Is President Trump directing the GSA to decline to call Joe Biden the president-elect? They won’t say

Agency misses deadline for giving a response to Congress

The General Services Administration has missed a deadline to say whether the decision to not recognize President-elect Joe Biden is at the personal direction of outgoing President Donald Trump.

Three House Democrats wrote to GSA Administrator Emily Murphy on Monday questioning why the agency has not issued an ascertainment that Biden is in fact the president-elect.

Among the questions from Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell Jr. of New Jersey, Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia and Dina Titus of Nevada were about specific interactions between GSA and White House personnel, up to and including the president himself. Continue reading.

Senate GOP calls grow to give Biden access to intelligence briefings

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Several Senate Republicans are joining calls for President-elect Joe Biden to get access to intelligence briefings, in a break with the Trump administration.

Most GOP senators aren’t yet ready to say Trump lost reelection but, in a potential hat tip to the inevitable outcome, they are publicly calling for Biden to get access to the sort of intelligence briefings that will help him hit the ground running in January. 

“I would think, especially on classified briefings, the answer is yes,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Continue reading.

Electoral College Republicans In Wisconsin And Nevada Affirm Biden Victory

President-elect Joe Biden, when all of the vote-counting is completed, might end up with more than 300 electoral votes. But President Donald Trump is still refusing to concede despite Biden’s decisive victory, making baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. BuzzFeed News spoke to 11 members of the Electoral College in battleground states — and most of the interviewees, including some Republicans, expressed confidence that Biden won the 2020 presidential election fair and square.

BuzzFeed reporters Albert Samaha, Amber Jamieson and Rosalind Adams explain, “Biden doesn’t officially secure his spot in the Oval Office until the Electoral College votes on December 14. Normally, this step is mostly ceremonial, as electors vote for the same candidate as their constituents did. But Trump and a growing list of Republican supporters are attempting to undermine and delegitimize Biden’s win after months of attempting to suppress the vote. Trump and his campaign are amplifying baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.”

The journalists continue, “Amid this, some states allow electors to choose any candidate, regardless of vote counts, leaving open the possibility of so-called faithless electors swinging the election at the last minute. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this summer, however, that states could punish electors who do not vote for the winner of the popular vote in their state.” Continue reading.

Pressure mounts on state Republicans as lawsuits challenging election results founder

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Pressure mounted on state and local officials in battleground states to accept claims of ballot-counting irregularities and voter fraud in the election despite a lack of evidence, as Republicans sought new ways to block certification of Joe Biden’s clear victory in the presidential race.

In Michigan, Republican lawyers lobbied the Wayne County canvassing board to consider evidence of alleged improprieties before certifying the vote. In Pennsylvania, GOP lawmakers were the target of social media campaigns demanding the appointment of electors who favor President Trump. And in Georgia, the Republican secretary of state defended the election and announced a hand audit of the results, despite calls by the state’s Republican senators for him to resign over alleged problems.

The efforts in these states — where Biden has won or is leading in the count — come as the Trump campaign struggles to amass genuine evidence of fraud that will pass muster in court. Republican lawsuits seeking to challenge the Nov. 3 election results so far have foundered, and affidavits cited as proof of election fraud in cities such as Detroit have failed to substantiate serious claims that votes were counted illegally. Continue reading.

Trump’s Post-Election Tactics Put Him in Unsavory Company

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Denying defeat, claiming fraud and using government machinery to reverse election results are the time-honored tools of dictators.

MOSCOW — When the strongman ruler of Belarus declared an implausible landslide victory in an election in August, and had himself sworn in for a sixth term as president, the United States and other Western nations denounced what they said was brazen defiance of the voters’ will.

President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko’s victory, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month, was “fraud.” Mr. Pompeo added: “We’ve opposed the fact that he’s now inaugurated himself. We know what the people of Belarus want. They want something different.”

Just a month on, Mr. Pompeo’s boss, President Trump, is now borrowing from Mr. Lukashenko’s playbook, joining a club of truculent leaders who, regardless of what voters decide, declare themselves the winners of elections. Continue reading.

‘Math doesn’t care about his feelings’: Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. offers brutal assessment of Trump’s delusions

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Democratic Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman on Wednesday mocked President Donald Trump for still believing he has a shot at winning his state.

At the moment, President-elect Joe Biden has a lead of nearly 50,000 votes in Pennsylvania, which makes it almost impossible to imagine the result of the race being overturned after a recount.

Fetterman told CNN’s John King during an interview that the president seems to have a very hard time understanding how much basic arithmetic is stacked against him in the state. Continue reading.

We’re witnessing the birth of a dangerous new strain in the right-wing movement

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Donald Trump has a lottery ticket’s chance of overturning Joe Biden’s decisive victory in the 2020 election. There’s no evidence of fraud that would hold up in a court of law. Biden’s margins are beyond what might be reversed in recounts. And while the Constitution gives states the power to determine how their electors are selected, all states have laws on their books awarding them to the popular vote winner (aside from a few congressional districts in Nebraska and Maine).

Given that Trump is using these bogus claims of a stolen election to shake down his followers in order to pay off campaign debt and fund his new PAC, some have questioned how dangerous his refusal to accept the results really is. Perhaps he’s working toward acceptance, or keeping his base engaged for two upcoming Senate runoffs in Georgia that will determine control of the chamber next year. According to reports, many elected Republicans who back his silly claims are only doing so to humor him, and to avoid the wrath of his cult-like supporters, and privately acknowledged that the election is over. “What is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?” one senior Republican official told The Washington Post. “No one seriously thinks the results will change.”

But this is ultimately a distinction without a difference. The GOP is delegitimizing the Biden presidency so they can launch a new, meaner and more conspiratorial Tea Party movement. Republican operatives, including some veterans of the first Tea Party groups, are behind the “stop the steal” protests now underway across the country. A new poll conducted by YouGov for The Economist found that 86 percent of Trump voters believe that Biden did not win the election fairly, and a plurality of all voters said they thought there was enough voter fraud to swing the results of the race. Continue reading.

How To Help Win the 2 Georgia Senate Runoff Elections

Joe Biden has won the presidency, and the Democrats held the House. But if the Republicans keep the majority in the Senate, we all know what Mitch McConnell will do — he’ll obstruct everything.

We know he won’t allow any progressive legislation to pass. We know there is an excellent chance he will block every judge we want to put on the bench and every reason to believe he’ll make confirming Joe Biden’s cabinet a complete nightmare. The only way to prevent this nightmare is to make sure that Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win the runoff elections and become Georgia’s new Senators.

Neither David Perdue nor Kelly Loeffler were able to get more than 50% of the vote on November 3rd, so that’s a good start. But runoff elections are marked by low turnout — its anyone’s opportunity to win these seats. Whichever side is more motivated to get out and vote will win these seats. Continue reading.

Trump supporter charged with attacking elderly couple over

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Authorities in Minnesota jailed a self-identified supporter of President Trumpthis week after he allegedly assaulted an elderly couple with a golf club because they were displaying a political sign. 

The Star Tribune reported that 50-year-old Mark A. Ulsaker was charged Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court with assault with a dangerous weapon, threats of violence and assault of a police officer after the incident on Sunday.

According to the complaint, an elderly married couple was displaying a political sign of unknown content on the corner of a local highway Sunday after President-elect Joe Biden was projected to win the 2020 presidential election over Trump.  Continue reading.

Georgia secretary of state announces hand recount of presidential race

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) announced Wednesday he will oversee a hand recount of ballots cast in the Peach State as President-elect Joe Biden maintains a slim lead over President Trump there.

Raffensperger, who has come under an avalanche of pressure from Republicans to take some kind of action given the tight statewide margin, said he will implement a risk-limiting audit to cover the presidential race. The audit is expected to be done by Nov. 20, when the state must certify its election results.

“With the margin being so close, it will require a full, by-hand recount in each county. This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvass all at once. It will be a heavy lift, but we will work with the counties to get this done in time for our state certification,” Raffensperger said at a press conference. Continue reading.