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US Supreme court rejects Trump’s suit to block certification of votes in Pennsylvania
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a defeat to Republicans seeking to throw out up to 2.5 million mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania as they try to undo President Donald Trump’s election loss, with the justices refusing to block the state from formalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory there.
The court in a brief order rejected a request by U.S. congressman Mike Kelly, a Trump ally, and other Pennsylvania Republicans who filed a lawsuit after the Nov. 3 election arguing that the state’s 2019 expansion of mail-in voting was illegal under state law.
Pennsylvania was one of the pivotal states in the election, with Biden, a Democrat, defeating Trump after the Republican president won the state in 2016. State officials had already certified the election results.
There were no noted dissents from any of the justices on the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointees. Trump had urged the Republican-led Senate to confirm his most recent nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, before Election Day so she could participate in any election-related cases.
Trump has falsely claimed that he won re-election, making unfounded claims about widespread voting fraud in states including Pennsylvania. Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of aiming to reduce public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and undermine democracy by trying to subvert the will of the voters.
“This election is over. We must continue to stop this circus of ‘lawsuits’ and move forward,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, wrote on Twitter.
The Supreme Court also must decide what to do with another election-related case brought on Tuesday. Republican-governed Texas, hoping to help Trump, mounted an unusual effort to overturn the election results in Pennsylvania and three other states – Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin – by filing a lawsuit against them directly at the Supreme Court.
The Republican plaintiffs argued that the universal, “no-excuse” mail-in ballot program passed by the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania legislature in 2019, enabling voters to cast ballots by mail for any reason, violated the state’s constitution.
Biden won Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes and received a much higher proportion of the mail-in votes than Trump. Many more people voted by mail this year because of health concerns prompted by the coronavirus pandemic as they sought to avoid crowds at polling places.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announces nominees and appointees to serve on his health and coronavirus response teams during a news conference at his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S., December 8, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Ahead of the election, Trump urged his supporters not to vote by mail, making groundless claims that mail-in voting – a longstanding feature of American elections – was rife with fraud.
Pennsylvania said in a court filing that the Republican challengers were asking the justices to “undertake one of the most dramatic, disruptive invocations of judicial power” in U.S. history by nullifying a state’s certification of its election results.
The state said most of what the challengers had sought was moot because the election results already were certified and what they were really wanted was for “the court overturn the results of the election.”
December 9, 2020
Donald Trump announces Rudy Giuliani tested positive for COVID-19
Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for COVID-19, President Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday.
“@RudyGiuliani, by far the greatest mayor in the history of NYC, and who has been working tirelessly exposing the most corrupt election (by far!) in the history of the USA, has tested positive for the China Virus. Get better soon Rudy, we will carry on!!!” Trump tweeted.
Giuliani, 76, has spent the last month traveling the country fighting the election results in states including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona on behalf of the president. On Wednesday, he attended a hearing in the Michigan House of Representatives where he was seen without a mask and argued the election was riddled with fraud.
The next day he appeared at a hearing at the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee to contest that state’s results.
On Nov. 20, Giuliani’s son Andrew Giuliani, who serves as a special assistant to the president, tested positive for the coronavirus.
December 6, 2020
Trump gives condition to vacate White House
United States President Donald Trump says he will relinquish power if the Electoral College affirms Democrat Joe Biden’s win but he signals he may never formally concede defeat, Bloomberg reports.
The 74-year-old Republican candidate, who lost his re-election bid, also declined to say if he would attend Biden’s inauguration next year, as is the custom for an outgoing president. “I’ll be honest, I know the answer, but I just don’t want to say it yet,” he said, adding that it is “not right” that Biden has begun picking a cabinet.
Trump fielded questions from reporters on Thursday for the first time since his election defeat, speaking at the White House after a Thanksgiving teleconference with members of the military.
When asked by reporter gathered at the White House’s diplomatic room if he would physically leave the building should the Electoral College affirms Biden’s victory, Trump replied, “certainly I will, and you know that.” But he swiftly maintained that there was “massive fraud and massive rigging” in the election, insisting that the court cases challenging the election outcome will continue.
Trump was further pressed on whether he would ever acknowledge defeat but said it would “be a very hard thing to concede,” even if the Electoral College confirms Biden’s victory. “If they do, they’ve made a mistake,” he said. “This election was a fraud.”
The Electoral College electors in each state are due to vote on December 14. Certificates recording the electoral vote results in each state must be received by the president of the Senate no later than December 23. Biden is certified as the winner, or leading, in states totaling 306 electoral votes, well above the victory threshold of 270, while Trump got 232 electoral votes.
Trump acknowledged that the whole world is watching what becomes the fate of American democracy. “The whole world is watching and the whole world is laughing at our electoral process,” he said.
He, however, declined to say if he would seek the presidency again in 2024, as has been widely rumoured. “I don’t want to talk about 2024 yet,” he replied.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that major world leaders including those from China, United Kingdom, France, Canada, Germany and other European as well as African States congratulated Biden and his vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris, after US cable networks projected the two winners of the keenly contested election.
November 27, 2020
There is no way Biden got 80,000,000 votes, this was a 100% rigged election – President Trump blows hot again
President Donald Trump is still refusing to concede to Joe Biden and claiming without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud in the US presidential election.

On Tuesday, President-elect Joe Biden’s total tally of votes surpassed 80 million, making him the first-ever presidential candidate in United States history to achieve that feat.

Currently, the Democrat has 80,063,589 votes to Donald Trump’s 73,904,195.

Reacting on Twitter on Thursday November 26, President Trump claimed he just saw the vote tabulations and that there was no way Biden could gather 80,000,000 votes in the presidential election.

He also insisted on previous claims that the election was ‘100%’ rigged.

Trump wrote: “Just saw the vote tabulations. There is NO WAY Biden got 80,000,000 votes!!! This was a 100% RIGGED ELECTION.”

Twitter immediately affixed a label to the tweet warning users that the ‘claim about election fraud is disputed.’
November 26, 2020
Trump’s aide blocks Biden administration from accessing $9.9m in transition funds
A Donald Trump aide is refusing to sign paperwork that will pave the way for Joe Biden to receive $9.9m in transition funds he needs to begin as president.
Emily Murphy, head of the General Services Administration (GSA), said the election has not yet been decided.
“An ascertainment has not yet been made,” said Pamela Pennington, a spokeswoman for GSA. “And its Administrator will continue to abide by, and fulfill, all requirements under the law.”
The GSA is the agency that plays a role in helping to fund newly elected presidents and authorize access to government officials, office space, and equipment.
Democratic congressman from Virginia, Gerry Connolly, called for Murphy to sign off on the paperwork so that Biden can start the transition process. ‘GSA Admin Emily Murphy must begin the Biden transition without delay,’ Connolly wrote in a tweet.
‘The Administrator plays a critical role in the peaceful transfer of power and ensuring vital government services are not disrupted. This is all the more important amid a deadly pandemic. Do the right thing.’ Connolly added
Joe Biden was announced the winner of the 2020 presidential election on Saturday, but Donald Trump is still yet to concede defeat.
The Republican politician has continued to claim that he has won the election ‘by a lot,’ and has filed several lawsuits that alleged there was voter fraud in the election, although there is no evidence to support these claims.
According to Mirror, Trump and the GOP have already lost 10 different lawsuits that they have filed since election day.
November 10, 2020
Trump ‘refuses to attend Biden’s inauguration’
Donald Trump will never accept he lost the election and could fail to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration in protest, it has been reported.
Biden was officially named as the US President-elect on Saturday, after more than four days of counting votes.
Kamala Harris has now also become the country’s first female, first black and first Asian Vice President.
Trump has continued to deny his defeat in the election, claiming on Saturday that he won ‘71,000,000 legal votes, the most EVER for a sitting President’.
He reportedly learned of his defeat while golfing and then spent hours holed up in the White House. Sources close to the White House now say he won’t attend Biden’s inauguration as he believes it will be an ‘insult to democracy’.
A source told the Daily Mail: ‘He has no concession speech ready and no intention of recognising Joe Biden’s presidency.’
READ ALSO: Newly-elected Joe Biden says first task is to control Covid-19
considers stated that the atmosphere inside the West Wing had been ‘manic, exuberant, energised and toxic’ since Biden was announced as the election winner.
A source claimed Trump was being ‘egged on’ by his children and aides, while others around him have been too fearful to suggest he accepts his defeat and begins to ‘consider life post-presidency’.
They went on: ‘In his mind, he never looked past election day because he is superstitious and he thought it was bad luck. Now he’s hell-bent on creating a narrative that the election was fraudulent and so Biden is not legitimate.’
Another source added: ‘He is in fighting mode and is saying Biden would be a phoney President and that he won’t turn up on January 20 [inauguration day] as that would be an insult to democracy.’ Outgoing presidents traditionally welcome their successor to the White House and pose for photos with them in the Oval Office.
They then attend the swearing-in ceremony at the front of the US Capitol building in Washington DC. But Trump is refusing to move into the next steps, and his campaign team has launched legal action in key battleground states, including Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, in an attempt to overturn Biden’s win.
November 8, 2020
BREAKING: Joe Biden Beats Donald Trump To Win White House
Democrat Joe Biden has won the White House, US media said Saturday, defeating Donald Trump and ending a presidency that convulsed American politics, shocked the world and left the United States more divided than at any time in decades.
CNN, NBC News and CBS News called the race in Biden’s favor just before 11:30 am (1630 GMT) as an insurmountable lead in Pennsylvania took the 77-year-old over the top in the state-by-state count that decides the presidency.
Trump had no immediate reaction to the announcement, but as Biden’s lead grew during vote counts since Tuesday’s election, the Republican president lashed out with unsubstantiated claims of fraud and claimed, falsely, that he had won.
Earlier Saturday, as he headed to his golf course in Virginia, he repeated this, tweeting: “I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!”
However, the result now condemns 74-year-old Trump to becoming the first one-term president since George H. W. Bush at the start of the 1990s.
Biden, who got the votes of a record more than 74 million people, was hunkered down with his running mate Kamala Harris, in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware.
“I am honoured and humbled by the trust the American people have placed in me and in Vice President-elect [Kamala] Harris,” Biden said in a statement a few minutes after the projection was announced.
With Biden’s projected win, Harris will be heading to the White House as his vice-president, and is set to create new records along the way.
November 7, 2020
Donald Trump ‘to run in 2024 if he loses US election’ – Aide
Donald Trump could return to politics if he loses the election and fight to be president in 2024, his former adviser has said.
Joe Biden needs just six electoral college votes to become president, according to the latest count by the Associated Press, with Team Trump vowing to take legal action in several key states.
But if Trump does lose his re-election bid, he may try to run again in four years time at the ripe old age of 78.
Bryan Lanza, former communications director for the Donald Trump transition team, said Trump can ‘make a strong case to run again’ if he loses a tight race.
READ ALSO: U.S. election: Biden launches transition website
Lanza added that Trump in 2024 ‘would be younger than Biden is now’, which is not true as the former Vice President is 77.
According to Metro UK, Lanza told the Today programme: ‘Biden will have the opportunity to guide this country out of Covid, and we’ll see what his successes and failures are.
‘And there’s nobody in the Republican party that can challenge President Trump in the primaries.’
Presidents are not allowed to serve more than two terms, but the US constitution does not mention anything about whether the two terms have to be consecutive.
It’s still not known just when the final results will roll in due to the increased number of mail-in ballots this year delaying counts, while Trump’s campaign manager has also said they will request a recount in the battleground state of Wisconsin after it was won by Biden by 20,000 votes.
November 5, 2020
US Election: Prophet T.B Joshua reveals what God said to him about the Election
Nigerian ‘Prophet’ TB Joshua has predicted that there will be a new President in America as the US go into its presidential election on Tuesday.
The prophet shared the ‘prophetic revelation’ regarding the contentious elections scheduled for today, November 3, 2020.
Joshua suggested that President Trump had destroyed his opportunities to return to power with his mouth, adding that Christians would love him to win a second term but that God has another plan.
The cleric said he will reserve what he is seeing “Until the new President is inaugurated.”
“What is happening in the American election is as a result of the power in the tongue,” Joshua stated in his message posted on Facebook.
“The word we speak determines the life we enjoy. The tongue can either work for us or against us – death and life lie in the tongue.
“We Christians would have loved it [the election] to go the way we wanted. But the Bible says it is never proper to base our faith on our improvement after prayer.”
The prophet said, however, that believers “should not worry” but rather derive joy “that the new [US] Supreme Court Judge, Amy Coney Barrett, will be an instrument of check.”
“There is likely going to be pockets of resistance here and there but nothing will change.
“Let me reserve what I am seeing until the inauguration of the new president,” he parabolically concluded, leading to a flurry of comments from viewers as to the precise meaning of his prophetic words.
November 4, 2020
US Election: Biden Urges Voters Patience as Trump Threatens Court Actions
President Trump won a series of key battlegrounds early on Wednesday morning, including Florida, Ohio and Iowa, as Joseph R. Biden Jr. expressed confidence he would ultimately prevail across key Northern states and Arizona as the presidential contest turned into a state-by-state slog that could drag deeper into the week.
“We believe we are on track to win this election,” Mr. Biden said in a brief speech after 12:30 a.m. Eastern, saying he was “optimistic” about the outcome once all the votes were counted.
No full states had yet flipped from their 2016 results as of 1 a.m., but several key states had huge portions of ballots still to be counted. Mr. Biden did flip a single Electoral College vote that Mr. Trump had won in 2016, carrying Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes Omaha.
With millions of legitimate votes still waiting to be counted, Mr. Trump prematurely and recklessly declared that he won the election. Appearing at the White House, he pressed for more vote counting in Arizona, where he is behind, and called to stop the count where he is ahead as he baselessly declared the election “a fraud on the American public.”
In an unprecedented move that drew bipartisan condemnation, the president said he intended to go to the Supreme Court to intervene to halt the legitimate counting of the vote.
So far, Mr. Trump was holding off Mr. Biden in two Southern states that the former vice president had hoped to snatch back from the Republican column: Georgia and North Carolina. These were not must-win states for Mr. Biden, but he spent heavily in both states and visited them in the final stretch of the campaign. Mr. Biden lost Texas, a long-shot hope that some Democrats invested in late in hopes of earning a landslide repudiation of Mr. Trump that did not arrive.
November 4, 2020