Court scathing of Donald Trump’s ‘alchemy’ claims in US election
Donald Trump’s latest attempts to prove voting fraud in the US general election have been met with contempt but the president has doubled down regardless.
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A federal appeals court has flatly dismissed President Donald Trump’s claim that the election was unfair and refused to freeze Joe Biden’s win in the key state of Pennsylvania.
AFP reports, in a scathing review of the Trump campaign’s arguments that the president was cheated in his November 3 re-election bid, three appeals court judges unanimously said that allegations of unfairness were not supported by evidence.
“Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so,” the court said.
In appealing a lower court ruling, the Trump campaign claimed discrimination, the judges noted.
“But its alchemy cannot transmute lead into gold,” the court said.
It was the latest in more than two dozen court defeats around the country for the Trump campaign and Republicans who have alleged fraud and other misconduct contributed to the president’s loss.
Trump persists in arguing that Biden’s clear victory is invalid. “Just so you understand, this election was a fraud,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Last week a Pennsylvania state court rejected arguments by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani that the millions of votes in the state should be thrown out due to fraud.
The judge in that case, however, embarrassed Giuliani by forcing him to admit that none of his precise claims before the court involved fraud or anything more than technical issues in overseeing the vote count.
On Tuesday the Pennsylvania government officially certified Biden’s victory in the state, and the Trump campaign appealed to federal court to have that certification frozen.
But the appeals court said Trump’s campaign had nothing substantial to argue. “Its allegations are vague and conclusory,” the judges said. “It never alleges that anyone treated the Trump campaign or Trump votes worse than it treated the Biden campaign or Biden votes.”
With Biden’s national lead in the popular vote and the electoral college now virtually unassailable, the court indicated that another appeal, to the US Supreme Court, would go nowhere.
“The campaign has already litigated and lost most of these issues,” the court said.
“The campaign cannot win this lawsuit. It conceded that it is not alleging election fraud.” Nevertheless, Jenna Ellis, a Trump campaign lawyer who worked with Giuliani on the case, tweeted their intent to appeal.
“The activist judicial machinery in Pennsylvania continues to cover up the allegations of massive fraud … On to SCOTUS!” she said, referring to the Supreme Court
TRUMP TOUCHES ON ‘ASSASSINATION’
Trump appeared to comment on Iran saying one of its most prominent nuclear scientists was assassinated on Friday in an attack on his car outside Tehran.
The scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was “seriously wounded” when assailants targeted his car before being engaged in a gunfight with his security team, Iran’s defence ministry said in a statement.
It added that Fakhrizadeh, who headed the ministry’s research and innovation organisation, was later “martyred” after medics failed to revive him.
Fakhrizadeh, once described by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the father of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, had been travelling in a car in Tehran province.
Mr Fakhrizadeh’s assassination comes less than two months before Joe Biden is to take office as US president.
Mr Biden has promised a return to diplomacy with Iran after four hawkish years under incumbent US President Donald Trump, who withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and began reimposing crippling sanctions.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh has been assassinated in Damavand, east of Tehran according to reports in Iran. He was head of Iran’s secret military program and wanted for many years by Mossad. His death is a major psychological and professional blow for Iran.
— Yossi Melman (@yossi_melman) November 27, 2020
Mr Trump said at the time that the deal known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action did not offer sufficient guarantees to stop Tehran from acquiring an atomic bomb.
Iran has always denied it wants such a weapon.
Mr Trump on Friday retweeted reports on Mr Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, without commenting on it himself.
Also on Friday, local time, Mr Trump again tweeted that he believes the victory of President-elect Joe Biden was fraudulent.
Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes†were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2020
‘HARD TO CONCEDE’: TRUMP FINALLY SAYS HE WILL LEAVE
It comes as Mr Trump said he is finding it “very hard” to concede the US election, but revealed he will leave the White House when the time comes for Joe Biden to move in.
The US President spoke to the media after he made a Thanksgiving teleconference call with troops serving overseas, where he explained why he finds it tough to concede the election.
“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud,” he said.
But he said he would leave if the time came for him to go before Mr Biden’s inauguration.
“Certainly I will. And you know that,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House.
He also wouldn’t say if he would attend his inauguration.
He added it would be a “mistake” for the Electoral College to elect Mr Biden when they meet on December 14.
“If they do they made a mistake,” he said.
Mr Trump said “a lot of things happening between now and January 20th” and the election results have a “long way” to go.
The president has refused to concede the election even as his legal cases challenging the results have not found any evidence of fraud.
TRUMP PARDONS FLYNN AFTER LIES TO FBI
Trump has pardoned Michael Flynn, the former security adviser whose lies about his Russian contacts spurred the troubling investigation into Trump campaign collusion with Moscow.
The pardon, which was expected, came in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency, two years of which was spent fighting the allegations that he had overseen and sought to cover up a dangerous scheme of co-operation with Russia.
Flynn had pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI in the early days of that investigation, and was forced to resign as Trump’s national security Adviser in February 2017, less than four weeks into the administration.
But after pleading guilty, twice, to a Washington federal court, the former Pentagon intelligence chief did an about-face, seeking to withdraw his plea just prior to sentencing.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Trump tweeted, wishing the retired army lieutenant general a “truly fantastic thanksgiving!” holiday.
Flynn was initially targeted in an FBI counterintelligence investigation after he held secret phone calls with the Russian ambassador to the United States in December 2016, after Trump’s election victory but before he took office.
In one key phone call Flynn sought to diminish the impact of sanctions and expulsions announced by then-president Barack Obama against Moscow for its interference in the 2016 election.
Coupled with Flynn having taken significant sums of money over the previous two years for appearances with Russian companies — including one in which he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin at a Moscow gala — US investigators were concerned that Trump’s top national security aide may be vulnerable to compromise.
Trump’s efforts to defend and protect Flynn in the early months of 2017 led to the naming of an independent counsel, Robert Mueller, whose investigation into both collusion and obstruction of justice clouded the first half of Trump’s tenure in office.
But Trump always defended Flynn, calling the case against him a politicised “witch hunt”.
Democrats expressed outrage at Flynn’s pardon, which came as the judge in charge of his case refused Justice Department efforts to drop it.
“Trump has once again abused the pardon power to reward Michael Flynn, who chose loyalty to Trump over loyalty to his country,” said Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee which also investigated Russian collusion.
“Flynn lied to the FBI about his communications with the Russians — efforts which undermined US foreign policy after sanctions were imposed on Russia for interfering in our elections,” he said.
“A pardon by Trump does not erase that truth, no matter how Trump and his allies try to suggest otherwise.”
CHINA CONGRATULATES BIDEN
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Joe Biden on his US election victory, state media reported.
In his telegram, Xi said both countries should “stick to no conflict or confrontation, mutual respect, (and) the spirit of win-win co-operation” in order to promote the “noble cause” of world peace and development.
Xi’s message came more than two weeks after several other major countries had congratulated Mr Biden.
US-China relations have hit historic lows in recent months, as the two superpowers have traded barbs over a variety of issues including the trade war, espionage allegations, human rights, media freedoms and tech rivalry.
Both countries have repeatedly attacked each other’s handling of the deadly coronavirus pandemic, with Washington blaming China’s lack of transparency during the initial outbreak in Wuhan late last year.
Xi added that the “healthy and stable development of US-China relations accords with the fundamental interests of both peoples”.
Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan also sent a congratulatory message to Kamala Harris on her election as US vice president, Xinhua news agency reported.
Beijing had previously offered low-key congratulations to Mr Biden and Harris on November 13, well after several major countries had congratulated the president-elect on his victory after days of turmoil and anticipation as votes in key states were finalised.
“We understand the US election results will be confirmed based on US law and procedure,” said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin during a routine briefing at the time.
Chinese media’s response to Mr Biden’s victory since the result was confirmed earlier this month has been similarly muted.
TRUMP’S BIZARRE CAMERA APPEARANCE
Donald Trump made an unexpected camera appearance today but left after a minute without taking questions.
The surprise show came less than 24 hours after allowing the presidential transition process to begin.
In a news briefing in the White House briefing room, the president praised his administration after the Dow surged past 30,000 points for the first time.
But he did not offer a concession or take questions from reporters.
“I just want to congratulate everybody. The stock market Dow Jones Industrial Average just hit 30,000, which is the highest in history,” he said shortly before 1pm, local time.
“We’ve never broken 30,000. And that’s despite everything that’s taken place with the pandemic.
“I’m very thrilled with what’s happened on the vaccine front. That’s been absolutely incredible. Nothing like that has ever happened, medically. And I think people are acknowledging that, and it’s having a big effect.
“But the stock market’s just broken 30,000. Never been broken, that number. That’s a sacred number, 30,000. Nobody thought they’d ever see it.
“That’s the ninth time since the beginning of 2020. And it’s the 48th time that we’ve broken records during the Trump administration. And I just want to thank all the people within the administration that worked so hard, and most importantly I want to congratulate the people of our country, because there are no people like you.”
He then left the room followed by Vice President Mike Pence.
Reporters were apparently given less than three minutes’ notice of the briefing.
TRUMP VOWS 'BIG LAWSUIT’
Mr Trump has continued to insist he will soon present evidence of widespread voter fraud and other alleged malfeasance in “great detail” in a “big lawsuit”.
In a slew of tweets on Tuesday (local time), Mr Trump did not say why he had not already presented that evidence in the many lawsuits his team has had thrown out of court in recent weeks.
Bizarrely, Mr Trump also retweeted a slew of outlandish tweets by actor Randy Quaid (best known for the film, Christmas Vacation), for a full re-do of the vote – despite his administration finally having begun the official process of transition to Joe Biden’s leadership on Monday.
In a further blow to Mr Trump, Pennsylvania officially certified Mr Biden’s election victory in the state over the US President on Tuesday (local time), a day after the president agreed to a transition but stopped short of conceding.
Governor Tom Wolf tweeted that the Pennsylvania Department of State had “certified” the results of the November 3 vote, after Michigan did the same on Monday.
“As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,” Mr Wolf wrote.
As of Tuesday, votes for Mr Biden had passed 80 million. Mr Trump, so far, has received more than 70 million votes.
BIDEN INTRODUCES TEAM
Mr Biden formally introduced his nominees for top national security and foreign policy posts on Tuesday (local time) as the White House transition finally gets underway with Mr Trump effectively — if not explicitly — admitting defeat.
The green-lighting of the transition came after Michigan certified a Biden victory on Monday and more members of Mr Trump’s Republican Party came out demanding the impasse end.
Mr Biden, 78, revealed his picks on Monday for secretary of state, national security Adviser, secretary of homeland security, and other top administration posts.
The president-elect and Senator Kamala Harris, the vice president-elect, publicly presented the nominees to the press at an event in Mr Biden’s hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Mr Trump, who has made few public appearances since his election defeat, was scheduled to attend a traditional thanksgiving turkey-pardoning event at the White House.
Mr Biden’s public unveiling of his nominees comes after Mr Trump signed off on the start of the White House transition while still refusing to concede the November 3 election.
The outgoing president acknowledged on Monday it was time for the General Services Administration (GSA) to unblock funding for the Biden transition team.
On Monday night, Mr Trump finally said he no longer opposes government aid for Mr Biden’s transition team in his closest statement yet to finally conceding he lost the US election.
Mr Trump’s tweet that the General Services Administration should “do what needs to be done” came after the agency’s head Emily Murphy said she was releasing the long-delayed assistance.
Mr Trump has spent the last three weeks since the November 3 election claiming without any evidence that Mr Biden’s convincing victory was the result of fraud. Ms Murphy, who denies acting under political pressure, has refused until now to release the standard package of aid that her agency manages to Mr Biden’s incoming team.
Mr Trump, however, continued to insist, however, that he would ultimately be declared the winner of the election despite having failed to present any credible evidence of fraud and suffering a string of humiliating defeats in court.
“Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail!” he tweeted.
Mr Trump continued in the same defiant vein on Tuesday (local time).
“The GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be,” he tweeted.
He also retweeted a picture of himself in the Oval Office with the caption: “I concede NOTHING!!!!!”
TRUMP TOLD TO ‘MOVE ON’ AS BIDEN NAMES TOP STAFF
It comes as another of Mr Trump’s closest allies has implored the US President to concede, recognise the election is over and “move on”.
Stephen Schwarzman, who is chief executive of The Blackstone Group, urged Mr Trump to accept he has lost and allow president-elect Joe Biden to transition into the White House.
Mr Schwarzman told news website Axios he was a “fan of good process” and “the country should move on” as the outcome of the 3 November vote was “very certain today”.
More than 100 former Republican national security officials have also signed a letter demanding party leaders denounce Mr Trump’s refusal to concede the presidential election, labelling it a dangerous and anti-democratic assault on US institutions.
On Monday, Mr Biden announced more members of his senior staff including Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; and former presidential candidate John Kerry who has been named Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
Despite all of this, Mr Trump remains defiant despite repeated failures by his legal team to prove their allegations in court.
The president, meanwhile, has largely halted at least his public work duties, while heading out to a golf course he owns in Virginia half a dozen times since the election.
On Monday (local time), the White House once more announced that Mr Trump had no public events scheduled.
He has also not taken questions from reporters since the election — a previously unimaginable silence from a president who for most of his time in office sparred near daily with the press.
His options, however, are dwindling rapidly.
With Mr Biden having won a comfortable victory, Mr Trump is seeking to disrupt the normally routine process of state-by-state certification of results, followed by the formal December 14 vote by the Electoral College.
His campaign’s latest focus is on seeking a two-week delay to certification of results in Michigan, which Biden won by 155,000 votes on November 3.
A Michigan state board was set to meet on the issue on Monday (local time).
Pennsylvania, another crucial state in Biden’s win, was expected to issue its certification after a federal judge threw out the latest baseless Trump challenge on Saturday.
More cracks appeared in the facade of Republican unity over the weekend with Mr Trump confidant and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie calling the president’s legal team a “national embarrassment.”
Senator Patrick Toomey, from Pennsylvania, said after the court ruling there that Mr Trump had “exhausted all plausible legal options.”
WATERGATE REPORTER SAYS SENATORS HAVE ‘CONTEMPT' FOR TRUMP
It comes as Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein named the 21 Republican senators who he claims have “privately expressed” their “extreme contempt” for Mr Trump.
In a series of tweets on Sunday evening, Mr Bernstein, 76, listed 21 Republican senators who he claimed had expressed concern to him over Mr Trump’s presidency.
“I’m not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentiality in reporting this: 21 Republican Sens – in convos w/ colleagues, staff members, lobbyists, W House aides – have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump and his fitness to be POTUS,” the legendary journalist tweeted.
“The 21 GOP Senators who have privately expressed their disdain for Trump are: Portman, Alexander, Sasse, Blunt, Collins, Murkowski, Cornyn, Thune, Romney, Braun, Young, Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Rubio, Grassley, Burr, Toomey, McSally, Moran, Roberts, Shelby.
“With few exceptions, their craven public silence has helped enable Trump’s most grievous conduct — including undermining and discrediting the US electoral system.”
Mitt Romney, Pat Toomey, Lisa Murkowski and Ben Sasse have all criticised Mr Trump for refusing to concede 3 November’s election to President-elect Joe Biden and for filing multiple lawsuits in several swing states after falsely claiming voter fraud.
While Texas senator John Cornyn has criticised Mr Trump for refusing to give intelligence briefings to Mr Biden as part of the White House transition.
BIDEN NAMES MORE SENIOR STAFF
Mr Biden announced key members of his foreign policy and national security team on Monday (local time).
The team included Antony Blinken, Secretary of State; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security; Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence; Linda Thomas-Greenfield, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser; and John Kerry, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.
“The American people are eager for our Administration to get to work, and today’s appointees will help advance our agenda and ensure every American has a fair shot. In a Biden administration, we will have an open door to the Hill and this team will make sure their views are always represented in the White House,” Mr Biden said.
The nomination of deeply experienced Antony Blinken for secretary of state highlights his message that a steady hand is back at the helm, in contrast to Mr Trump’s ongoing but flailing attempts to overturn the election.
Mr Biden’s selection signal the Democrat’s overriding desire to lower the temperature in Washington and restore traditional US leadership abroad.
Mr Blinken, a former number two of the State Department and a longtime Adviser to Mr Biden, would spearhead a fast-paced dismantling of Mr Trump’s disruptive “America first” policies, starting with rejoining the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organisation and resurrecting the Iran nuclear deal.
The appointments of Jake Sullivan as national security Adviser and career diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield for UN ambassador were predicted.
Like Mr Blinken, they are both strongly rooted in government service careers and served under president Barack Obama when Mr Biden was vice president.
Mr Biden also named Reema Dodin and Shuwanza Goff as deputy directors of legislative affairs Monday. Both are women of colour, further fulfilling his campaign promise to shape an administration that reflects the diversity of the country.
The picks underline an emphasis on professionals whom Mr Biden already knows well, in contrast to the Trump White House where officials were often picked without having traditional background for the job or proved incompatible and departed in acrimony.
The expected announcements come against an unprecedented backdrop of Mr Trump refusing for the third week to acknowledge his election defeat and blocking Mr Biden’s access to the normal process for preparing an incoming government.
Mr Biden is to be sworn in on January 20, but so far only a slowly growing minority of Republican leaders has denounced Mr Trump’s conspiracy theory that mass fraud robbed him of victory, despite there being no evidence for this.
Many of Mr Biden’s cabinet picks will require confirmation in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority, although this could change if Democrats score an upset victory in two Georgia Senate run-off elections.
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