enormous numbers of signs, shirts, buttons and accessories to supporters around the country, but to the extent they’ll be remembered, it’s for what they said — “Truth Over Lies,” for instance — not the form they took. Also read| Could state legislatures pick their own electors to vote for Trump? Not likely The MAGA hat, in contrast, claimed a shape and a color. By 2016, red hats of any variety drew double takes. In late 2019, the Trump campaign announced it was about to sell its millionth MAGA hat, but the true count — including unauthorized Trump hats sold at rallies, in gift shops and around Washington, D.C. — is surely much higher. These hats aren’t so much souvenirs or keepsakes; they’re part of an ongoing show and continue to be produced. On Amazon, unofficial MAGA hats are sold by the thousand by Chinese e-commerce entrepreneurs, under brands such as VPCOK (trademark of Shenzhenshi Nuobei Muying Yongpin Youxian Gongsi; top-rated Amazon review: “I’ll be wearing mine to go vote :)”) and AMASSLOVE (trademark of Shenzhen Longhua New area Yemili GarmentFactory; 1,000 reviews). These hats vary in design and text, decorated with additional flags, or with subtly different typography, but they get the point across. On Nov. 9, the AMASSLOVE hat was week’s top seller in Amazon’s “Men’s Novelty Baseball Caps” section. Also read| Donald Trump will never want to lose again like badly: Mary Trump Despite winning in 2016, Trump never fully accepted the results of the election, fabricating claims about voter fraud to account for his loss of the popular vote. He never stopped campaigning, either. On the president’s head, the MAGA hat worked to bridge two images: Trump, the candidate, and Trump, the president. Perched atop the actual head of government, the MAGA hat took on new meaning. It was still a way to express support of the president, his policies and his orientation toward the world, but its power to provoke grew alongside the power of its best-known wearer. The MAGA hat, of course, was never so simple as a way to express a voting preference — it was embroidered with a historically freighted phrase and understood to suggest that America, under attack by external and internal enemies, had to be taken back from them. Also read| Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell' In January 2019, Robin Givhan of The Washington Post described the hat’s evolution as a symbol. “In the beginning, the MAGA hat had multiple meanings and nuance,” she wrote. “But the definition has evolved. The rosy nostalgia has turned specious and rank.” “The MAGA hat speaks to America’s greatness with lies of omission and contortion,” she continued. “To wear a MAGA hat is to wrap oneself in a Confederate flag.” Charles Blow, an opinion columnist at The Times, wrote that what was once Trump merch had become a visual stand-in for “Trumpism” — “a new iconography of white supremacy, white nationalist defiance and white cultural defense.” Their analysis was dismissed by many of the president’s supporters as yet another slander — as an attempt to smear people who supported the president as neo-Confederates, when, in overwhelming numbers, they were just voting along party lines. Christine Rosen, of Commentary, characterized their columns as an “effort to demonize their opponents by casting Trump supporters as ‘the other.’” Even granting that criticism, and setting aside insinuations about ideological overlap, months later, in a fresh political context, the comparisons made by Givhan and Blow still pose precisely the right questions about what happens to political symbols after defeat. If particulars of the future of the MAGA hat are in doubt, that it has a future is all but assured. With the president’s refusal to acknowledge losing the election, expressions of support are now bound up with his denial, defiance and insistence that he has been wronged. In 2015, the MAGA slogan was defended as a broad expression of yearning for a nonspecific past; after 2016, the particulars of that yearning became much harder to deny. In 2021, a MAGA hat, true to its slogan, might still refer to a desire for restoration, only not of the vague “good old days” generations in the past, but of the four years immediately behind it. There are hints of the MAGA hat’s future abroad, already, as loosely connected right wing movements around the world have adopted it, or versions of it, understanding, correctly, that its slogan was never merely literal. The MAGA hat of the future would be a symbol of a lost cause; a hope, or a threat, that a movement might rise again; and, finally, an expression of an ideology that sees any government but one run by its own as illegitimate but that would be defended, however implausibly, as a mere expression of support for fairness and security in elections. Had there never been a MAGA hat, it would be hard to come up with an item better suited to the needs of the president and his most ardent supporters, tomorrow and in the years after, slogan and all. It’s merchandise turned symbol of state now ready to fulfill its ultimate destiny as a commercial product. A president who never concedes, even if he steps aside, is telling a story that leaves open a comforting option for the millions of people with MAGA hats at home: to keep wearing them.

What does the MAGA hat mean now?

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Paris on Saturday at the start of a seven-country tour of Europe and the Middle East.

Notably, all nations on his schedule have congratulated Joe Biden for his victory in the recently-conducted US presidential race.

The tour is aimed at shoring up the priorities of the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump. It will include visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that have been avoided by previous secretaries of state.

Trump has so far not conceded defeat in the American election.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted on Friday: "For the moment, my counterpart is Mike Pompeo, until January 20. He's coming to Paris. I receive him."

The meeting will take place on Monday, Le Drian said, suggesting that Pompeo also will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The French president, who spoke with Biden four days ago to offer congratulations, has had a tense relationship with Trump.

Trump recently pulled out of the Paris global climate accord.

After France, Pompeo will visit Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Paris on Saturday at the start of a seven-country tour of Europe and the Middle East. Notably, all nations on his schedule have congratulated Joe Biden for his victory in the recently-conducted US presidential race.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo landed in Paris on Saturday at the start of a seven-country tour of Europe and the Middle East. Notably, all nations on his schedule have congratulated Joe Biden for his victory in the recently-conducted US presidential race. The tour is aimed at shoring up the priorities of the outgoing administration of President Donald Trump. It will include visits to Israeli settlements in the West Bank that have been avoided by previous secretaries of state. Trump has so far not conceded defeat in the American election. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted on Friday: "For the moment, my counterpart is Mike Pompeo, until January 20. He's coming to Paris. I receive him." The meeting will take place on Monday, Le Drian said, suggesting that Pompeo also will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron. The French president, who spoke with Biden four days ago to offer congratulations, has had a tense relationship with Trump. Trump recently pulled out of the Paris global climate accord. After France, Pompeo will visit Turkey, Georgia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

US top diplomat Mike Pompeo lands in France on seven-nation tour

President Donald Trump’s last-ditch efforts to reverse the election seem to come down to a far-fetched scenario, one in which Republican-led state legislatures choose the members of the Electoral College, overturning the will of voters.

Could it work? Election law experts are highly skeptical. And leaders of the Republican majorities in legislatures in key states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, told The New York Times this week through their offices that they saw no role for themselves in picking electors.

That has not stopped some high-profile supporters of the president, including talk radio host Mark Levin and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, from suggesting that Republican-led legislatures should consider ignoring the popular vote in close-fought states won by President-elect Joe Biden and handing their electoral votes to Trump.

This political gambit, to the degree that it’s an organized strategy at all, has a theoretical basis in law, according to experts. But if it were to proceed, it could cause widespread outrage and be seen as an attempt to subvert the democratic process.

Benjamin Ginsberg, until recently one of the Republican Party’s top elections lawyers, called the strategy an act of desperation, one that many Republican lawmakers would not buy into. “The most partisan Trump legislators might, but I believe enough would rebel at hijacking their constituents’ votes that such actions would fail,” he said.

Here’s how such a scheme would theoretically play out. The Constitution gives state legislatures the power to determine the “manner” in which electors are appointed to the Electoral College, the body of 538 people who formally choose the president. Every state has already done that, by specifying in its laws that the winner of the statewide popular vote is entitled to the state’s presidential electors (Maine and Nebraska apportion some electors by congressional district).

The Electoral Count Act, a 19th-century law, sets up the mechanism for how that takes place. It directs governors to certify both the election results and a slate of presidential electors to represent the will of the people. In general practice, governors certify electors chosen by the party of the presidential candidate who won their state.

The Electoral Count Act also says that in the event of “failed elections,” in which voters have not made a choice for president, state legislatures are empowered to step in and appoint electors. The 1876 law is ambiguous about what constitutes a “failed” election. But the law does contain a deadline for states to certify elections: the “safe harbor” date, which this year is Dec. 8. Electors chosen before that date cannot be challenged by Congress.

A flurry of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign, most of which have been defeated in court, appear aimed at slowing down states’ certification timelines and possibly providing a pretext to declare a “failed” election.

At the same time, election law experts said none of the lawsuits presented evidence of widespread fraud that could reverse Trump’s deficits. With Arizona and Georgia added to Biden’s column this week, he has comfortably won the election with 306 projected electoral votes, 36 more than needed for a majority.

Bob Bauer, a leading Democratic elections lawyer and senior adviser to the Biden campaign, dismissed the notion of legislatures picking electors. “When all is said and done, you can’t stop the process from coming to the inevitable conclusion,” he said.

The idea of legislatures intervening for Trump gained currency in the days after Election Day, following months of Trump’s raging that the election would be “rigged,” a baseless accusation, although one embraced by many of his supporters.

On Nov. 5, as Pennsylvania’s gradual counting of mail-in ballots eroded Trump’s edge in the votes cast on Election Day, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity suggested the results should be invalidated. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a staunch Trump supporter, responded, “I think everything should be on the table.”

Earlier that day, Levin, the conservative radio host, had urged Republican state lawmakers to “get ready to do your constitutional duty,” writing in all capital letters on Twitter.

He was retweeted by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. And DeSantis, the Florida governor, urged voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania, both with Republican-majority legislatures, to call lawmakers, who have it in their power to “provide remedies,” he said on Fox News.

Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, a Democrat, told reporters this week that it appeared the Trump lawsuits were aimed at stopping county and state boards from certifying the election so that the Legislature could send “a faithless slate of electors” to support Trump.

A spokesperson for Michigan’s Senate majority leader said that state law does not allow the Legislature to directly select electors or to award electors to anyone besides the winner of the popular vote. Biden won the state by nearly 150,000 votes.

In Pennsylvania, where Biden’s winning margin is currently more than 58,000 votes and the Trump campaign is in court asking for a delay in certifying the results, Republican leaders of the state Senate and House of Representatives said before Election Day that the General Assembly would have no role in choosing electors.

Pressed on the issue last week during a telephone news conference, Jake Corman, the Senate majority leader, said that “under normal circumstances,” the Legislature would have no role.

“Well, under any circumstances?” Corman was asked. He reiterated that Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, appoints electors, not lawmakers.

At the same time, Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly moved to conduct a review of the election and asked the governor to delay certification of the results, which is unlikely.

In North Carolina, which news organizations said Trump had won Friday, spokespeople for the Republican leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly said lawmakers would have no role in choosing electors. “State law outlines a legal process that has the political parties designate electors to be appointed by the governor,” said Patrick Ryan, a spokesperson for Phil Berger, the state Senate’s president pro tem. “We anticipate that process will be followed this year just as it has in the past.”

In Arizona, Mike Philipsen, a spokesperson for the Senate’s Republican leadership, citing an internal legal memo, said, “The Legislature cannot change the 2020 election results through changing the statutory selection process for presidential electors.” Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.

And in Georgia, where officials agreed to a Trump campaign demand that they recount more than 4.9 million votes — an effort that most likely will cost taxpayers in the millions of dollars — officials showed no inclination to appease the Trump forces by disrupting the Electoral College system. Biden’s lead in Georgia is more than 14,000 votes, which news outlets deemed sufficient for victory Friday.

An unusual joint statement Tuesday by Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston — all Republicans — declined calls for a special legislative session on election issues.

“Any changes to Georgia’s election laws made in a special session will not have any impact on an ongoing election and would only result in endless litigation,” the statement said.

The Georgia General Assembly is not scheduled to convene until Jan. 11 — well after the electors meet in state capitols around the country to formally vote for president Dec. 14.

President Donald Trump’s last-ditch efforts to reverse the election seem to come down to a far-fetched scenario, one in which Republican-led state legislatures choose the members of the Electoral College, overturning the will of voters.

President Donald Trump’s last-ditch efforts to reverse the election seem to come down to a far-fetched scenario, one in which Republican-led state legislatures choose the members of the Electoral College, overturning the will of voters. Could it work? Election law experts are highly skeptical. And leaders of the Republican majorities in legislatures in key states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona and Georgia, told The New York Times this week through their offices that they saw no role for themselves in picking electors. That has not stopped some high-profile supporters of the president, including talk radio host Mark Levin and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, from suggesting that Republican-led legislatures should consider ignoring the popular vote in close-fought states won by President-elect Joe Biden and handing their electoral votes to Trump. This political gambit, to the degree that it’s an organized strategy at all, has a theoretical basis in law, according to experts. But if it were to proceed, it could cause widespread outrage and be seen as an attempt to subvert the democratic process. Benjamin Ginsberg, until recently one of the Republican Party’s top elections lawyers, called the strategy an act of desperation, one that many Republican lawmakers would not buy into. “The most partisan Trump legislators might, but I believe enough would rebel at hijacking their constituents’ votes that such actions would fail,” he said. Here’s how such a scheme would theoretically play out. The Constitution gives state legislatures the power to determine the “manner” in which electors are appointed to the Electoral College, the body of 538 people who formally choose the president. Every state has already done that, by specifying in its laws that the winner of the statewide popular vote is entitled to the state’s presidential electors (Maine and Nebraska apportion some electors by congressional district). The Electoral Count Act, a 19th-century law, sets up the mechanism for how that takes place. It directs governors to certify both the election results and a slate of presidential electors to represent the will of the people. In general practice, governors certify electors chosen by the party of the presidential candidate who won their state. The Electoral Count Act also says that in the event of “failed elections,” in which voters have not made a choice for president, state legislatures are empowered to step in and appoint electors. The 1876 law is ambiguous about what constitutes a “failed” election. But the law does contain a deadline for states to certify elections: the “safe harbor” date, which this year is Dec. 8. Electors chosen before that date cannot be challenged by Congress. A flurry of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign, most of which have been defeated in court, appear aimed at slowing down states’ certification timelines and possibly providing a pretext to declare a “failed” election. At the same time, election law experts said none of the lawsuits presented evidence of widespread fraud that could reverse Trump’s deficits. With Arizona and Georgia added to Biden’s column this week, he has comfortably won the election with 306 projected electoral votes, 36 more than needed for a majority. Bob Bauer, a leading Democratic elections lawyer and senior adviser to the Biden campaign, dismissed the notion of legislatures picking electors. “When all is said and done, you can’t stop the process from coming to the inevitable conclusion,” he said. The idea of legislatures intervening for Trump gained currency in the days after Election Day, following months of Trump’s raging that the election would be “rigged,” a baseless accusation, although one embraced by many of his supporters. On Nov. 5, as Pennsylvania’s gradual counting of mail-in ballots eroded Trump’s edge in the votes cast on Election Day, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity suggested the results should be invalidated. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a staunch Trump supporter, responded, “I think everything should be on the table.” Earlier that day, Levin, the conservative radio host, had urged Republican state lawmakers to “get ready to do your constitutional duty,” writing in all capital letters on Twitter. He was retweeted by the president’s son Donald Trump Jr. And DeSantis, the Florida governor, urged voters in Michigan and Pennsylvania, both with Republican-majority legislatures, to call lawmakers, who have it in their power to “provide remedies,” he said on Fox News. Michigan’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, a Democrat, told reporters this week that it appeared the Trump lawsuits were aimed at stopping county and state boards from certifying the election so that the Legislature could send “a faithless slate of electors” to support Trump. A spokesperson for Michigan’s Senate majority leader said that state law does not allow the Legislature to directly select electors or to award electors to anyone besides the winner of the popular vote. Biden won the state by nearly 150,000 votes. In Pennsylvania, where Biden’s winning margin is currently more than 58,000 votes and the Trump campaign is in court asking for a delay in certifying the results, Republican leaders of the state Senate and House of Representatives said before Election Day that the General Assembly would have no role in choosing electors. Pressed on the issue last week during a telephone news conference, Jake Corman, the Senate majority leader, said that “under normal circumstances,” the Legislature would have no role. “Well, under any circumstances?” Corman was asked. He reiterated that Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, appoints electors, not lawmakers. At the same time, Republicans in the Pennsylvania General Assembly moved to conduct a review of the election and asked the governor to delay certification of the results, which is unlikely. In North Carolina, which news organizations said Trump had won Friday, spokespeople for the Republican leaders of both chambers of the General Assembly said lawmakers would have no role in choosing electors. “State law outlines a legal process that has the political parties designate electors to be appointed by the governor,” said Patrick Ryan, a spokesperson for Phil Berger, the state Senate’s president pro tem. “We anticipate that process will be followed this year just as it has in the past.” In Arizona, Mike Philipsen, a spokesperson for the Senate’s Republican leadership, citing an internal legal memo, said, “The Legislature cannot change the 2020 election results through changing the statutory selection process for presidential electors.” Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes. And in Georgia, where officials agreed to a Trump campaign demand that they recount more than 4.9 million votes — an effort that most likely will cost taxpayers in the millions of dollars — officials showed no inclination to appease the Trump forces by disrupting the Electoral College system. Biden’s lead in Georgia is more than 14,000 votes, which news outlets deemed sufficient for victory Friday. An unusual joint statement Tuesday by Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and House Speaker David Ralston — all Republicans — declined calls for a special legislative session on election issues. “Any changes to Georgia’s election laws made in a special session will not have any impact on an ongoing election and would only result in endless litigation,” the statement said. The Georgia General Assembly is not scheduled to convene until Jan. 11 — well after the electors meet in state capitols around the country to formally vote for president Dec. 14.

Could state legislatures pick their own electors to vote for Trump? Not likely

WASHINGTON — Career Justice Department prosecutors pushed back this week against a memo by Attorney General William Barr that opened the door to politically charged election fraud investigations, saying in a pair of messages that Barr thrust the department into politics and falsely overstated the threat of voter fraud.

The protests were the latest rebuke of Barr by his own employees, who have in recent months begun criticizing his leadership both privately and publicly. They argued that Barr has worked to advance President Donald Trump’s interests by wielding the power of the department to shield his allies and attack his enemies.

On Friday, 16 federal prosecutors across the country who were assigned to monitor elections for signs of fraud wrote to Barr that they had found no evidence of “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities.” They asked him to rescind the memo, saying it thrust the department into partisan politics and was unnecessary because no one has identified any legitimate suspicions of mass voter fraud.

The memo “is not based in fact,” the monitors wrote.

Issued Monday amid the president’s efforts to falsely claim widespread voter fraud, the memo allows prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of fraud before the results of the presidential race are certified, disregarding department policies intended to keep law enforcement investigations from affecting the outcome of an election.

“It was developed and announced without consulting nonpartisan career professionals in the field and at the department,” the prosecutors wrote of the memo. “The timing of the memorandum’s release thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics.” The Washington Post earlier reported their letter.

On Thursday, a top career prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said in an email sent to Barr via Richard P. Donoghue, an official in the deputy attorney general’s office, that the memo should be rescinded because it went against long-standing practices, according to two people with knowledge of the email.

The prosecutor, J.P. Cooney, also said that the fact Richard Pilger, a longtime department employee who oversees election fraud crimes, chose to step down over the memo was deeply concerning, the people said.

In response, Donoghue told Cooney that he would pass on his complaint but that if it leaked to reporters, he would note that as well. Given that the email was born out of a concern for integrity, Donoghue said in his reply that he would assure officials “that I have a high degree of confidence that it will not be improperly leaked to the media.”

A department spokeswoman declined to comment about Cooney’s message. Asked about the prosecutors’ letter to Barr, she said that his memo directed prosecutors to “exercise appropriate caution and maintain the department’s absolute commitment to fairness, neutrality and nonpartisanship.”

Others inside the department pointed out that Barr’s memo was carefully worded and contained caveats that made it unlikely that a prosecutor could meet the threshold to open a case and begin investigating.

“Specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries,” Barr wrote. “Nothing here should be taken as any indication that the department has concluded that voting irregularities have impacted the outcome of any election.”

Department lawyers often engage in heated debates over policies, investigations and prosecutions, but they rarely put their criticisms in writing and then send them to top officials.

But Barr’s memo churned up rancor among prosecutors who work on election fraud, in large part because Trump was making false claims about widespread voter fraud. Even the specter of such an investigation into votes for the presidential race could shade the integrity of the election.

Pilger, the prosecutor who oversees election fraud at the department’s headquarters in Washington, stepped down from his supervisory role in protest a few hours after it was issued; and other lawyers affected by the memo began to devise plans for how to push back on Barr’s authorization and what to do should a U.S. attorney announce an election-related investigation, according to three people with knowledge of these discussions.

Even as the department’s officials and career prosecutors argued about the memo, Trump’s legal cases related to the election began to unravel on Friday. A state judge in Michigan rejected an attempt by Republicans to halt the certification of the vote in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, pending an audit. And lawyers for Trump withdrew election-related lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

WASHINGTON — Career Justice Department prosecutors pushed back this week against a memo by Attorney General William Barr that opened the door to politically charged election fraud investigations, saying in a pair of messages that Barr thrust the department into politics and falsely overstated the threat of voter fraud.

WASHINGTON — Career Justice Department prosecutors pushed back this week against a memo by Attorney General William Barr that opened the door to politically charged election fraud investigations, saying in a pair of messages that Barr thrust the department into politics and falsely overstated the threat of voter fraud. The protests were the latest rebuke of Barr by his own employees, who have in recent months begun criticizing his leadership both privately and publicly. They argued that Barr has worked to advance President Donald Trump’s interests by wielding the power of the department to shield his allies and attack his enemies. On Friday, 16 federal prosecutors across the country who were assigned to monitor elections for signs of fraud wrote to Barr that they had found no evidence of “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities.” They asked him to rescind the memo, saying it thrust the department into partisan politics and was unnecessary because no one has identified any legitimate suspicions of mass voter fraud. The memo “is not based in fact,” the monitors wrote. Issued Monday amid the president’s efforts to falsely claim widespread voter fraud, the memo allows prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of fraud before the results of the presidential race are certified, disregarding department policies intended to keep law enforcement investigations from affecting the outcome of an election. “It was developed and announced without consulting nonpartisan career professionals in the field and at the department,” the prosecutors wrote of the memo. “The timing of the memorandum’s release thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics.” The Washington Post earlier reported their letter. On Thursday, a top career prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said in an email sent to Barr via Richard P. Donoghue, an official in the deputy attorney general’s office, that the memo should be rescinded because it went against long-standing practices, according to two people with knowledge of the email. The prosecutor, J.P. Cooney, also said that the fact Richard Pilger, a longtime department employee who oversees election fraud crimes, chose to step down over the memo was deeply concerning, the people said. In response, Donoghue told Cooney that he would pass on his complaint but that if it leaked to reporters, he would note that as well. Given that the email was born out of a concern for integrity, Donoghue said in his reply that he would assure officials “that I have a high degree of confidence that it will not be improperly leaked to the media.” A department spokeswoman declined to comment about Cooney’s message. Asked about the prosecutors’ letter to Barr, she said that his memo directed prosecutors to “exercise appropriate caution and maintain the department’s absolute commitment to fairness, neutrality and nonpartisanship.” Others inside the department pointed out that Barr’s memo was carefully worded and contained caveats that made it unlikely that a prosecutor could meet the threshold to open a case and begin investigating. “Specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries,” Barr wrote. “Nothing here should be taken as any indication that the department has concluded that voting irregularities have impacted the outcome of any election.” Department lawyers often engage in heated debates over policies, investigations and prosecutions, but they rarely put their criticisms in writing and then send them to top officials. But Barr’s memo churned up rancor among prosecutors who work on election fraud, in large part because Trump was making false claims about widespread voter fraud. Even the specter of such an investigation into votes for the presidential race could shade the integrity of the election. Pilger, the prosecutor who oversees election fraud at the department’s headquarters in Washington, stepped down from his supervisory role in protest a few hours after it was issued; and other lawyers affected by the memo began to devise plans for how to push back on Barr’s authorization and what to do should a U.S. attorney announce an election-related investigation, according to three people with knowledge of these discussions. Even as the department’s officials and career prosecutors argued about the memo, Trump’s legal cases related to the election began to unravel on Friday. A state judge in Michigan rejected an attempt by Republicans to halt the certification of the vote in Wayne County, which includes Detroit, pending an audit. And lawyers for Trump withdrew election-related lawsuits in Pennsylvania and Arizona.

Federal prosecutors push back on Barr memo on voter fraud claims

After almost a week of the <a href="https://www.wionews.com/us-election#">US election result</a>, as the world is congratulating the President-elect <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>,&nbsp;a few political experts, strategists and officials are hinting towards the outgoing President <a href="https://www.wionews.com/topics/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;re-running for the&nbsp;post after four years of Biden administration come to an end.

However, Trump's niece Mary Trump, claims that her uncle "will never put himself in a position where he can lose like this again."

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/trump-almost-admits-he-lost-us-election-says-time-will-tell-343056">Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell'</a>

It has been reported in various US media reports that Trump may start planning his return as the candidate for Republican party for US elections 2024, if Joe Biden is officially&nbsp;announced as the next President. The reports have been generated after the President refused to accept his defeat in the 2020 elections, alleging voter fraud and manipulation.

His niece, who rose to fame after she wrote a tell-all book on the Trump family, believes Donald Trump would never want to lose again in such a bad manner again as it would hurt his ego.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/ivanka-jared-kushners-children-withdrawn-from-school-due-to-violation-of-covid-guidelines-343128" hreflang="en">Ivanka, Jared Kushner's children withdrawn from school due to violation of Covid guidelines</a>

Talking about various reports and claims, she said these rumours were weird because that would mean Donald Trump concedes his defeat now, which the TV reality star has not agreed to yet. "I think that was floated initially as a way to appease him and his ego, but he will never put himself in a position where he can lose like this again," Mary Trump said.

She also raised the point of Trump not agreeing to be on the backbench for anyone, especially for Joe Biden. "It would mean that for four years he is playing essentially a supporting role, which will be very difficult for him to sustain," she explained.

Also read|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/scottish-govt-calls-for-probe-into-trumps-golf-investments-343107" hreflang="en">Scottish govt calls for probe into Trump’s golf investments</a>

Mary also pointed out the growing age of Donald Trump and raised the issue that in four years, Trump will be the same age as Joe Biden, whom he makes fun of by calling him "Sleepy Joe". Contradicting the claims of Trump's officials, she stated that Donald Trump will not be healthy enough to contest such an election after four years.

"Donald is a very unhealthy person — he has a terrible diet, he doesn't exercise, he has psychological disorders that continue to go untreated, so I don't even imagine that he'll even be able to run in four years," she said. "Plus the fact, of course, he may be looking at serious charges being brought against him."

Remembering the elders of the family, she explained how Donald Trump would&nbsp;be raging with anger right now for such a defeat. "In my family, at least certainly according to my grandfather, whose opinion was the only one that mattered, the worst thing you could be was a loser. Being a loser made you weak, being a loser made you unworthy, and as you said earlier, for the first time in his life, Donald is in a situation he cannot get out of," she stated.

After almost a week of the US election result, as the world is congratulating the President-elect Joe Biden, a few political experts, strategists and officials are hinting towards the outgoing President Donald Trump re-running for the post after four years of Biden administration come to an end.

After almost a week of the US election result, as the world is congratulating the President-elect Joe Biden, a few political experts, strategists and officials are hinting towards the outgoing President Donald Trump re-running for the post after four years of Biden administration come to an end. However, Trump's niece Mary Trump, claims that her uncle "will never put himself in a position where he can lose like this again." Also read| Trump almost admits he lost US election, says 'time will tell' It has been reported in various US media reports that Trump may start planning his return as the candidate for Republican party for US elections 2024, if Joe Biden is officially announced as the next President. The reports have been generated after the President refused to accept his defeat in the 2020 elections, alleging voter fraud and manipulation. His niece, who rose to fame after she wrote a tell-all book on the Trump family, believes Donald Trump would never want to lose again in such a bad manner again as it would hurt his ego. Also read| Ivanka, Jared Kushner's children withdrawn from school due to violation of Covid guidelines Talking about various reports and claims, she said these rumours were weird because that would mean Donald Trump concedes his defeat now, which the TV reality star has not agreed to yet. "I think that was floated initially as a way to appease him and his ego, but he will never put himself in a position where he can lose like this again," Mary Trump said. She also raised the point of Trump not agreeing to be on the backbench for anyone, especially for Joe Biden. "It would mean that for four years he is playing essentially a supporting role, which will be very difficult for him to sustain," she explained. Also read| Scottish govt calls for probe into Trump’s golf investments Mary also pointed out the growing age of Donald Trump and raised the issue that in four years, Trump will be the same age as Joe Biden, whom he makes fun of by calling him "Sleepy Joe". Contradicting the claims of Trump's officials, she stated that Donald Trump will not be healthy enough to contest such an election after four years. "Donald is a very unhealthy person — he has a terrible diet, he doesn't exercise, he has psychological disorders that continue to go untreated, so I don't even imagine that he'll even be able to run in four years," she said. "Plus the fact, of course, he may be looking at serious charges being brought against him." Remembering the elders of the family, she explained how Donald Trump would be raging with anger right now for such a defeat. "In my family, at least certainly according to my grandfather, whose opinion was the only one that mattered, the worst thing you could be was a loser. Being a loser made you weak, being a loser made you unworthy, and as you said earlier, for the first time in his life, Donald is in a situation he cannot get out of," she stated.

Donald Trump will never want to lose again like badly: Mary Trump

President Donald Trump lost more than an election last week. When he leaves the White House in January, he will also lose the constitutional protection from prosecution afforded to a sitting president.

After Jan. 20, Trump, who has refused to concede and is fighting to hold onto his office, will be more vulnerable than ever to a pending grand jury investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the president’s family business and its practices, as well as his taxes.

The two-year inquiry, the only known active criminal investigation of Trump, has been stalled since last fall when the president sued to block a subpoena for his tax returns and other records, a bitter dispute that for the second time is before the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling is expected soon.

Trump has contended that the investigation by the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, is a politically motivated fishing expedition. But if the Supreme Court rules that Vance is entitled to the records, and he uncovers possible crimes, Trump could face a reckoning with law enforcement — further inflaming political tensions and raising the startling specter of a criminal conviction, or even prison, for a former president.

“He’ll never have more protection from Vance than he has right now,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas.

“Vance has been the wild card here,” Vladeck added. “And there is very little that even a new administration that wants to let bygones be bygones could do formally to stop him.”

A lawyer for the president, Jay Sekulow, declined to comment through a spokesman.

The district attorney’s investigation of a sitting president has taken on even greater significance because Trump’s past use of his presidential power — pardoning those close to him charged with federal crimes — suggests he will make liberal use of the pardon pen on behalf of associates, family members and possibly even himself, as he claimed he has the right to do.

But his pardon power does not extend to state crimes, like the possible violations under investigation by Vance’s office.

Vance’s inquiry could take on outsized importance if the incoming Biden administration, in seeking to unify the country and avoid the appearance of retaliation against Trump, shies away from new federal investigations.

Such a move would not bind the district attorney, an independently elected state official.

Vance’s lawyers acknowledged during the court fight over the subpoena that the Constitution bars them from prosecuting a president while in office, but the district attorney has said nothing about what might happen once Trump leaves the White House.

Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance, declined to comment. It remains unclear whether the office will determine that crimes were committed and choose to prosecute Trump or anyone in his orbit.

Vance’s actions in the coming months are likely to put him under increasing political scrutiny. Trump will leave the White House amid calls for him to face criminal charges and a drumbeat of strident criticism from the left that he has evaded any legal consequences for his conduct over the years.

On the one hand, Vance could face pressure to forsake any charges to allow the country to move forward after a contentious presidential election. On the other, the district attorney was sharply criticized for his 2012 decision not to seek an indictment against Trump’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., after they were accused of misleading investors in a condo-hotel project. Vance has said that after a two-year investigation, his office could not prove a crime was committed.

Some legal experts said it would send the wrong message if Vance had evidence to justify charges but decided to walk away from prosecution of Trump.

“That would put the president above the law,” said Anne Milgram, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan and Democratic attorney general in New Jersey and a frequent critic of Trump.

And because Trump has repeatedly complained that the investigation was part of a broad partisan witch hunt, any decision to end it once the president left office could be seen as a tacit acknowledgment that such criticism was justified.

Few facts have been publicly disclosed about the course of the district attorney’s investigation or the people or potential crimes being examined because the inquiry is shielded by grand jury secrecy.

But during the legal battle over Vance’s subpoena, which sought eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns and other records from his accounting firm, prosecutors suggested in court papers that they were investigating a range of potential financial crimes. They include insurance fraud and criminal tax evasion, as well as grand larceny and scheming to defraud — which together are New York state's equivalent of federal bank fraud charges.

And prosecutors argued in court that the documents they had demanded from the accounting firm, Mazars USA, represented “central evidence” for their investigation.

But they have provided little in the way of specifics beyond citing multiple news reports that detailed a range of potential criminal conduct by the president and his associates, including a series of 2018 New York Times articles that outlined possible tax crimes committed by Trump based on a detailed analysis of some of his tax return data obtained by the newspaper.

Trump, before and during his presidency, declined to publicly release his tax returns, breaking with 40 years of White House tradition, and he vigorously fought attempts by Congress and state lawmakers to obtain them.

The district attorney’s inquiry, which began in the summer of 2018, was first thought to focus on hush-money payments made on behalf of Trump just days before the 2016 presidential election to an adult film star who had claimed she had an affair with him.

But the subpoena for Trump’s tax returns underscores an apparent greater focus on potential tax crimes, which tax experts, former prosecutors and defense lawyers agree can be among the toughest cases for the government to win at trial.

“The burden of proof is substantial,” said William J. Comiskey, a former longtime state prosecutor of white-collar and organized crime cases who later oversaw enforcement at New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance.

That, in large measure, is because prosecutors must prove that the defendant actually intended to evade taxes, Comiskey said.

And tax cases can be boring for jurors.

“They involve a complicated set of rules and numbers, and it’s hard for jurors — or anyone — to keep their focus through days and days of testimony,” said Amy Walsh, who handled tax cases as a federal prosecutor and later as a defense lawyer at a firm that specialized in tax matters.

The challenge in presenting such cases to a jury is compounded without a cooperating witness who can serve as a guide through complex financial strategies and records, or emails or other statements containing admissions, experts said.

“They need a smoking gun or they need someone to flip,” said Daniel J. Horwitz, who brought tax and complex fraud cases during more than eight years in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and is now a white-collar defense lawyer.

It is unknown whether Vance’s prosecutors have obtained the cooperation of any insiders for their investigation, but another consequence of Trump’s departure from office and loss of the power of the presidency could be that it would be easier for them to do so.

In addition to Vance’s inquiry, Trump also faces continuing scrutiny by New York state’s attorney general — who he has also claimed has targeted him out of partisan rancor.

In his lawsuit seeking to block the grand jury subpoena, Trump’s lawyers quoted 2018 campaign statements by Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, saying they were part of a “campaign to harass the president.”

They cited one statement, for example, in which she said Trump should worry because “we’re all closing in on him.”

Last year, James’ office opened a civil fraud investigation into Trump’s businesses. As recently as last month, Trump’s son Eric, after months of delays, was questioned under oath by the office’s lawyers.

Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan who teaches legal ethics and criminal law at New York Law School, said James’ earlier statements made it appear there was some truth to the accusation that people who were investigating Trump were “at least capitalizing on that from a political perspective.”

The only way for Vance to avoid that perception, Roiphe said, was “to have a rock-solid case with overwhelming evidence, which will help convince the public that they’re holding the former president accountable for criminal acts.”

James, in response to criticism from Trump last year, tweeted that her office “will follow the facts of any case, wherever they lead.” She added: “Make no mistake: No one is above the law, not even the President.”

One thing seems likely: Defending against a white-collar investigation, even as a former president, will be challenging, stressful and disruptive for Trump, said Daniel R. Alonso, who was Vance’s top deputy from 2010 to 2014 and is now in private practice.

“There are subpoenas and seizures and documents all over the place, as well as constant meetings with lawyers,” Alonso said, adding, “It would certainly not be pleasant for him.”

President Donald Trump lost more than an election last week. When he leaves the White House in January, he will also lose the constitutional protection from prosecution afforded to a sitting president.

President Donald Trump lost more than an election last week. When he leaves the White House in January, he will also lose the constitutional protection from prosecution afforded to a sitting president. After Jan. 20, Trump, who has refused to concede and is fighting to hold onto his office, will be more vulnerable than ever to a pending grand jury investigation by the Manhattan district attorney into the president’s family business and its practices, as well as his taxes. The two-year inquiry, the only known active criminal investigation of Trump, has been stalled since last fall when the president sued to block a subpoena for his tax returns and other records, a bitter dispute that for the second time is before the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling is expected soon. Trump has contended that the investigation by the district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., a Democrat, is a politically motivated fishing expedition. But if the Supreme Court rules that Vance is entitled to the records, and he uncovers possible crimes, Trump could face a reckoning with law enforcement — further inflaming political tensions and raising the startling specter of a criminal conviction, or even prison, for a former president. “He’ll never have more protection from Vance than he has right now,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas. “Vance has been the wild card here,” Vladeck added. “And there is very little that even a new administration that wants to let bygones be bygones could do formally to stop him.” A lawyer for the president, Jay Sekulow, declined to comment through a spokesman. The district attorney’s investigation of a sitting president has taken on even greater significance because Trump’s past use of his presidential power — pardoning those close to him charged with federal crimes — suggests he will make liberal use of the pardon pen on behalf of associates, family members and possibly even himself, as he claimed he has the right to do. But his pardon power does not extend to state crimes, like the possible violations under investigation by Vance’s office. Vance’s inquiry could take on outsized importance if the incoming Biden administration, in seeking to unify the country and avoid the appearance of retaliation against Trump, shies away from new federal investigations. Such a move would not bind the district attorney, an independently elected state official. Vance’s lawyers acknowledged during the court fight over the subpoena that the Constitution bars them from prosecuting a president while in office, but the district attorney has said nothing about what might happen once Trump leaves the White House. Danny Frost, a spokesman for Vance, declined to comment. It remains unclear whether the office will determine that crimes were committed and choose to prosecute Trump or anyone in his orbit. Vance’s actions in the coming months are likely to put him under increasing political scrutiny. Trump will leave the White House amid calls for him to face criminal charges and a drumbeat of strident criticism from the left that he has evaded any legal consequences for his conduct over the years. On the one hand, Vance could face pressure to forsake any charges to allow the country to move forward after a contentious presidential election. On the other, the district attorney was sharply criticized for his 2012 decision not to seek an indictment against Trump’s children, Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., after they were accused of misleading investors in a condo-hotel project. Vance has said that after a two-year investigation, his office could not prove a crime was committed. Some legal experts said it would send the wrong message if Vance had evidence to justify charges but decided to walk away from prosecution of Trump. “That would put the president above the law,” said Anne Milgram, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan and Democratic attorney general in New Jersey and a frequent critic of Trump. And because Trump has repeatedly complained that the investigation was part of a broad partisan witch hunt, any decision to end it once the president left office could be seen as a tacit acknowledgment that such criticism was justified. Few facts have been publicly disclosed about the course of the district attorney’s investigation or the people or potential crimes being examined because the inquiry is shielded by grand jury secrecy. But during the legal battle over Vance’s subpoena, which sought eight years of Trump’s personal and corporate tax returns and other records from his accounting firm, prosecutors suggested in court papers that they were investigating a range of potential financial crimes. They include insurance fraud and criminal tax evasion, as well as grand larceny and scheming to defraud — which together are New York state's equivalent of federal bank fraud charges. And prosecutors argued in court that the documents they had demanded from the accounting firm, Mazars USA, represented “central evidence” for their investigation. But they have provided little in the way of specifics beyond citing multiple news reports that detailed a range of potential criminal conduct by the president and his associates, including a series of 2018 New York Times articles that outlined possible tax crimes committed by Trump based on a detailed analysis of some of his tax return data obtained by the newspaper. Trump, before and during his presidency, declined to publicly release his tax returns, breaking with 40 years of White House tradition, and he vigorously fought attempts by Congress and state lawmakers to obtain them. The district attorney’s inquiry, which began in the summer of 2018, was first thought to focus on hush-money payments made on behalf of Trump just days before the 2016 presidential election to an adult film star who had claimed she had an affair with him. But the subpoena for Trump’s tax returns underscores an apparent greater focus on potential tax crimes, which tax experts, former prosecutors and defense lawyers agree can be among the toughest cases for the government to win at trial. “The burden of proof is substantial,” said William J. Comiskey, a former longtime state prosecutor of white-collar and organized crime cases who later oversaw enforcement at New York’s Department of Taxation and Finance. That, in large measure, is because prosecutors must prove that the defendant actually intended to evade taxes, Comiskey said. And tax cases can be boring for jurors. “They involve a complicated set of rules and numbers, and it’s hard for jurors — or anyone — to keep their focus through days and days of testimony,” said Amy Walsh, who handled tax cases as a federal prosecutor and later as a defense lawyer at a firm that specialized in tax matters. The challenge in presenting such cases to a jury is compounded without a cooperating witness who can serve as a guide through complex financial strategies and records, or emails or other statements containing admissions, experts said. “They need a smoking gun or they need someone to flip,” said Daniel J. Horwitz, who brought tax and complex fraud cases during more than eight years in the Manhattan district attorney’s office and is now a white-collar defense lawyer. It is unknown whether Vance’s prosecutors have obtained the cooperation of any insiders for their investigation, but another consequence of Trump’s departure from office and loss of the power of the presidency could be that it would be easier for them to do so. In addition to Vance’s inquiry, Trump also faces continuing scrutiny by New York state’s attorney general — who he has also claimed has targeted him out of partisan rancor. In his lawsuit seeking to block the grand jury subpoena, Trump’s lawyers quoted 2018 campaign statements by Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, saying they were part of a “campaign to harass the president.” They cited one statement, for example, in which she said Trump should worry because “we’re all closing in on him.” Last year, James’ office opened a civil fraud investigation into Trump’s businesses. As recently as last month, Trump’s son Eric, after months of delays, was questioned under oath by the office’s lawyers. Rebecca Roiphe, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan who teaches legal ethics and criminal law at New York Law School, said James’ earlier statements made it appear there was some truth to the accusation that people who were investigating Trump were “at least capitalizing on that from a political perspective.” The only way for Vance to avoid that perception, Roiphe said, was “to have a rock-solid case with overwhelming evidence, which will help convince the public that they’re holding the former president accountable for criminal acts.” James, in response to criticism from Trump last year, tweeted that her office “will follow the facts of any case, wherever they lead.” She added: “Make no mistake: No one is above the law, not even the President.” One thing seems likely: Defending against a white-collar investigation, even as a former president, will be challenging, stressful and disruptive for Trump, said Daniel R. Alonso, who was Vance’s top deputy from 2010 to 2014 and is now in private practice. “There are subpoenas and seizures and documents all over the place, as well as constant meetings with lawyers,” Alonso said, adding, “It would certainly not be pleasant for him.”

As soon as Trump leaves office, he faces greater risk of prosecution

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Arizona, US networks said late Thursday -- further cementing his lead in the recently conducted election.

Arizona gives Biden a 290-217 lead over Trump in the Electoral College that ultimately decides the presidency, with 270 needed to win the White House.

NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN declared Biden the winner in the tight race with a lead of more than 11,000 ballots, giving him the state's 11 electoral votes. The win also consolidates Biden's lead in the Electoral College and flips the state Democratic for the first time since 1996.

Fox News and The Associated Press called the race in the southwestern state in Biden's favor on Election Night, triggering the wrath of incumbent president Donald Trump, but the other outlets held off on declaring a winner until after nine days of ballot counting.

Despite Biden being declared winner of the November 3 vote, Trump has refused to concede and continues to make baseless claims of election fraud.

Races in North Carolina and Georgia are yet to be called.

Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to win Arizona in a race for the White House. 
&nbsp;

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Arizona, US networks said late Thursday -- further cementing his lead in the recently conducted election. Arizona gives Biden a 290-217 lead over Trump in the Electoral College that ultimately decides the presidency, with 270 needed to win the White House.

Democrat Joe Biden has won the state of Arizona, US networks said late Thursday -- further cementing his lead in the recently conducted election. Arizona gives Biden a 290-217 lead over Trump in the Electoral College that ultimately decides the presidency, with 270 needed to win the White House. NBC, CBS, ABC and CNN declared Biden the winner in the tight race with a lead of more than 11,000 ballots, giving him the state's 11 electoral votes. The win also consolidates Biden's lead in the Electoral College and flips the state Democratic for the first time since 1996. Fox News and The Associated Press called the race in the southwestern state in Biden's favor on Election Night, triggering the wrath of incumbent president Donald Trump, but the other outlets held off on declaring a winner until after nine days of ballot counting. Despite Biden being declared winner of the November 3 vote, Trump has refused to concede and continues to make baseless claims of election fraud. Races in North Carolina and Georgia are yet to be called. Bill Clinton was the last Democrat to win Arizona in a race for the White House.

Biden wins Arizona, cementing lead in US election

Twitter labelled 300,000 tweets related to the US presidential election as "potentially misleading" in the two weeks surrounding the vote, making up 0.2 per cent of election-related posts.

The social network Thursday said the labels were issued between October 27 and November 11, one week before and after the US presidential election on November 3 -- which Democrat Joe Biden won over incumbent Donald Trump.

Of the 300,000 flagged tweets, 456 were covered over by a warning message and had engagement features limited -- users could not like, retweet or reply to the posts, Twitter's head of legal, policy and trust and safety, said in a blog post.

As much as 74 per cent of people who saw the problematic tweets did so after they had been labeled as misleading or flagged with a warning message, and sharing of the posts, as a result, declined by about 29 per cent.

During the election period, Twitter posted messages on American users' pages which were seen 389 million times that "reminded people that election results were likely to be delayed, and that voting by mail is safe and legitimate," Gadde added.

Nearly half of Trump's tweets were flagged by the platform in the days following the election, as the president claimed, without evidence, that he had won and that the process had been tainted by massive fraud.

Twitter labelled 300,000 tweets related to the US presidential election as "potentially misleading" in the two weeks surrounding the vote, making up 0.2 per cent of election-related posts.

Twitter labelled 300,000 tweets related to the US presidential election as "potentially misleading" in the two weeks surrounding the vote, making up 0.2 per cent of election-related posts. The social network Thursday said the labels were issued between October 27 and November 11, one week before and after the US presidential election on November 3 -- which Democrat Joe Biden won over incumbent Donald Trump. Of the 300,000 flagged tweets, 456 were covered over by a warning message and had engagement features limited -- users could not like, retweet or reply to the posts, Twitter's head of legal, policy and trust and safety, said in a blog post. As much as 74 per cent of people who saw the problematic tweets did so after they had been labeled as misleading or flagged with a warning message, and sharing of the posts, as a result, declined by about 29 per cent. During the election period, Twitter posted messages on American users' pages which were seen 389 million times that "reminded people that election results were likely to be delayed, and that voting by mail is safe and legitimate," Gadde added. Nearly half of Trump's tweets were flagged by the platform in the days following the election, as the president claimed, without evidence, that he had won and that the process had been tainted by massive fraud.

Twitter says has so far flagged 300,000 'misleading' election tweets

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