Networks call Georgia for Biden as security officials say vote was ‘secure’
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As Donald Trump continues to refuse conceding the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden, the president-elect was said to have spoken with Senate Republicans who have begun to admit he should at least receive intelligence briefings that have so far been denied.
On Friday afternoon most networks called Georgia for Mr Biden and North Carolina for Mr Trump bringing their respective electoral college vote totals to 306 to 232.
US federal and state cybersecurity officials, meanwhile, have delivered a direct rebuke to Donald Trump, who continues to allege irregularities and widespread fraud without evidence.
Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the 3 November vote was “the most secure in history" in a report published Thursday, and added that Americans should trust the result. His agency had not find any evidence of ballots being lost, deleted or altered, he said.
Pelosi pans Facebook
Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Facebook should show “some sense of responsibility” for political misinformation that often spreads like wildfire online, bluntly saying she is “not a fan” of the big-tech firm based in her home state.
The Menlo Park, California-based social media giant has angered lawmakers from both parties, as well as Donald Trump and his administration, over what both call are moves to “censor” or allow political speech. Both parties have alleged their side had posts taken down, while the other side was allowed to spread false information that might have affected how people voted.
John T Bennett reports from Washington.
Pelosi says she’s ‘not a big fan of Facebook’ as she pans company on misinformation
Top Democrat on US media: Trump ‘could say anything and it’d be two days worth of news, whether it had any value or not’
McEnany: Trump will attend the inauguration… ‘his own’
Asked if Trump will attend "the" inauguration, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tells Fox Business: "That's many steps away... We're talking January."
Host Stuart Varney points out it would look bad if he didn't. Ms McEnany says, "I think the president will attend his own inauguration. He would have to be there, in fact."
Report: Trump drops Arizona ballot lawsuit
It’s the latest setback after a law firm working for the campaign dropped out of the suit on Tuesday.
More from Josh Marcus.
Trump reportedly drops Arizona ballot lawsuit as gap grows wider
It’s the latest setback after a law firm working for the campaign dropped out of the suit earlier this week
Geraldo Rivera: President not planning to overthrow government
Some good news this Friday afternoon.
Speaking on Fox News after his conversation with Donald Trump today, Geraldo Rivera said: "I got no impression that he was plotting the overthrow of the elected government."
Bookies hold off on Biden payouts
Gambling websites are holding hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts of a Joe Biden election win as Donald Trump remains at long odds of winning a second term.
While media outlets have projected that Mr Biden won the election, the results are not official until either Mr Trump concedes or all vote counts are certified and electors officially choose the next president.
Justin Vallejo reports.
Bookies hold Biden payouts in long odds of a Trump election win
One online gambling exchange has almost $600m in limbo awaiting an official election winner
Networks call Georgia for Biden
NBC, ABC and CNN have called Georgia for Joe Biden adding the final blue to their election results maps.
North Carolina was also called for Donald Trump.
This puts the final electoral college vote count at 306 to 232, which is exactly the result that Mr Trump and his team referred to as a landslide in 2016.
The difference is that this time, Mr Biden won the popular vote by several million.
Here’s the final map from CNN.
Michigan court rejects Trump campaign call to block vote certification
A Michigan state court has rejected a request by supporters of Donald Trump to block the certification of votes and appoint an independent auditor in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, Mr Trump's Democratic challenger.
The ruling is a setback for Trump and Republicans who have been trying to overturn Biden's victory in the Nov. 3 election by preventing officials from certifying election results.
"It would be an unprecedented exercise of judicial activism for this Court to stop the certification process of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers," wrote Timothy Kenny, chief judge of the Third Judicial Circuit Court of Michigan, referring to the county that includes Detroit.
The lawsuit alleged fraud and voting irregularities, which Wayne County has denied.
The judge rejected those allegations, writing: "Plaintiffs' interpretation of events is incorrect and not credible."
He noted that allegations, such as city workers encouraging voters to cast their ballot for Democrats, were not backed up by details, such as locations or times when such events took place.
The judge also said that one witness who had filed an affidavit had posted on Facebook before the election that he speculated that Democrats were using the pandemic as cover for election fraud, undermining his testimony and credibility.
On Wednesday, the Trump campaign filed a similar lawsuit in the US District Court in the Western District of Michigan.
The campaign and Republicans have also sued in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin seeking to block the certification of election results.
Legal scholars have said lawsuits challenging election results are more appropriate for state court, and the ruling by the Wayne County Circuit Court could undermine the Trump campaign efforts in federal court.
Michigan is due to certify its election results on November 23.
Reuters
New statement from Dominion Voting Systems
Following Donald Trump’s allegations regarding voter fraud and the company, Dominion Voting Systems has released a statement categorically denying assertions about vote switching issues with its voting systems, calling them completely false.
The company says:
An unsubstantiated claim about the deletion of 2.7 million pro-Trump votes that was posted on the internet and spread on social media has been taken down and debunked by independent fact-checkers.
Edison Research (ER) has refuted any claims that company data suggests any voting irregularities, including vote switching. ER President Larry Rosin told The Dispatch Fact Check: "Edison Research created no such report and we are not aware of any voter fraud."
Claims that 941,000 votes for President Trump in Pennsylvania were deleted are impossible, as Dominion only serves 14 Commonwealth counties. Collectively, those Counties produced 1.3 million votes representing a voter turnout of 76%. Fifty-two percent of those votes went to President Trump, which amounts to 676,000 votes the company's system processed for the president in Pennsylvania.
The company also reiterated that it is a non-partisan US company and is not connected to leading Democrats nor Venezuela; said that its tabulated ballots and results are 100 per cent auditable; denied any last -minute software upgrades; and said there were no issues with the use of Sharpie pens.
Finally, Dominion said that assertions of voter fraud conspiracies are 100 per cent false.
Demonstrators gather outside Jones Day law firm protesting representation of Trump
Two law firms have already withdrawn from lawsuits brought by Mr Trump challenging election results.
Demonstrators gather outside Jones Day law firm protesting its representation of Trump in election lawsuits
Two law firms have already withdrawn from lawsuits brought by Mr Trump challenging election results
'A very close loss’
A loss is a loss. Also, see Dominion’s earlier statement.
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