Trump Defiant as US Electors Prepare to Finalize Biden Victory

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A day before the U.S. Electoral College meets to formally pick Democrat Joe Biden as America’s next president, Donald Trump continues to deny the results of the November 3 election, buoyed by thousands of supporters who rallied in Washington to back the president’s failed efforts to overturn his defeat at the polls.America’s presidential contests are not complete until constitutionally mandated electors from all 50 states, drawn proportionally to their population and mirroring their representation in Congress, meet to cast their votes. Except in two U.S. states, each state’s electors all vote for the presidential contender who won their state.With allmore

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Understanding the US Senate Runoff Elections in Georgia

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Two key U.S. Senate races remain undecided from November’s general election. Both are in the southern state of Georgia, where President-elect Joe Biden became the first Democrat to win the state since 1992. The outcome of these runoff elections may determine how much Biden can accomplish with Congress once he is inaugurated as president.What is a runoff election?A runoff election is a second, or follow-up election, in which the top two vote-getters run against each other. Runoff elections occur when no candidate meets a certain threshold of votes to be declared the winner. Georgia election law requires a candidate to winmore

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Supreme Court Rejects Republican Attack on Biden Victory

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The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a lawsuit backed by President Donald Trump to overturn Joe Biden’s election victory, ending a desperate attempt to get legal issues that state and federal judges had rejected before the nation’s highest court.In a brief order, the court said Texas does not have the legal right to sue Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin because it “has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.”Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who have said previously the court does not have the authority to turn away lawsuits between states,more

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Senate Sends Trump Defense Bill He Has Vowed to Veto

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The Senate approved a wide-ranging defense policy bill Friday, sending it to President Donald Trump, despite his threat to veto the bill because it does not clamp down on big tech companies he claims were biased during the election.The final vote was 84-13, mirroring a similarly overwhelming margin in the House that, if maintained in both chambers, would be enough to override a potential veto.The Senate vote had been expected Thursday but was delayed after Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to the measure, saying it could limit Trump’s ability to draw down U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Germany.Paul’smore

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White House Threatens FDA Chief’s Job Over Vaccine Approval

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White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday pressed Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn to grant an emergency use authorization for Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day or face possible firing, two administration officials said.The vaccine produced by Pfizer Inc. and its German partner BioNTech won a critical endorsement Thursday from an FDA panel of outside advisers, and signoff from the agency — which is expected within days — is the next step needed to get the shots to the public.The FDA is not required to follow the guidance of its advisory committees, butmore

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US Congress at Stalemate on COVID Aid

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An emerging $900 billion COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers all but collapsed Thursday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.McConnell’s staff conveyed to top negotiators that the Republican leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers’ existing proposal — a slimmed-down version of the liability shield he is seeking for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits — in exchange for the state and local funds that Democrats want.Themore

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Congress at Stalemate on US COVID Aid

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An emerging $900 billion COVID-19 aid package from a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers all but collapsed Thursday after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Republican senators won’t support $160 billion in state and local funds as part of a potential trade-off in the deal.McConnell’s staff conveyed to top negotiators that the Republican leader sees no path to an agreement on a key aspect of the lawmakers’ existing proposal — a slimmed-down version of the liability shield he is seeking for companies and organizations facing potential COVID-19 lawsuits — in exchange for the state and local funds that Democrats want.Themore

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Trump Persists in Bid to Upend Biden Victory

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U.S. President Donald Trump pushed ahead Thursday with his long-shot effort to upend his reelection loss to President-elect Joe Biden, meeting at the White House with Republican state attorneys general who are supporting a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas at the Supreme Court to attempt to invalidate millions of votes in states won by Biden. Several legal experts were dismissive of the lawsuit’s chances of success, but Trump said on Twitter, “The Supreme Court has a chance to save our Country from the greatest Election abuse in the history of the United States.” The Supreme Court has a chance tomore

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Paul Delays Defense Bill Vote Over Troop Drawdowns

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A Senate vote on a wide-ranging defense policy bill was delayed Thursday after Republican Rand Paul objected to the measure, casting the next steps in doubt and raising the slim prospect of a government shutdown if a short-term spending bill caught up in the dispute is not approved by Friday.Paul said on the Senate floor that he opposed a provision in the defense bill that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to draw down U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Germany. His objections threatened another must-pass bill, a one-week spending measure that would keep the government open through December 18. Themore

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Biden Taps More Women of Color for Top Posts

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday announced several more nominees for top spots in his administration, including three women of color. In a statement, the Biden-Harris transition team said it was nominating U.S. Representative Marcia Fudge to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, former United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice as director of the Domestic Policy Council, and House Ways and Means Committee trade lawyer Katherine Tai as United States trade representative. FILE – Rep. Marcia Fudge, left, and then-Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris wave to employees of Zanzibar Soul Fusion restaurant during a campaign event in Cleveland, Oct.more

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Hunter Biden Tax Probe Examining Chinese Business Dealings

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The Justice Department is investigating the finances of President-elect Joe Biden’s son, including scrutinizing some of his Chinese business dealings and other transactions, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The revelations put a renewed spotlight on questions about Hunter Biden’s financial history, which dogged his father’s successful White House campaign and were a frequent target of President Donald Trump and his allies. They also come at a politically delicate time for the president-elect, who is weighing his choice to lead an agency that is actively investigating his son. The tax investigation was launched in 2018, themore

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Biden Tells Civil Rights Leaders He’ll Advance Racial Equity

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In a meeting with leaders of some of the nation’s top civil rights organizations, President-elect Joe Biden reaffirmed that his administration will prioritize racial justice and assemble a diverse Cabinet that can tackle pressing equity issues.Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, who will join the Biden administration as a senior adviser, also participated in the nearly two-hour virtual meeting Tuesday with seven civil rights leaders. The talk touched on how racial justice will be a common thread as the Biden administration works to address policing and criminal justice reform, COVID-19, the nation’s racial wealth gap, voting rightsmore

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Hunter Biden Facing Federal Investigation Over ‘Tax Affairs’

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President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter said Wednesday that his “tax affairs” are under federal investigation, putting a renewed spotlight on the questions about his financial dealings that dogged his father’s campaign.  In a statement released by the president-elect’s transition office, the younger Biden said he learned about the investigation Tuesday. He did not disclose details of the matter. “I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisers,” he said in a statement.  Huntermore

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Trump Vows to Carry On Election Fight

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U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Wednesday to carry on his fight to upend President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in last month’s nationwide election in a new Supreme Court case after the high court rejected an attempt to overturn Biden’s key win in the eastern battleground state of Pennsylvania.The Supreme Court, in a brief order Tuesday, rejected a request by Pennsylvania Republicans to overturn Biden’s 81,000-vote victory in the state, the first time the country’s top court had weighed in on the election. But the ruling was the latest of dozens of lawsuit losses across the country for Trump and his campaignmore

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YouTube Will Remove New Videos That Falsely Claim Fraud Changed US Election Outcome

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YouTube said on Wednesday it would start removing content that falsely allege widespread fraud changed the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, in a change to its more hands-off stance on videos making similar claims. The update, which applies to content uploaded from Wednesday, comes a day after “safe harbor,” a deadline set by U.S. law for states to certify the results of the presidential election. YouTube said it would start enforcing the policy in line with its approach towards historical U.S. presidential elections. Online platforms have been under pressure to police misinformation about the election on their sites. YouTube,more

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US House Approves Defense Bill With Veto-Proof Margin

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The Democratic-controlled House on Tuesday easily approved a wide-ranging defense policy bill, defying a veto threat from President Donald Trump and setting up a possible showdown with the Republican president in the waning days of his administration. The 335-78 vote in favor of the $731 billion defense measure came hours after Trump renewed his threat to veto the bill unless lawmakers clamp down on social media companies he claims were biased against him during the election. Trump tweeted Tuesday that he will veto “the very weak National Defense Authorization Act,” or NDAA, unless it repeals so-called Section 230, a part of themore

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Media: Biden Selects Fudge for Housing, Vilsack for Agriculture

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President-elect Joe Biden has selected Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge as his housing and urban development secretary and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in his administration, according to four people familiar with the decisions. Fudge, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, was just elected to a seventh term representing a majority Black district that includes parts of Cleveland and Akron. Vilsack spent eight years as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Obama administration and served two terms as Iowa governor. Their intended nominations were confirmed to The Associated Press on Tuesday by four people familiarmore

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Trump Signals Continued Fight to Upend Biden Victory

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Campaign lawyers for U.S. President Donald Trump signaled Tuesday they intend to contest his loss to President-elect Joe Biden into January, even though all states but one certified their vote counts showing Biden won the national election last month. U.S. law calls for all 50 states to certify the outcomes in their individual states six days ahead of next Monday’s Electoral College vote, which determines the outcome of U.S. presidential elections. Only the Midwestern state of Wisconsin missed Tuesday’s “safe harbor day” deadline to certify its vote — which Biden carried — but could by the end of the week. Biden is expectedmore

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US Congress Buys Itself More Time for COVID-19 Aid Compromise

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U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed Tuesday that lawmakers set aside two of the most contested elements of coronavirus government aid to break a month-long deadlock over a new round of congressional relief addressing the economic impact of the pandemic. “Why don’t we set aside the two obviously most contentious issues?” McConnell said to reporters, referring to liability protections and aid for state and local governments. “We know we’re going to be confronted with another request after the first of the year. We’ll live to fight those another day and pass the things that we agree on,” the Kentucky Republican said. Senatemore

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Texas Asks US Supreme Court to Help Trump Upend Election

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The state of Texas, aiming to help President Donald Trump upend the results of the U.S. election, said on Tuesday it has filed suit against the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the Supreme Court, calling changes they made to election procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic unlawful. The lawsuit, announced by the Republican attorney general of Texas Ken Paxton, was filed directly with the Supreme Court, as is permitted for certain litigation between states. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Trump. The lawsuit represents the latest legal effort intended to reversemore

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Biden Introduces Top Health Care Officials as US COVID-19 Cases Soar

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden introduced his top health care officials on Tuesday, all of whom will quickly face the country’s grim world-leading coronavirus statistics: nearly 15 million infections and more than 283,000 deaths.  Biden, set to be FILE – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference in Sacramento, California, March 5, 2019.Biden tapped former Congressman Xavier Becerra to be his Health and Human Services chief to lead the country’s fight against the virus and oversee millions of vaccinations in the coming months. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration could approve the first vaccine against COVID-19 in the comingmore

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Biden Introduces Top Health Care Officials as US COVID Cases Soar

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is introducing his top health care officials on Tuesday, all of whom will quickly face the country’s grim world-leading coronavirus statistics: nearly 15 million infections and more than 283,000 deaths.Biden, FILE – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra speaks during a news conference in Sacramento, California, March 5, 2019.Outgoing President Donald Trump, defeated for re-election by Biden in last month’s national vote, is delivering remarks at Tuesday’s Operation Warp Speed summit on the government’s effort to produce several vaccines against the coronavirus.Although Biden has promised to get inoculated when a vaccine is approved as safe, polls showmore

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White House Announces New Tennis Pavilion

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Nearly a year after announcing its construction, a new tennis pavilion has been completed on the White House grounds, the administration said in a statement Monday.  The project, for which construction began in 2019, was to refurbish the existing tennis court on White House grounds and construct a new building alongside it, inspired by the classic architecture of the East and West Wings, the White House said in a statement Monday. “It is my hope that this private space will function as both a place of leisure and gathering for future first families,” first lady Melania Trump was quoted as sayingmore

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Trump Summit Aims to Boost Faith in Vaccine; Biden Excluded; Drugmakers Decline

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The Trump administration is aiming to instill public confidence as well as claim major credit for the forthcoming coronavirus vaccines with a White House summit Tuesday featuring experts who will outline distribution plans in detail. Officials from President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team are not invited, even though they will oversee the continuation of the largest vaccination program in the nation’s history once he takes office January 20. President Donald Trump is trying to frame vaccine development as a key component of his legacy. The Operation Warp Speed summit will feature Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and a host of government experts, state leadersmore

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