US election 2020: Donald Trump digs in: recount rallies being planned to boost legal claims, reports
A messaging blitz and campaign-style rallies are reportedly being planned as Donald Trump refuses to concede and Scott Morrison welcomes Joe Biden as a leader of grit and integrity.
- Digging in: Reports Trump planning ‘recount rallies’
- Trump, allies pledge to intensify legal battle
- Saudi royals congratulate Biden
- Jill Biden ‘grateful to Americans’
- Melania ‘trying to persuade Trump to concede’
- Biden attends church, son’s grave
- Bush congratulates Biden
Welcome to rolling coverage of the US election. ‘Recount rallies’ are reportedly being considered as Donald Trump and his allies have pledged to intensify legal efforts this week to contest the presidential election. There are now just two states left to declare their results. President-elect Joe Biden has spent the morning in church while Melania Trump is reportedly among a growing number in Donald Trump’s inner circle trying to persuade him to concede the election. George Bush is among a number of Republicans who have congratulated Mr Biden.
Cameron Stewart 7.05pm: Trump teed off and looking for a fair way to save face
So what will Donald Trump do now? On Tuesday (AEDT) he will begin his promised series of court actions to allege electoral fraud and challenge the results of the presidential election.
We will see what this turns up and what sort of case the Trump team will make. But on the basis of what we know at this moment, Trump’s legal campaign to allege fraud and overturn this election is looking like a fizzer.
We have seen no evidence that would lead a court to turn the tide of a presidential election.
Deanna Paul, Brent Kendall, Corinne Ramey 6.35pm: What exactly are Trump’s legal claims?
President Trump and his allies have pledged to intensify legal efforts this week to contest the presidential election. Many of the lawsuits they have filed so far are limited in scope, making them unlikely to produce large vote swings even if successful.
Facing vote deficits in key states, Mr. Trump would need sweeping legal victories in all of them for any chance at closing the electoral gap with President-elect Joe Biden, who was declared the election’s winner on Saturday. The campaign over the weekend filed an additional lawsuit in Arizona and promised more elsewhere in the coming days. Judges in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada have already rejected its cases.
Larry Hogan 6.10pm: Biden’s mandate for moderation
I want to congratulate President-elect Biden on his victory. Everyone, regardless of political affiliation, should want him to succeed because we need our country to succeed.
Precisely because I want him and America to succeed, I’d like to offer Mr Biden some unsolicited advice. If he is going to heal and unify the nation, he must start by recognising that this goal is in conflict with the Democratic Party’s lurch leftward. Pushing a far-left agenda would bitterly divide the country. It may be what the loudest voices in Mr Biden’s party are demanding, but he wasn’t elected to divide and disrupt. He won the election because America is fed up with bitter partisanship, divisiveness and dysfunction.
Larry Hogan, a Republican, is governor of Maryland.
5.40pm: What day one of new presidential era looks like
Mick Mulvaney 5.10pm: If he loses, Trump will concede gracefully
I’ve been asked the same question at least a hundred times in the past week: If the President loses, will he participate in a peaceful transition of power?
The question probably says as much about those asking it as the answer does about US President Donald Trump. Most of the inquirers are the same people who still don’t understand why nearly half the country voted for Mr Trump. They still wonder if he somehow cheated his way into office. They still think he should’ve been impeached, believe the polls, and consider the Washington Post, New York Times and CNN reliable sources.
But, I am happy to answer: Yes.
Mick Mulvaney served as a US representative from South Carolina (2011-17), director of the Office of Management and Budget (2017-20) and acting White House chief of staff (2018-20)
Gabriel T. Rubin 4.38pm: Joe Biden wins: what happens next?
Former Vice President Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the presidential election by the Associated Press. Some votes remain to be counted and lawsuits have been filed over some ballot counting. Still, the results won’t be set in stone until states and the Electoral College follow a set of well-established protocols. What are these protocols, and what, if any, opportunities does President Trump’s campaign have to continue contesting the results?
Mick Mulvaney 3.54pm: ‘If he loses, Trump will concede gracefully’
I’ve been asked the same question at least a hundred times in the past week: If the President loses, will he participate in a peaceful transition of power?
The question probably says as much about those asking it as the answer does about US President Donald Trump. Most of the inquirers are the same people who still don’t understand why nearly half the country voted for Mr Trump. They still wonder if he somehow cheated his way into office. They still think he should’ve been impeached, believe the polls, and consider the Washington Post, New York Times and CNN reliable sources.
But, I am happy to answer: Yes.
AFP 3.15pm: Biden to name virus team as worldwide cases pass 50m
The global tally of people infected by the coronavirus has shot past 50 million, as US States President-elect Joe Biden prepares to name the scientists who will lead the country’s response to its disastrous outbreak.
The incoming leader has signalled he will prioritise the pandemic.
Covid-19 has left more than 237,000 people dead in the US and is surging across the country.
“The team being assembled will meet these challenges on Day One,” his new transition website said.
According to a Johns Hopkins University tracker, the number of cases in the US is nearing 10 million and shows no sign of slowing, despite Trump’s claims the world’s biggest economy is “rounding the corner.”
The virus has now claimed more than 1.25 million lives worldwide, according to an AFP tally, and over 50 million cases have been registered across the globe.
Debbie Schipp 2.30pm: ‘Messaging blitz’, recount rallies to boost legal claims: reports
Donald Trump and his team are planning to keep holding rallies to promote his unsupported election questions, multiple news reports say.
According to CNN, a messaging blitz and campaign-style rallies would focus on the possible recount battles and many lawsuits threatened by the President’s team, despite the fact Joe Biden has been named as the President elect, and that recounts are not expected to change the outcome of the election.
Axios reports Mr Trump will showcase obituaries of people who “supposedly Voted” as his legal moves escalate.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s lead holds in the remaining uncalled states.
According to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Jared Kushner, Rudy Giuliani and Jason Miller are urging Trump to hold recount rallies, But others in Trump’s circle are encouraging him to think about conceding.
Mr Trump has not addressed the media since Mr Biden was confirmed as the 2020 election winner.
Biden received nearly 74.6 million votes to Trump’s 70.4 million nationwide and has a 279-214 lead in the Electoral College that determines the presidency.
Biden also leads in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, and Georgia, which has 16. If he wins both, he would finish with 306 electoral votes.
Financial markets today welcomed Biden’s victory, with shares up in Tokyo and Hong Kong, and US futures up on Wall Street on Sunday evening.
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and other European countries sent congratulations to Biden, along with Australia, Canada, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan and South Korea. — with AFP
Richard Ferguson 2.20pm: Albanese calls for every US vote to be counted
Anthony Albanese has called for every vote in the United States election to be counted, as defeated US president Donald Trump refuses to accept the results.
After Scott Morrison welcomed President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory in question time and called him a man of grit and integrity, the Opposition Leader said Australia had to stand for democracy abroad.
Congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris on a victory delivered with record support with a progressive agenda based on decency, honest government, creating opportunity and dealing with the pandemic and the challenge of climate change
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) November 7, 2020
“I know Joe Biden. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him. I know firsthand that he is a great friend of Australia,” Mr Albanese told parliament.
“We must always speak up in favour of democracy, in favour of having every vote counted. One-person-one-vote, one value.
“And while we witness the strength of US democracy, we also see the dangerous circus of conspiracy theories casting shadows and doubt. They should be called out for the nonsense that they are ... We need top stand up for democratic values here and abroad.”
READ MORE: Bramston — Biden’s path to the presidency
Richard Ferguson 2.12pm: Morrison welcomes Biden’s grit, integrity
Scott Morrison says US President Joe Biden is a man of grit and integrity as he welcomes the Democrat’s election victory in the House of Representatives.
Before question time kicked off on Monday, the Prime Minister said the US-Australia relationship will go from strength to strength under Mr Biden’s leadership.
“President-elect Biden has been a good friend of Australia over many, many years. There is a shared affinity,” Mr Morrison said.
“President-elect Biden once said this about Australians: “In my view, Australians are defined by their character, by the grit, by their integrity, their unyielding resilience.”
“ Having witnessed the President-elect’s personal and public journey over many years, I believe we can say the same of him - a man of grit, character, integrity and unyielding resilience. Australia looks forward to working with him on the many challenges the world faces.”
Mr Morrison has written to Mr Biden and invited him and incoming First Lady Jill Biden to Australia next year to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the signing of the ANZUS defence treaty.
In question time, Mr Morrison also thanked defeated Republican incumbent Donald Trump for his support for Australia and said they will continue to work together till his term ends next January.
READ MORE: Gottliebsen — JSF doomed under Biden
Angelica Snowden 1.43pm: Biden presidency ‘could put pressure on Morrison’
A former US government official says a Biden presidency could put more pressure on Scott Morrison’s government to commit to clearer goals on preventing climate change.
Kim Hoggard – who worked with the Ronald Reagan and George H. W Bush administrations – said Mr Morrison’s government would be under pressure to respond to a change in global rhetoric after Joe Biden committed to a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
“Joe Biden has already said he will be rejoining the Paris Accord, he will be rejoining the World Health Organisation and those are the two most important things America needs to address the pandemic and climate change,” Ms Hoggard told 2GB.
“That will put some pressure on the Australian government to respond maybe on carbon emission targets and it’s an opportunity for the Australian government to rethink it’s position around that,” she said.
Mr Morrison’s government would welcome back a US that is “engaged with the world” and not an “America first isolationist policy”.
“(There will be) a little less of the high tension and the strong rhetoric towards China and a more diplomatic approach around the trade issues and the serious regional security issues,” she said.
“The government will welcome that stability that a Biden administration will bring back to the international community.”
Ms Hoggard said it was “highly unlikely” Donald Trump would remain in the White House despite his 10 legal challenges to Mr Biden’s presidential victory.
“The victory the Biden-Harris team has achieved is too great to affect any challenges or recounts that his campaign might try to instigate in the remaining key states that are still counting votes … it’s just too wide a margin,” she said.
“They are pretty frivolous lawsuits and most election law suits have indicated that there really isn’t anything in them.”
Greg Brown 1.24pm: ‘I didn’t suggest the PM call Trump’: Albanese
Anthony Albanese has claimed he never asked Scott Morrison to phone Donald Trump and ask him to concede the election.
The Opposition Leader was privately ridiculed in Labor ranks for urging the Prime Minister on Friday to “contact” the US President and ask him to respect the democratic process.
“Scott Morrison has a close relationship with President Trump. We saw that when he attended the de facto campaign rally in Ohio with President Trump,” Mr Albanese said on Friday.
“He should be contacting President Trump and conveying Australia’s strong view that democratic processes must be respected.”
On Monday, Mr Albanese denied he urged Mr Morrison to call Mr Trump.
“I didn’t suggest that, ever. What I suggested was that Scott Morrison needed to show in some way, that was one way he could have done it, demonstrate support for our democratic principles at a time when members of the Australian government have been out there questioning the democratic process,” Mr Albanese said.
If you question the democratic process in one country, you question it everywhere. And the fact is that there is a very clear outcome in the United States, its institutions have worked well, and the Prime Minister acknowledged that yesterday in saying that the United States “President-elect Joe Biden was indeed the President-elect, prior to Donald Trump conceding.
The fact is that the Prime Minister has had a very close relationship with Donald Trump.”
12.51pm: Trump to ‘brandish obituaries’ of voters
President Donald Trump is slated to “brandish obituaries of people who supposedly voted but are dead,” and continue to hold political rallies following his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, Axios is reporting.
“Obits for those who cast ballots are part of the ‘specific pieces of evidence’ aimed at bolstering the Trump team’s so-far unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud and corruption that they say led to Joe Biden’s victory,” White House journalist Alayna Treene stated in the report.
Debbie Schipp 12.23pm: Trump ‘interview’ fails to happen
Donald Trump may be playing possum with the media, after appearing to hint at an appearance that has so far failed to happen.
Trump tweeted this morning: “Watch @marklevinshow at 8:00 P.M. Will discuss the Mail-In Ballot Hoax!” leading many to assume he would be making his first media appearance since Joe Biden was declared next President.
Watch @marklevinshow at 8:00 P.M. Will discuss the Mail-In Ballot Hoax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
Instead, former Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr is appearing on the show.
It’s unclear if Trump will actually speak on Fox News tonight.
Trump’s tweet came among a barrage of tweets and retweets from Mr Trump, many of them flagged by Twitter — one of which was disputed by the social media giant less than a minute after it was posted.
Brighette Ryan 12.16pm: Trump’s former top economic Adviser congratulates Biden
Donald Trump’s former top economic Adviser Gary Cohn has congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory.
Congrats to President-elect @joebiden and Vice President-elect @kamalaharris. I wish them great success in leading our country. With over 145M votes cast, both campaigns should be applauded for getting an unprecedented number of citizens engaged in the democratic process.
— Gary Cohn (@Gary_D_Cohn) November 8, 2020
“Congrats to President-elect @joebiden and Vice President-elect @kamalaharris,” Mr Cohn wrote.
“I wish them great success in leading our country. With over 145M votes cast, both campaigns should be applauded for getting an unprecedented number of citizens engaged in the democratic process.”
Brighette Ryan 11.47am: Trump to speak at midday | WATCH LIVE
Donald Trump is set to make his first media appearance since Joe Biden was declared next President.
Watch the Fox News interview live in the video above this post.
AFP 11.40am: Maduro hopes to resume ‘decent’ dialogue
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro says he will work to resume “decent, sincere” political dialogue with the United States, a country with which his government maintains tense relations, once Joe Biden assumes the presidency.
“In time, … we will work, hopefully, to resume decent, sincere, direct channels of dialogue between the future government of Joe Biden” and Venezuela, the leftist leader said in a televised speech.
Maduro had said Saturday he was open to “dialogue” after congratulating Biden on his victory. Opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has declared himself the Latin American country’s interim leader, also congratulated the US president-elect.
The target of US sanctions aiming to force him from power, Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with Washington in January 2019, after President Donald Trump’s administration — along with around 60 other countries — recognised Guaido as Venezuela’s president.
“Donald Trump left a minefield between the government of the United States and Venezuela … he left a swamp. I know, we know,” Maduro said, adding he hoped Biden’s administration would end US “interventionism” in Latin America.
Washington has led international pressure to force the socialist leader from power and was one of the first countries to back Guaido’s January 2019 claim to be Venezuela’s acting president, after Maduro’s May 2018 re-election was deemed fraudulent.
The United States imposed financial sanctions on Venezuela, including an oil embargo in force since April 2019.
It has also accused Maduro of drug trafficking and offered a $15 million reward for information that would lead to his arrest.
Despite the pressure, Maduro remains in power, backed by the Venezuelan military as well as key allies Cuba, Russia, China, Turkey and Iran.
Debbie Schipp 11.05am: Trump appears set to make first media appearance
Donald Trump may be set to make his first media appearance since Joe Biden was declared next President, tweeted that he will appear on Mark Levin’s show on Fox News at 8pm ET tonight, (midday AEDT) where he says he will discuss “the Mail-In Ballot Hoax!”
Twitter has flagged the tweet, as it has may of Trump’s since last week, with an alert directing people to ‘learn how voting by mail is safe and secure’.
Watch @marklevinshow at 8:00 P.M. Will discuss the Mail-In Ballot Hoax!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
Wall Street Journal 10.56am: Trump, allies pledge to intensify legal battle
President Trump and his allies have pledged to intensify legal efforts this week to contest the presidential election. Many of the lawsuits they have filed so far are limited in scope, making them unlikely to produce large vote swings even if successful, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Facing vote deficits in key states, Mr. Trump would need sweeping legal victories in all of them for any chance at closing the electoral gap with President-elect Joe Biden, who was declared the election’s winner on Saturday. The campaign over the weekend filed an additional lawsuit in Arizona and promised more elsewhere in the coming days. Judges in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada have already rejected its cases.
Rudy Giuliani, one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers, said Sunday on Fox News that new legal claims would revolve around three issues: alleged barriers to observing the counting of mail-in ballots, alleged votes cast by the deceased and alleged backdated ballots.
He didn’t offer evidence of wrongdoing beyond suggesting one lawsuit would focus on allegations from dozens of witnesses that Republicans were prevented from observing the counting of hundreds of thousands of ballots in Pennsylvania.
Republicans already have a suit alleging poll observers weren’t allowed close enough in Pennsylvania. State election officials say GOP watchers weren’t denied access.
Even if a judge sided with a claim that GOP poll watchers were treated unfairly, it’s unlikely any judge would invalidate election results without evidence of widespread ballot fraud, said Richard H. Pildes, a constitutional law professor at New York University.
No major conservative attorneys have stepped forward to lead the charge, standing in contrast to the legal teams that emerged 20 years ago for the fights over the presidential election in Florida. The 2000 election was about a few hundred votes in one state, while today’s conflict is over tens of thousands in at least four states.
Debbie Schipp 10.30am: Legal challenges filed by Monday: Giuliani
The Trump campaign has mounted legal challenges to the results in several states, but no evidence has emerged so far of any widespread irregularities that would affect the results.
Rudy Giuliani told the Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures” that Trump’s team would file a lawsuit in Pennsylvania on Monday against officials “for violating civil rights, for conducting an unfair election (and) for violating the law of the state,” AFP reports
“The first lawsuit will be Pennsylvania. The second will either be Michigan or Georgia. And over the course of the week, we should get it all pulled together,” Giuliani said.
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, senior Biden Adviser Symone Sanders dismissed the court challenges as “baseless legal strategies.” Biden received nearly 74.6 million votes to Trump’s 70.4 million nationwide and has a 279-214 lead in the Electoral College that determines the presidency.
Biden also leads in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes, and Georgia, which has 16. If he wins both, he would finish with 306 electoral votes — the same total won by Trump in 2016 when he upset Hillary Clinton.
Only two Republicans senators, Mitt Romney and Lisa Murkowski, have congratulated Biden.
Democratic Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina said the Republican Party has a “responsibility” to help convince Trump it is time to give up.
Romney, who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial, said the president will eventually “accept the inevitable.”
But Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the 74-year-old president should keep fighting.
“We will work with Biden if he wins, but Trump has not lost,” Graham said on Fox News. “Do not concede, Mr. President. Fight hard.”
Anne Barrowclough 10.10am: Biden’s lead in Arizona less than 1 per cent
Donald Trump has cut into Joe Biden’s lead in Arizona, with the president elect now leading by just 18,553 votes.
Maricopa County (the state’s largest, which includes Phoenix) is expected to release new numbers at 10am (AEDT).
The county still has an estimated 44,000 ballots left to count and Pinal County has
21,000 early ballots left to count (including 1,800 provisional ballots).
Angelica Snowden 9.20am: Biden needs to win over Trump voters: Joyce
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has congratulated Joe Biden as the new president but warned he will need to win over the “massive number” of people who voted for Donald Trump.
“Remember Biden had the largest popular vote in American history, but the second largest was Trump,” Mr Joyce told the Seven network.
“There was a massive number of people who voted for Trump and he needs to keep them on board,” he said.
Despite welcoming Mr Biden’s ascension to the presidency, he said the US needed to stay “strong” and warned the age of the president-elect could subdue its superpower status.
“It is in our interest, in our interest, that America (continues) to be a world superpower so they have to bring the show back together,” he said.
“Congratulations to Mr Biden, but 78 years old, Kamala Harris is 56, there is a very good chance she will become the president of the United States herself.”
Anne Barrowclough 9.10am: Saudi royals congratulate Biden, Harris
Saudi King Salman and his son Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their win, the Wall St Journal reports.
The Saudi royals are among Mr Trump’s closest allies in the Middle East but Prince Mohammed said he hoped the two countries would continue to co-operate.
Mr. Trump stood by the royals despite international outrage at the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed in the Saudi embassy in Turkey. It is widely believed Prince Mohammed ordered his murder.
Before the election, Foreign Policy magazine predicted that the “zone of immunity” the Trump administration had placed around Saudi Arabia would be dismantled by a Biden administration.
“The country’s human rights record, its dealings in Yemen, and its reckless efforts to amass influence in its region are likely to emerge as sources of rhetorical tension, particularly with a Biden administration that isn’t looking to invest heavily in the Middle East,” Foreign Policy wrote.
“The crown prince has every reason to be worried. He played US President Donald Trump and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and pro-Saudi Middle East Adviser, well, convincing them that Saudi willingness to buy billions of dollars in US weapons, oppose Iran, and reach out to Israel mandated allowing the Saudis to do just about anything else in the region they wanted. But a President Joe Biden would be less likely to go along with Saudi Arabia.”
Anne Barrowclough 8.50am: Jill Biden ‘grateful to Americans’
Joe Biden’s wife Jill Biden “is enormously grateful” to Americans for electing her husband Joe as president-elect, according her spokesperson Michael LaRosa.
I am so proud to say @DrBiden will be your next First Lady of the United States of America. pic.twitter.com/qCc4lLeIBs
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) November 7, 2020
“Joe Biden will be a president for all Americans. She is spending time with her children and grandchildren in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Biden is focused on building her team and developing her priorities focused on education, military families and veterans, and cancer,” Mr LaRosa said in a statement.
During the presidential campaign, in which Dr Biden crisscrossed the country to support her husband, Mr LaRosa tweeted a picture of Dr Biden in the carry-on compartment of their plan.
“Dr. B knows how to make the job and the campaign trail fun. She’ll be a first lady with a sense of humour, grace, and passion” he wrote.
Dr.B knows how to make the job and the campaign trail fun. She'll be a first lady with a sense of humor, grace, and passion. pic.twitter.com/oKfkvhz1An
— Michael LaRosa (@MichaelLaRosaDC) August 10, 2020
Staff writers 8.30am: Tens of thousands of votes left to count
While the election has been firmly won by Joe Biden, there are still thousands of votes left to count, and the states of Georgia and North Carolina have not yet declared a winner.
Currently Joe Biden is still leading in Georgia by a margin of 10,196 votes but this result is heading for a recount as his lead is still under one per cent. Donald Trump is leading in North Carolina by 85,371 and is expected to hold the state.
Here is where the states currently stand.
Arizona
Joe Biden’s lead has decreased to 18,553 votes as more votes have come in.
Maricopa County (the state’s largest, which includes Phoenix) will release new numbers at 10am (AEDT).
The county still has an estimated 44,000 ballots left to count and Pinal County has
21,000 early ballots left to count (including 1,800 provisional ballots).
Georgia
Joe Biden has increased his lead in the state to 10,196. Counties still have outstanding ballots, including military, that need to be tabulated.
Fulton County (which includes Atlanta) discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Friday and officials re-scanned the ballots. About 5 per cent of ballots are left to count.
In Gwinnett County, there are a total of 535 absentee ballots, 965 provisional ballots and three military ballots left to be reviewed after a software glitch continued to hamper counting.
Pennsylvania
Joe Biden’s lead has grown to 42,818 votes as updated results (primarily regarding mail-in ballots that arrived after November 3 but were post-stamped and segregated by court order) are pending litigation in state court and in the Supreme Court.
The state website said there are 55,962 votes to be counted.
As of this morning (AEDT), the website says the following counties have outstanding votes to count:
Allegheny County (which includes Pittsburgh): 12,042 votes left
Philadelphia: 11,131
North Carolina
Donald Trump is leading by a margin of 2.1 per cent, with a lead of 85,371 votes. There are still around 166,000 uncounted ballots in North Carolina, including outstanding mail-in ballots, mail-in ballots received since Election Day and provisional ballots. The final count, which is not expected until Tuesday, isn’t expected to change the result.
Angelica Snowden 8.10am: Birmingham congratulates Biden
Trade minister Simon Birmingham has congratulated Joe Biden on securing victory as the US president, but stopped short of condemning Donald Trump’s refusal to concede defeat.
“We look forward to what will be a new chapter in the great alliance between Australia and the United States,” Senator Birmingham told the ABC.
“We have faith in the United States’ democratic and legal institutions to ensure a new transition of power, according to the will of the American people,” he said.
Congratulations @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris. Your historic victory will open another new chapter in the history of our great alliance. Australians look forward to working with you, continuing to bring our enduring values to our global cooperation. https://t.co/8LTy7AIglB
— Simon Birmingham (@Birmo) November 7, 2020
Senator Birmingham would not comment on Donald Trump’s failure to concede defeat, after Mr Trump claimed he won the election and vowed to challenge the result, claiming the vote counting was corrupt.
“It is Australia’s judgment that the election has been called for Joe Biden. He has claimed victory in that regard,” he said.
“We will continue to work with the Trump Administration through the period, right through to January 20.
“And thereafter, we look forward to working with the Biden administration, just as successfully as governments of all political persuasions in Australia have always worked successfully with administrations of all political administrations.”
Senator Birmingham would not speculate on Mr Biden’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 but reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement.
“What is helpful (are) the policies that actually change emissions profiles,” he said.
“That’s what we’re investing in Australia, and we look forward to the United States taking a complementary approach in investing similarly in terms of emissions reductions policies.
“What we want to see is that the rest of the world achieves the same type of success as we have in building a strong trajectory … But to get us to the point of net zero as soon as possible, the Paris Agreement commits all parties to achieving that in the second-half of this century.”
Angelica Snowden 8.05am: Littleproud defends Trump legal challenge
Agriculture minister David Littleproud says Donald Trump should be “afforded the same rights” as everyone else and allowed to legally challenge the result of the US presidential election.
“I get Donald Trump is not everyone’s cup of tea … if he feels aggrieved like I could be in Australia, I have a pathway to test that,” Mr Littleproud told the Nine network.
“That’s the beauty of democracy, it mightn’t be pretty at times,” he said.
“Within that process I respect the fact that President Trump feels aggrieved.
“That’s when they went to the election to preserve those very rights. We hope that happens quickly and that his aggrievement can be arbitrated very quickly by the courts and in some way or another the American people can move on with confidence that their democracy is intact.”
Mr Littleproud welcomed the election of Joe Biden and said Australia would continue its “strong relationship” with the US.
“We welcome the election of President-elect Biden and we’ll work with him as we did with President Trump,” he said.
“We have a strong relationship.”
Anne Barrowclough 8.00am: Confusion over Trump’s ‘best pollster in UK’
Meanwhile, confusion in the UK over a tweet from Donald Trump claiming the “best pollster in Britain” had concluded the election was stolen.
“We believe these people are thieves. The big city machines are corrupt. This was a stolen election. Best pollster in Britain wrote this morning that this clearly was a stolen election, that it’s impossible to imagine that Biden outran Obama in some of these states.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
Most mainstream pollsters in Britain had predicted a win for Joe Biden, so who was the “best” among their number who was now crying fraud?
UK media have pointed the blame at an article in the Sunday Express newspaper by Patrick Basham, who isn’t British at all but the Washington based director of the right wing Democracy Institute think tank
The Democracy Institute had predicted a landslide win for Mr Trump, who has tweeted some of their polls.
In his article, Mr Basham wrote: “I wrote last Sunday that, should our Biden popular vote projection be off by a couple of points, it would reflect voter fraud rather than our having missed a Biden landslide. My words were prescient …
“It defies logic Biden secured more votes than Barack Obama. If only valid votes are counted, Trump and Biden share the popular vote.
“Already, there is a mountain of evidence, direct and circumstantial, of widespread ballot fraud. This evidence is buttressed by the divergence between the supposed tallies in these contested states, the actual tallies in comparable Midwestern states, and the demonstrably accurate polls referenced earlier”.
After Mr Trump’s tweet, Joe Twyman, a respected British pollster is the founder and co-director of polling group DeltaPoll UK, joked that he was “devastated” he wasn’t regarded by Mr Trump as the best pollster in Britain.
Devastated to discover Trump does not think I am the "Best pollster in Britain".
— Joe Twyman (@JoeTwyman) November 8, 2020
Seriously though, while it would be (/is) easy to make a joke out of this, I really have no idea what he is referring to. Again.
Any ideas? https://t.co/Uwrgl08y2D
When Mr Basham was identified as the culprit, Mr Twyman tweeted again: “Needless to say the pollster in question is not British, he’s American. Unsurprisingly the rest of the claims are similarly weak in terms of their accuracy.”
Jim to the rescue! Needless to say the pollster in question is not British, he's American. Unsurprisingly the rest of the claims are similarly weak in terms of their accuracy. https://t.co/rvoAtpcqKq
— Joe Twyman (@JoeTwyman) November 8, 2020
Anne Barrowclough 7.15am: Trump team’s fake election news gambit
Greeting visitors to the Trump campaign team headquarters is a badly photoshopped image of the Washington Times from 2000, claiming Al Gore had won the election. Donald Trump’s campaign manager Tim Murtaugh tweeted the picture, saying: “A reminder that the president doesn’t select the president.”
Minutes later however, Glenn Kessler, a Washington Post fact checker, tweeted the correct picture of Washington Times front page giving Mr Bush the election.
“So on-brand (and pathetic) for the Trump campaign to use a photoshopped image. Look closely, the article actually says Bush won. Here’s the real cover,” he wrote.
So on-brand (and pathetic) for the Trump campaign to use a photoshopped image. Look closely, the article actually says Bush won. Here's the real cover --> pic.twitter.com/YQvcww9wrj https://t.co/ChVRxygAfa
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 8, 2020
The US was famously left on edge for weeks after the November 7 presidential election that year, with the Florida count in question.
On election night TV networks called the election for Al Gore, using the information from the Voter News Service – an Associated Press organisation used to determine the election outcome. However the polls had not yet closed in the Republican panhandle and later in the evening the networks moved to “too close to call,” before giving the election to George W. Bush then once more moving back to “too close to call.”
Mr Bush had actually conceded to Mr Gore before realising how close the Florida count was, and retracting his concession.
The count was ultimately settled in Mr Bush’s favour by the US Supreme Court.
Staff writers 7.00am: Biden win not yet formalised
Joe Biden’s transition team is still waiting for the federal government to formalise his win, a move that would trigger the flow of government resources to the president-elect’s team, the Wall St Journal reports.
More than a day after the election was called for Mr Biden, the General Services Administration has not “ascertained” the winner.
“Now that the election has been independently called for Joe Biden, we look forward to the GSA Administrator quickly ascertaining Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the President-elect and Vice President-elect,” transition spokesman Cameron French told the WSJ. “America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signalling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power.”
In past elections, the GSA has sent a letter identifying the winner within days of the Associated Press and major news networks calling the election, long before the results are made official by the Electoral College. In 2008, the letter was signed within hours.
The only time in recent history the GSA did not quickly identify a winner was in the aftermath of the tight 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Meanwhile, Alec Baldwin, who has spent much of the last four years parodying Donald Trump for Saturday Night Live, tweeted: “I don’t believe I’ve ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before.”
I don’t believe I’ve ever been this overjoyed to lose a job before!
— HABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) November 7, 2020
Anne Barrowclough 6.30am: Melania ‘trying to persuade Trump to concede’
Melania Trump is reportedly among a growing number of people in Donald Trump’s inner circle trying to persuade the president to accept that he has lost the election.
A tweet from Mrs Trump this morning (AEDT) appeared to back Mr Trump’s claims that mail-in ballots were illegal. Mrs Trump tweeted: “The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal – no illegal – vote should be counted.”
The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal - not illegal - vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) November 8, 2020
But sources in the White House told US media that Mrs Trump was of the opinion the battle was over.
Others in the White House are continuing to enable Mr Trump in his view that the election had been “stolen” from him. Close aide Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s personal lawyer, is urging him to continue with his court action and Eric and Donald Trump Jr have also been vocal in arguing that Mr Trump should fight the results. A White House spokesman has denied reports that Jared Kushner was telling Mr Trump to abandon his legal fight. The spokesman told the New York Times Mr Kushner was telling his father-in-law to pursue “legal remedies”
....Where it mattered, they stole what they had to steal. @newtgingrich
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
Mr Trump, who spent the morning on the golf course, continued to tweet his claims, saying this morning: “Where it mattered they stole what they had to steal,” and again accusing the “Lamestream Media” of wrongly calling the election.
Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
Mitt Romney, one of a handful of Republicans to congratulate Mr Biden, urged caution, saying it was destructive to claim fraud with no evidence.
“I understand why the president wants to keep on fighting, “ Mr Romney told CNN.
“But I do believe it’s destructive to the cause of democracy to suggest widespread fraud. And remember, the world is watching.”
Chris Christie, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, called for the Trump team to come up with evidence to back its claims.
“Friendship doesn’t mean that you’re blind. Friendship means that you will listen to somebody, give them the opportunity, and if they don’t come forward with the proof, then it’s time to move on,” Mr Christie told the ABC.
Anne Barrowclough 6.15am: Biden attends church, son’s grave
Joe Biden spent the morning of his first full day as president-elect quietly, going to church and visiting his son’s grave.
Mr Biden and his wife Jill attended mass at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church near their home in Wilmington, Delaware. After the service, Mr Biden visited the grave of his son Beau, who died in 2015. He was not expected to make another public appearance today.
Staff writers 6.00am: George W. Bush congratulates Biden
Former President George W. Bush said Sunday he had spoken to President-elect Joe Biden.
“I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night,” Mr. Bush said in a statement from Dallas. “I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency.”
“Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unity our country,” Mr. Bush said. “The president-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can.”
The former president, who had refused to endorse Donald Trump, added: “I want to congratulate President Trump and his supporters on a hard-fought campaign. He earned the votes of more than 70 million Americans — an extraordinary political achievement. They have spoken and their voices will continue to be heard through elected Republicans at every level of government.”
READ: Former President George W. Bush's statement on President-elect Joe Biden https://t.co/C9zlOSSFtw pic.twitter.com/VLTflp63zl
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 8, 2020
Mr. Bush expressed confidence in the ballot-counting process that Mr Trump has claimed, without evidence, is fraudulent. “President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated,” he said.
“The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.”
“We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbours, and for our nation and its future,” Mr. Bush said. “There is no problem that will not yield to the gathered will of a free people.”
Paul Kelly 5.50am: America delivered a new chance
It was a speech of restoration, renewal and hope. President-elect Joe Biden seeks to rekindle the American dream, end the demonisation and heal the divisions.
This is the message America needs. Biden radiated strength and a sense of presidential mission. The long four-year nightmare of Donald Trump’s narcissistic discord is terminated. America has a new chance.
Biden dedicates himself to govern for “the whole people” and “to rebuild the backbone of the nation — the middle class”. This will become his presidential template. In claiming victory Biden extended the olive branch to the 70 million Americans who voted for Trump.
“We are not enemies,” Biden said. “We are Americans. The Bible tells us that to everything there is a season — a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow. And a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America.”
Biden has claimed a “convincing” victory. The final numbers will verify a comfortable win. This result does not hinge upon just one state. Trump can pursue his legal challenges but he is doomed. Biden has moved decisively to pre-empt Trump’s inevitable tactic of de-legitimisation and a “stolen” election.
Agencies 5.45am: Trump fraud claims lack evidence
Minutes after US media declared Democrat Joe Biden victor in the tight race for the US presidency on Sunday, Donald Trump rejected that conclusion, saying he would prove in court that he was the winner.
“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” the US President said in a statement. “Legal votes decide who is president, not the news media.”
But experts say Mr Trump has little chance of reversing Mr Biden’s win, without having provided the evidence of widespread vote fraud needed to overturn results in several states.
“Trump’s litigation strategy is going nowhere. It is not going to make a difference to the election outcome,” said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California, Irvine.
Mr Trump said his campaign would take to the courts on Tuesday AEDT to “ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated”.
He pointed to expected recounts in states where Mr Biden is only a few thousand votes ahead. And he referred to Pennsylvania, where Republicans allege fraud and say thousands of late-arriving mail-in ballots were illegally counted.
READ the full story
Cameron Stewart 5.30am: Revenge tastes so sweet in The Swamp
Call it the revenge of The Swamp. Only seconds after CNN announced Joe Biden had defeated Donald Trump, the first car horn started blaring outside my Washington home. Within minutes, it became a cacophony of noise across my normally quiet, leafy neighbourhood.
Then came the neighbours, flooding into the street yelling and cheering, some with arms raised.
One man opposite my house, a former senior official with the Justice Department, jumped into his parked car and just sat on his car horn forever with a beatific grin on his face.
These weren’t just any neighbours, they were the human face of what Trump has derided for four year as The Swamp. These were the people who have always made Washington tick — lobbyists, lawyers, pentagon workers, diplomats, public servants, mums and dads.
They are machinery that keeps the capital of the world’s superpower turning and after the longest four years, this was their moment to savour, the downfall of the most anti-Washington president in living memory.
Within minutes there was a rush to get to the White House to join the gathering party. Text messages started flying around the neighbourhood, ‘I'm going now, you coming?’ Crowds quickly gathered outside the White House, along what is now called Black Lives Matter Boulevard.
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