Prince Faisal bin Farhan warns kingdom and its regional allies’ involvement is only way to achieve ‘sustainable’ outcome
Saudi Arabia says the Gulf states must be consulted if a US nuclear agreement with Iran is revived, warning it is the only path towards a sustainable agreement.
President-elect Joe Biden has signalled he will return the US to a nuclear accord with Iran and that he still backed the 2015 deal negotiated under Barack Obama, from which Donald Trump withdrew.
Continue reading...President falsely claims he was ‘cheated’ and calls for people to vote in coming Senate races that will decide control of chamber
Donald Trump has held his first political rally since losing the presidential election, delivering an incoherent speech laced with baseless conspiracies theories about election fraud and attacks on Republican state officials in Georgia who have refused to help him subvert the results.
In front of a crowd of thousands of mostly maskless, non-socially distanced supporters in south Georgia, Trump repeatedly claimed, falsely, that he had won the presidential election, and called for those in government with “courage and wisdom” to help him reverse the result.
Continue reading...Only 26 of 249 Republicans in Congress are willing to admit Joe Biden won the presidential election, a survey found on Saturday.
Related: Trump heads for Georgia but claims of fraud may damage Senate Republicans
Continue reading...Donald Trump will return to the campaign trail on Saturday – not, notionally at least, in his quixotic and doomed attempt to deny defeat by Joe Biden, but in support of two Republicans who face January run-offs which will decide control of the US Senate.
Related: I beg your pardon? Does Trump really plan to absolve himself and his family?
Continue reading...President no closer to overturning result, with just one small victory in a month’s worth of cases
For a man obsessed with winning, Donald Trump is losing a lot.
In the month since the election, the president and his legal team have come no closer in their frantic efforts to overturn the result, notching up dozens of losses in courts across the country, with more rolling in by the day.
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The need for federal guidance and money for states to deploy vaccines is real and urgent. Here’s a bit more from NBC News, which reports the bulk of planning for how to distribute the vaccine is still not finished nine months into the pandemic.
Yet beyond the guidelines advising states about how to deploy their vaccines — and a large Defense Department operation to deliver them — the Trump administration hasn’t prepared for a major federal role, a lack of planning that is causing significant anxiety among state and local health officials.
The significant checklist of unmet federal responsibilities underscores the challenges ahead for President-elect Joe Biden, who inherits most of the burden for executing a successful nationwide campaign to vaccinate all Americans, potentially without the billions of dollars in additional funding that will be needed.
One of the major sticking points of the relief bill is liability protections, especially for hard-hit long-term care homes. Although long-term care homes represent less than 1% of the US population, residents and staff represent 40% of Covid-19 deaths.
“We cannot sign off on Mitch McConnell’s idea of, like, a blanket liability, which will open up the floodgates to a whole host of bad conduct, putting in danger the American people,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., a Pelosi deputy. “So nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon. But we’re working hard to arrive at a bipartisan agreement.”
New: Capitol Hill is buzzing with fresh optimism about a Covid-19 relief deal.
Party leaders are converging on a price tag and negotiating after months of deadlock.
But some policy disputes linger—primarily on state/local aid and liability protections.https://t.co/mEqQfKK6GL
Chinese official says article labelling it as biggest threat to democracy since WW2 is ‘concoction of lies’
China has rejected as a “concoction of lies” an incendiary article by the US’s most senior intelligence official, who labelled China the biggest threat to democracy and freedom since the second world war.
In a Wall Street Journal column, John Ratcliffe, the US director of national intelligence, said China was bent on world domination and the US needed to prepare for an “open-ended period of confrontation”.
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Senator Marsha Blackburn invokes Chinese stereotype a racist tweet
Republican senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee received swift backlash Thursday for a racist tweet invoking the history of China to allude to a stereotype of cheating.
China has a 5,000 year history of cheating and stealing. Some things will never change...
While recognizing Republican criticism, Donald Trump still refused to back down from earlier calls to repeal Section 230, a provision of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that protects tech firms from liability over third-party content. In a tweet, the president called it a “must.”
Looks like certain Republican Senators are getting cold feet with respect to the termination of Big Tech’s Section 230, a National Security and Election Integrity MUST. For years, all talk, no action. Termination must be put in Defense Bill!!!
.@realDonaldTrump I fully support you on this. Please don’t back down. The freedom and future of our country is at stake. https://t.co/A5EPgvAuqX
Continue reading...Facebook and Twitter have placed warnings on a 46-minute video statement released by Donald Trump on Wednesday, in which the president repeats baseless claims of voter fraud in November’s election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
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Several properties owned by the Trump Organization, and by Kushner Companies, owned by the family of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, received millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, NBC News reports.
Data from the program were released last night after several news organizations sued the federal government to release the data from the PPP and Economist Injury Disaster Loans.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stood by comments one of his officials made to Donald Trump yesterday, saying that the president is “inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence” by continuing to call the results of the election into question despite multiple recounts.
Gabriel Sterling, a Republican who helped to oversee the implementation of the state’s new voting system, pleaded with Trump during a press conference yesterday that the president stop his rhetoric for fear of violence.
"It's about time more people are out there speaking with truth," Brad Raffensperger says.
Also:
"Our investigators have seen no widespread fraud, either." pic.twitter.com/uLT1u4BK6E
Heavily redacted court filing, which does not name Trump, comes as president reportedly is considering sweeping pardons
An alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House is under investigation by the justice department, according to a court filing unsealed on Tuesday.
The heavily redacted document does not name Donald Trump or other individuals and leaves many unanswered questions, but comes amid media reports that the US president is considering sweeping pardons before he leaves office next month.
Continue reading...President makes comments to Republicans at a White House reception, where video shows dozens of people crammed together without masks
Donald Trump has floated the idea of running for president again in 2024 at a holiday reception at the White House on Tuesday evening.
“It’s been an amazing four years,” Trump told the crowd, which included many Republican National Committee members. “We’re trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years.”
Continue reading...Georgia's voting system implementation manager, Gabriel Sterling, has criticised President Donald Trump for not condemning threats of violence against election workers in the state. Sterling, a Republican official who oversees voting systems in Georgia, called on Trump at a news conference to 'stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence'. He warned that 'someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed, and it's not right'
William Barr: no evidence of voter fraud that would change election outcome
Barr says no evidence of fraud that would change US election outcome – live
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What is it about the French Laundry?
Another California politician, San Francisco mayor London Breed, is under fire after it was revealed that she attended a birthday party at the three-star Michelin restaurant in Napa Valley – just one night after governor Gavin Newsom did the same.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to shorten its recommendation for how long individuals should quarantine after being exposed to someone with Covid-19, the AP reports.
Since the pandemic began, the CDC has recommended that individuals quarantine for 14 days after exposure. The new recommendations, which could be released later tonight, will recommend that individuals quarantine for 10 days after exposure, or seven days if they test negative for the disease.
Continue reading...Joe DiGenova condemned for ‘mob attorney’ remark made on podcast shown on conservative Newsmax TV
A former head of US election security who said Donald Trump’s defeat by Joe Biden was not subject to voter fraud should be “taken out at dawn and shot”, a Trump campaign lawyer said.
Related: Trump's fraud claims undermine democracy, ex-US election security chief says
Continue reading...Neuroradiologist who has no expertise in infectious diseases downplayed the threat of coronavirus
Scott Atlas has resigned as special adviser to Donald Trump, a White House official said on Monday, after a controversial four months during which he attacked science-based public health measures and clashed repeatedly with other members of the coronavirus taskforce.
“I am writing to resign from my position as Special Advisor to the President of the United States,” Atlas said in a letter to Trump dated 1 December, according to Fox News, which first reported his resignation. Atlas later confirmed his resignation in a tweet.
Continue reading...Wisconsin certification comes after partial recount expanded Biden’s margin, as president continues to fight results
Joe Biden’s victories in the US presidential election battlegrounds of Arizona and Wisconsin were officially recognised on Monday, handing Donald Trump six defeats out of six in his bid to stop states certifying their results.
The finalised vote counts took Biden a step closer to the White House and dealt yet another blow to Trump’s longshot efforts to undermine the outcome.
Continue reading...Georgia's secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, pushed back at groups 'exploiting the emotions of many Trump supporters' and misleading Donald Trump himself.
A vote recount was requested within two business days of certification in Georgia, where the margin was less than 0.5 percentage points in favour of Joe Biden.
The Trump campaign has also demanded an audit of the voter signatures that accompanied mail-in ballots
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Donald Trump has been losing Twitter followers since he lost the presidential election to Joe Biden – while the Democratic president-elect has been adding them.
According to Factbase, a website dedicated to tracking Trump’s public utterances, the president has lost 133,902 followers since 17 November while the president-elect has gained 1,156,610.
Related: Trump losing Twitter followers since election – as Biden gains them
It is not clear yet whether US democracy “survived” the 2020 presidential election unscathed.
If Donald Trump’s playbook of seeking to undermine a legitimate election becomes standard Republican practice – refuse to concede, make false claims of fraud, fan the flames of conspiracy, sue everywhere and refuse to certify any win by the other side – then American democracy might already have sustained a fatal wound.
Related: Five factors that helped US democracy resist Trump's election onslaught
Continue reading...There is reason to hope the president-elect will pivot from long-standing US policy of backing continent’s strongman leaders
How different is the Biden-Harris administration’s Africa policy going to be from Donald Trump’s, or even Barack Obama’s? Many African people, as well as the continent’s strongman leaders, are now gingerly asking – is Biden going to be Obama 2.0, or Trump-lite?
For the sake of black lives mattering everywhere in these turbulent times, I hope Biden will chart a bold new course, diametrically away from not only Trump but also Obama’s Africa policy.
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