US Election 2020 LIVE – Georgia to recount votes by HAND despite officials saying there is no evidence of election fraud
GEORGIA has confirmed it will conduct a full election recount of millions of ballots by hand – despite no evidence of widespread fraud.
Recounting all votes means that a result will not be announced until November 20.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger broke the news on Wednesday, at a press conference in Atlanta saying: "With the margin being so close it will require a full by hand recount in each county."
According to Raffensperger, the action "will help build confidence" in legitimizing the election results.
It comes as President-Elect Joe Biden has blasted Donald Trump as an "embarrassment" for his "baseless" election fraud claims.
Biden said the transition of powers between his and the Trump regime will go ahead with or without the President's cooperation, as The Donald continues to falsely claim he was the real winner of last week's election.
It comes as House Democrats won their 218th seat on Tuesday, putting them firmly in the majority for the next Congress, although Republicans could hold on to the Senate if they win run-off votes in Georgia in January.
Follow our US Election 2020 blog for the latest news and updates…
- Chiara Fiorillo
TRUMP CONTINUES TO CLAIM HE WILL WIN DESPITE LOSING THE ELECTION
- Chiara Fiorillo
DR FAUCI SAYS ALL AMERICANS COULD HAVE COVID VACCINE BY APRIL
Dr Anthony Fauci predicted that all Americans could have access to a Covid-19 vaccine by April.
After Pfizer announced their vaccine was successful in clinical trials, Fauci said on Tuesday that a cure could be coming as soon as next Spring.
The pharmaceutical giant said interim findings from its large-scale clinical trial show it had 90 percent efficacy, which was better than expected.
The next day, Fauci told CNN: “It is likely, though the final determination has not been made, that healthcare providers who put themselves in harm's way to take care of individuals will be of the highest priority.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
NO SIGN OF FRAUD IN GEORGIA
Georgia's Republican Secretary of State said on Wednesday there was no sign yet of widespread fraud in his state's vote count, where Democratic President-elect Joe Biden currently has a 14,000 vote lead over President Donald Trump.
Brad Raffensperger, in an interview with CNN, said he has ordered a hand recount because of the closeness of the vote count, but he believed votes had so far been tallied accurately.
Biden's current lead, with nearly all votes counted, is 0.3%.
Asked about voter fraud, Raffensperger said: “We have ongoing investigations but we have not seen something widespread.”
He added there was no evidence yet of any discrepancies large enough that could reverse Biden's lead.
- Chiara Fiorillo
JOY-ANNA DUGGAR SUPPORTS 'ELECTION FRAUD' THEORIES
Countin On star Joy-Anna Duggar has been criticized by fans of the TLC show for allegedly supporting “election fraud” and sharing conspiracy theories after Donald Trump's presidential defeat.
The reality star has reportedly joined Parler, a “social networking service that has a significant user base of Trump supporters and conservatives,” and appeared to have liked a post that slammed Facebook for fact-checking.
The post read: “So Facebook can 'fact check' anyone and everyone who posts information they don't like but we can't demand vote checking for the election of the POTUS?”
A user named joy4site, the same as Joy's instagram account had “voted” on the post which is the equivalent of a “like.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
BUSINESS AS USUAL
“It's my understanding that it's business as usual in the East Wing,” a source with knowledge of Melania Trump's schedule told CNN.
“I'm not sure it's fair for anyone to expect them to start transitioning when the President has not yet conceded.
“If the President concedes, I'm sure the East Wing will be gracious and professional to the incoming administration, that's just how they work.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
MELANIA TRUMP 'HAS YET TO ACKNOWLEDGE JILL BIDEN'
Melania Trump has not acknowledged the next first lady Jill Biden and shunned a traditional meeting following Trump's 2020 defeat, reports say.
Melania has not reached out to her successor while Trump claims the election was rife with voter fraud, despite having no proof, and filed lawsuits in several battleground states clinched by Biden.
After her husband beat Hillary Clinton in 2016, Michelle Obama had tea with Melania, 50, at the White House and gave her the customary tour of her new Pennsylvania Avenue abode.
But Melania has issued no such invitation to Jill after Biden described Trump's refusal to concede as an "embarrassment” on Tuesday,
Read more here
- Chiara Fiorillo
SACRED OBLIGATION
- Chiara Fiorillo
OBAMAGATE CLAIMS
Trump's "Obamagate" claims date back to earlier this year, when he claimed it was “clear” that Obama and Biden were guilty of snooping on his campaign.
Trump said he believes that the former president masterminded the Russia investigation and forcing Michael Flynn into taking a guilty plea for lying to the FBI.
“New papers make CLEAR that the Obama Administration SPIED, in an unprecedented manner, on the Trump Campaign and beyond, and even on the United States Senate,” he tweeted on May 27.
Minutes later, Trump claimed Obama's alleged spying made the Watergate scandal “look like small potatoes.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
OBAMA ROASTED TRUMP OVER HANDLING OF CORONAVIRUS
Ahead of Election Day, Obama roasted Trump for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, claiming the president “doesn’t have a plan.”
“You think he's hard at work coming up with a plan to get us out of this mess? Well, I don't know, because I know he's had a tough week. Everybody's been very unfair to Donald Trump this week,” Obama said.
- Chiara Fiorillo
TRUMP SAYS 'OBAMA SPIED ON HIS CAMPAIGN'
President Donald Trump has reignited his long-standing feud with Barack Obama, claiming that his predecessor “spied” on his campaign.
Trump tweeted on Wednesday that the Democrat was “caught” spying, an assertion he's made multiple times prior to the 2020 presidential election.
- Chiara Fiorillo
'200 PAGES OF EVIDENCE'
Kayleigh McEnany brandished a 200-page dossier on TV last night insisting it contained 11,000 incidents of election fraud.
The White House press secretary appeared on Fox News after the network cut away from her presser on Monday as she laid out unsubstantiated claims of “illegal votes.”
McEnany then appeared on the news channel last night claiming to have compiled 500 affidavits from witnesses who alleged 11,000 incidents of fraud.
You can read more here
- Chiara Fiorillo
NEW ELECTION CHALLENGE
President Donald Trump's campaign filed a lawsuit in Michigan while Georgia announced a recount.
The Republican president's team went to federal court to try to block Michigan, a Midwestern battleground state that he won in 2016, from certifying the November 3 election results.
- Chiara Fiorillo
IN PICTURES: JOE BIDEN AND JILL BIDEN PAY THEIR RESPECTS
US President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden pay their respects during a Veterans Day stop at the Korean War Memorial Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
- Chiara Fiorillo
MEXICAN PRESIDENT STANDS FIRM ON NOT CONGRATULATING BIDEN
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is one of the few leaders of major countries yet to congratulate Joe Biden on his presidential election win.
He says he has no side in the US election, and will wait until legal challenges launched by the Trump administration over the vote have played out.
“We can't make any kind of recognition of a government that is not yet legally and legitimately constituted,” he told a news conference.
“It's not up to us, that's interventionism.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
'I'LL NEVER BETRAY THE VALUES YOU FOUGHT FOR', JOE BIDEN TELLS ARMED FORCES
- Chiara Fiorillo
BREAKING: GEORGIA WILL DO RECOUNT BY HAND
Georgia's secretary of state announced that the state will conduct a full election recount of millions of ballots by hand – delaying the results until November 20.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger broke the news on Wednesday, at a press conference in Atlanta saying: “With the margin being so close it will require a full by hand recount in each county.”
According to Raffensperger, the action “will help build confidence” in legitimizing the election results.
“It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvas all at once,” he added.
Click here to read more
- Chiara Fiorillo
CNN HOST MOCKS TRUMP
A CNN host mocked Donald Trump by asking “where has he been” since his “embarrassing” loss to Joe Biden.
John Berman mocked Trump on Wednesday for going into “hiding” hours before the president's first public appearance on Veteran's Day.
Berman dismissed his "New Day" co-anchor Alisyn Camerota's suggestion that Trump is “plotting” as his base prepare for a march on Washington DC.
“I just don’t think we can push this aside: where has the president been?” Berman remarked during the early morning segment.
“It’s been since Thursday that we’ve seen his face. So he is in some sort of hiding.”
More on the story here
- Chiara Fiorillo
BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT ATTACKS JOE BIDEN
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who portrays himself as a close friend of US President Donald Trump, took a swipe at President-elect Joe Biden, referring to him as a “candidate” and assailing him for his stand on the Amazon rainforest.
Bolsonaro is one of a small group of prominent world leaders yet to congratulate Biden on his election win.
Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Bolsonaro took issue with Biden's call during a US presidential debate in September for Brazil to fight deforestation with foreign help or face unspecified “economic consequences.”
“We saw recently there a great candidate to head of state say that if I don't put out the fire in the Amazon, he will put up commercial barriers against Brazil,” Bolsonaro said.
“And how can we deal with all that? Just diplomacy is not enough … When saliva runs out, one has to have gunpowder, otherwise it doesn't work.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
BREAKING: TRUMP WINS ALASKA
Donald Trump has won Alaska in the US presidential election – but he is yet to concede victory to Joe Biden.
Awarding Alaska's three Electoral College votes to Trump will not change the outcome of the November 3 election.
Pictured: Trump dances after speaking at a campaign rally at Richard B. Russell Airport in Rome, Georgia, on November 1
- Chiara Fiorillo
FACEBOOK EXTENDS BAN ON US POLITICAL ADS
As election misinformation continued to rage online, Facebook said its post-election ban on political ads would likely last another month.
“While multiple sources have projected a presidential winner, we still believe it's important to help prevent confusion or abuse on our platform,” Facebook told advertisers in an email seen by Reuters.
The email told advertisers to expect the pause to last another month though there “may be an opportunity to resume these ads sooner.”
- Chiara Fiorillo
BORIS JOHNSON SAID HE HAD AN 'EXCELLENT' CONVERSATION WITH JOE BIDEN
Boris Johnson has said he had an “excellent” first conversation with US president-elect Joe Biden.
“It was an excellent conversation that flowed over all the things that have really traditionally united the UK and the US so it was a return to the kind of business we are used to doing together,” he told reporters during visit to a Tesco distribution centre in south-east London.
“Sticking up for democracy around the world, human rights, free trade, Nato – Joe Biden is a very strong believer in the transatlantic alliance and indeed the special relationship – and above all climate change.
“He wants to join us next year in leading the world to get global greenhouse emissions down at the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.”
- Dan Keane
UK-US RELATIONS BACK TO 'BUSINESS AS USUAL'
British prime minister Boris Johnson has said that his call with President-elect Biden was a return to traditional UK-US relations.
Asked about their conversation, Mr Johnson told reporters: “It was a kind of return to the kind of business that we're used to doing together: sticking up for democracy around the world, human rights, free trade, NATO, our joint security, the transatlantic alliance … and above all climate change.”
It comes as a thinly veiled blow to President Trump, who was regarded as a personal friend to the British leader.
- Dan Keane
PICTURED: TRUMP LAYS A WREATH ON VETERANS DAY
President Trump attended a wreath-laying ceremony in rainy weather at Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, in his first public appearance since losing the election.
In a written statement released earlier in the day he said: “We enjoy the privileges of peace, prosperity, and freedom because of our veterans, and we are forever indebted to them beyond measure.”
The President made no public remarks at the ceremony.
- Dan Keane
OFFICIALS FEAR TRUMP COULD USE FINAL DAYS IN OFFICE TO LAUNCH ATTACK ON IRAN
Donald Trump could use his final days in office to launch a military strike against Iran after firing Defense Secretary Mark Esper, it's feared.
Pentagon officials are reportedly concerned the outgoing president is clearing the way for a sudden attack against the Islamic Republic.
Esper – fired by tweet on Monday had previously contradicted Trump over Iran and the US drone strike which killed its top general Qassem Soleimani earlier this year.
According to the New York Times: “Defense Department officials have privately expressed worries that the president might initiate operations, whether overt or secret, against Iran or other adversaries during his last days in office.”
Read our full report here.
- Dan Keane
BREAKING: GEORGIA'S SECRETARY OF STATE ANNOUNCES RECOUNT
Georgia's secretary of state Brad Raffensperger has announced that a statewide recount of ballots cast in the election.
He told a press conference: “With the margin being so close, it will require a full, by-hand recount in each county.”
Mr Raffensperger, a Republican, said the state will work alongside county officials to complete the recount ahead of November 20 – the official deadline for certifying statewide election results.
He added that the recount will “help build confidence”, amid unfounded claims from the President of widespread voter fraud during the election.
According to NBC, Biden retains a lead of over 14,000 votes in Georgia.
