Category Archives: Georgia

Kenosha police officers will not be charged in the shooting of Jacob Blake, prosecutor says – live

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Shortly before polls are set to close in Georgia, Barack Obama offered this reminder to voters: if you are in line at a polling place by 7 pm ET, do not leave.

Georgia voters—If you're in line before the polls close at 7 pm, stay there. You have the right to vote, no matter how long it takes. If you have questions, call the Georgia voter protection hotline at 1-888-730-5816. Let's bring this home.

That’s all from me today. I’m handing over to my colleague Joan E Greve, who will be with you as the polls close in Georgia and throughout the evening. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest stories so far:

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Georgia voters head to polls in critical Senate runoffs

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More than 3 million people voted early, a record for a runoff election, with significant numbers in Democratic-leaning areas

Georgia voters headed to the polls on Tuesday for the final day of voting in a critical election that will determine which party controls the US Senate and what Joe Biden can achieve in the first two years of his presidency.

After she cast her ballot on the chilly morning in Atlanta, Stephanie Aluko stood outside her polling place and noted how remarkable it was that the entire world was paying attention to her state.

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Trump call to Georgia secretary of state electrifies voters in Senate runoffs

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Some voters not surprised by president’s call but expressed uncertainty over how it would impact the race

An explosive recording of Donald Trump pressuring Georgia election officials to overturn the election results is further electrifying voters in Georgia’s elections for two US Senate seats, in Tuesday’s runoff that will determine which party controls Congress’ upper chamber.

In the call, made public by the Washington Post on Sunday, Trump pressured Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes”, to overturn Trump’s loss there. When Raffensperger refused, Trump suggested he and his aides may be committing a criminal offense.

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‘One state can chart the course’: Biden rallies in Georgia on eve of Senate runoffs

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President-elect speaks at Atlanta rally alongside Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and the Rev Raphael Warnock

Joe Biden urged Georgia voters to surprise the nation once again by sending two Democrats to the US Senate, on the eve of a pair of critical runoff elections that will determine the balance of power in Washington and the scope of the president-elect’s ambitious legislative agenda.

Biden, speaking at a drive-in rally in downtown Atlanta alongside the Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and the Rev Raphael Warnock on Monday afternoon, did not mention Donald Trump’s increasingly brazen efforts to overturn the results of the November election, which escalated this weekend when the president pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat in the state. Instead, he focused on what Democrats could accomplish with control of the Senate.

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Republicans divided: Trump creates new splits as party frets about Georgia

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The president’s baseless claims have pleased some in the party but turned off others, which does not bode well for the runoff results

Donald Trump has been marking the final days of his presidency by creating new fissures within the Republican party, at a time when the GOP needs to unify if it is to win two races in Georgia, which will decide control of the Senate.

Related: Trump's Republicans have dumped Lincoln – they're the Confederacy now | Lloyd Green

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Georgia official suggests Trump could face criminal inquiry over ‘find votes’ demand – live

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The Guardian’s Stephanie Kirchgaessner reports:

David Perdue, the Georgia Republican facing a Senate runoff election on Tuesday, has twice bought a significant number of shares in a US bank shortly after meeting with financial policy makers, raising more questions about his prolific stock trading while in office.

Related: Revealed: David Perdue bought bank stocks after meeting financial officials

DC mayor Muriel Bowser urged residents to avoid downtown in the next couple of days, as the city prepares for pro-Trump demonstrations in connection to Congress’ electoral vote count on Wednesday.

The Democratic mayor said at a press conference today, “We will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.”

[Bowser] urged calm Monday as some 340 National Guard troops were being activated while the city prepared for potentially violent protests surrounding Congress’ expected vote to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

According to a U.S. defense official, [Bowser] put in a request on New Year’s Eve to have Guard members on the streets from Jan. 5-7th, to help with the protests. The official said the D.C. National Guard members will be used for traffic control and other assistance but they will not be armed or wearing body armor. ...

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Kamala Harris says Trump’s call to Georgia secretary of state is ‘bold abuse of power’ – video

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The US vice-president-elect said a phone call made by Donald Trump to Georgia's secretary of state in which he asked to reverse his 3 November election defeat is a 'bold abuse of power'.

Speaking at a rally in Savannah on Sunday, Harris said the call was 'the voice of desperation'.

The Washington Post obtained the recording of a conversation on Saturday between Trump and Brad Raffensperger.

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Trump’s phone call to Brad Raffensperger: six key points

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Conversation between president and Georgia’s secretary of state laid bare Trump’s determination to cling on to power

Donald Trump has been recorded pressuring Georgia’s secretary of state to overturn US president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state, in a tape obtained by the Washington Post.

The conversation is mainly between Trump and Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, but Trump allies including Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and attorney Cleta Mitchell were also present, as was Ryan Germany, Raffensperger’s general counsel. Here are the main points:

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‘I just want 11,780 votes’: Trump pressed Georgia to overturn Biden victory

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In an hour-long phone call on Saturday, Donald Trump pressed Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to overturn Joe Biden’s victory there in the election the president refuses to concede.

Related: Healthcare to the electoral college: seven ways 2020 left America exposed | Robert Reich

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Biden seeks term-defining wins in Georgia runoffs Trump called ‘illegal’

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Contests will decide control of Senate and how far Biden can reach on issues such as pandemic, healthcare, taxation and environment

Campaigning continued in Georgia on Saturday in two Senate runoff elections which will define much of Joe Biden’s first term in office.

Related: Biden wants to fill federal court seats – but he needs to win the Senate first

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Biden and Harris to campaign in Georgia as Trump calls on its governor to quit

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Democrats and Republicans are deploying their big guns for the state’s runoff elections that will decide who controls the Senate

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will travel to Georgia to campaign for next week’s high-stakes Senate runoff elections, it was announced on Wednesday, as Donald Trump called on the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, to resign.

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Democrats in Georgia’s runoff elections raise more than $200m in two months

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Races will decide which party controls the Senate and, in turn, the legislative power of President-elect Joe Biden

Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both running for crucial US Senate seats in Georgia that will decide the fate of Joe Biden’s new administration, have raised over $100m each in just two months.

The announcement of the recent record-breaking hauls – which considerably exceed that of their Republican opponents – comes with less than two weeks to go until the runoff races are decided in special elections on 5 January.

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Biden campaigns for Georgia Senate Democrats following electoral college victory

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Biden supports Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, who face Republican senators in January runoff elections

Joe Biden was in Georgia on Tuesday campaigning for the Democrats in crucial Senate runoff elections, a day after addressing the American public for the first time as its official president-elect.

Related: Biden should get Covid vaccine soon as possible for ‘security reasons’, Fauci says

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Georgia Republican senator had ‘no idea’ she posed with neo-Nazi

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Kelly Loeffler spokesman disavows photo of her posing with white supremacist Chester Doles at campaign event

The campaign of the Georgia Republican senator Kelly Loeffler is disavowing a photo circulating on social media of her posing with a longtime white supremacist at a recent campaign event, with less than a month to go until the runoff elections that will determine the balance of the US Senate.

Loeffler did not know who Chester Doles was when she took a picture with him, her campaign spokesman, Stephen Lawson, said on Sunday. The picture was taken on Friday at a campaign event in Dawsonville, Georgia.

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States targeted in Texas election fraud lawsuit condemn ‘cacophony of bogus claims’

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Attorneys general from both parties reject baseless allegations in case filed with US supreme court

Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin on Thursday urged the US supreme court to reject a lawsuit filed by Texas and backed by Donald Trump seeking to undo Joe Biden’s victory, saying the case has no factual or legal grounds and makes “bogus” claims.

“What Texas is doing in this proceeding is to ask this court to reconsider a mass of baseless claims about problems with the election that have already been considered, and rejected, by this court and other courts,” Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general, wrote in a filing to the nine justices.

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Trump election fraud claims are hurting our state, says Georgia official – video

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Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's secretary of state, warned that Donald Trump's repeated claims the election had been stolen were causing damage, after two separate recounts confirmed Joe Biden had won the state. 'We have now counted legally-cast ballots three times, and the results remain unchanged,' Raffensperger said. 'Disinformation regarding election administration should be rejected. Integrity matters. Truth matters.'

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Georgia debate: Loeffler and Warnock spar over Trump election loss – video

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Republican senator Kelly Loeffler repeatedly dodged questions about Donald Trump's election defeat during her debate with Democratic opponent Raphael Warnock ahead of a crucial Senate runoff election in January. Declining to acknowledge Joe Biden had won after a direct question from Warnock, Loeffler said Trump had the right to 'legal recourse' . Warnock replied by attacking Loeffler's response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Georgia.

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Trump’s attacks on election integrity ‘disgust me’, says senior Georgia Republican

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Donald Trump’s attacks on Republican officials in Georgia and insistence his defeat by Joe Biden must be overturned are disgusting, the Republican lieutenant governor of the southern state said on Sunday.

Related: Just 27 of 249 Republicans in Congress willing to say Trump lost, survey finds

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‘If I lost, I’d be a very gracious loser’: Trump pushes false fraud claims in Georgia – video

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Donald Trump campaigned for two Republican senators in Georgia on Saturday, at a rally that some in the party feared could end up hurting their chances by focusing on his efforts to reverse his own election defeat. In his first rally appearance since he lost to Joe Biden, Trump repeated baseless claims of widespread fraud in the presidential election. The crucial January runoff will determine which party controls the Senate

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Trump heads for Georgia but claims of fraud may damage Senate Republicans

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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?

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