US Politics

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Facebook and Twitter have placed warnings on a 46-minute video statement released by Donald Trump on Wednesday, in which the president repeats baseless claims of voter fraud in November’s election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
President-elect Biden, a veteran Democrat, won the presidential election with 306 electoral college votes, compared with Trump’s 232. However, Trump has refused to concede, and has instead launched – and lost – flimsy legal battles in several states, which experts said appeared aimed at dragging out vote counting and creating a cloud of uncertainty over the electoral process.
“This may be the most important speech I’ve ever made,” Trump says in the video, before making lengthy, rambling and baseless claims that America’s electoral system is “under coordinated assault and siege”.
Trump, who spoke from the Diplomatic Room, kept up his futile pushback against the election even as state after state certifies its results and as Biden presses ahead with shaping his cabinet in advance of his inauguration on 20 January.
Biden received a record 81m votes compared to 74m for Trump. The Democrat also won 306 electoral votes compared to 232 for Trump. The electoral college split matches Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton four years ago, which he described then as a “landslide”.
Trump dug further into his contention of a “rigged election” even though members of his own administration, including the attorney general, William Barr, say that no proof of widespread voter fraud has been uncovered. Courts in multiple battleground states have thrown out a barrage of lawsuits filed on behalf of the president.
“This is not just about honoring the votes of 74 million Americans who voted for me,” Trump said. “It’s about ensuring that Americans can have faith in this election. And in all future elections.”
The Trump video comes a day after Barr said the US Department of Justice had not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the presidential election.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Barr said US attorneys and FBI agents had been working to follow up complaints and information but had uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said.
Trump campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a statement: “With the greatest respect to the attorney general, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”
As the 8 December deadline for states to certify their results approaches, Trump is fast running out of options to contest the outcome of the election.
Many of Trump’s claims, including that the US election was subject to widespread “voter fraud”, have been debunked repeatedly in recent weeks.
In fact, Christopher Krebs, the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, voiced confidence in the integrity of the election ahead of the November vote. And afterward, he knocked down allegations that the count was tainted by fraud. Krebs was fired by Trump weeks ago.
The video was released a day after one of Georgia’s top election officials made an impassioned plea to Trump to tone down his rhetoric disputing the election results, saying the president was “inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence”.

Gabriel Sterling, a Republican who oversaw the implementation of the state’s new voting system, also issued the stark warning that if Trump and his supporters did not rein in election disinformation then “someone is going to get hurt”.
Sterling, the voting systems manager for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, said last week that he had police protection around his home because of threats he received after election results were announced. Trump lost Georgia to Biden by about 13,000 votes.
Trump responded to Sterling’s plea by tweeting baseless claims about the Georgia election and criticising the state’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp. Twitter flagged his tweet as “disputed”. More

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Top brass from Joe Biden’s transition team are meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus as the president-elect faces growing and critical pressure from various interest groups about who he nominates to run major agencies in his incoming administration.
Biden’s pick for chief of staff, Ron Klain, the head of his transition team, Ted Kaufman, and Jeff Zients, another top adviser, are slated to meet members of members of the CHC on Thursday, according to five Democrats with knowledge of the meeting.
The agenda for the call is unclear but it comes as the CHC, a powerful set of Latino members of Congress, push for Biden to install a Latino person to lead a major federal agency. The progressive champion, New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, has also said that Biden and Democrats at large have to do more to win over Latino voters in the wake of the 2020 election. Biden and Democratic candidates struggled to win their support, especially Cuban Americans in Florida, a crucial battleground state.
Over the weekend the CHC sent a letter to the Biden transition team urging him to nominate Michelle Lujan Grisham, the New Mexico governor, to be secretary of health and human services.
That letter is part of a broader push for Biden to put more Latino people in his cabinet. The letter hailed Biden for choosing Alejandro Mayorkas, a former deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, to run that agency as secretary.
The meeting, over Zoom, is invite-only and for the members themselves, according to one Democrat with knowledge of the call.
A Democrat close to the transition noted that the transition team is in regular contact with both members of the CHC and a range of other organizations “to discuss planning for the incoming administration, including how to ensure the federal government looks like and reflects the breadth and diversity of America”.
Lujan Grisham has been mentioned as a possible HHS secretary alongside Vivek Murthy, the former surgeon general of the United States, and Dr Mandy Cohen, the secretary of the North Carolina department of health and human services.
On Wednesday, reports surfaced that Lujan Grisham was offered a job as secretary of the Department of the Interior but turned that offer down. But two other Democrats with knowledge of those discussions denied that happened without offering further details.
Biden himself has promised to make his cabinet the most diverse in history with officials representing all Americans. But even as he has rolled out his nominations he has been met with calls to name more minorities to major cabinet positions.
Last week, the South Carolina congressman Jim Clyburn, one of the most influential African Americans in Congress, said Biden could be adding more African Americans to his cabinet.
The uniting aspect of comments by Ocasio-Cortez and Clyburn is the idea that Biden nominating qualified potential candidates to important cabinet positions could help fulfill Biden’s promise to set up a historically diverse cabinet and it could help Democrats with those voting blocs. More

On Tuesday, a Republican senior election official in Georgia, Gabriel Sterling, gave an emotional and scathing press conference in which he described death threats and abuse he and others affiliated with counting the presidential vote in Georgia have endured. Sterling called out Donald Trump and other Republicans for stoking conspiracy theories about the election and encouraging an atmosphere of intimidation against people trying to do their jobs.
Here is a transcript of his public remarks:
I’m going to do my best to keep it together because it all gone too far, all of it. Joe diGenova [an attorney for the Trump campaign] today asked for Chris Krebs, a patriot who ran [the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency], to be shot. A twentysomething [voting technician] in Gwinnett county today has death threats and a noose put out saying he should be hung for treason because he was transferring a report on batches from a [voting machine] to a county computer so he could read it. It has to stop.
Mr President, you have not condemned these actions or this language. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. This has to stop. We need you to step up, and if you’re going to take a position of leadership, show some.
My boss, [Georgia secretary of state Brad] Raffensperger, his address is out there. They have people doing caravans in front of their house. They’ve had people come on to their property. Tricia, his wife of 40 years, is getting sexualized threats through her cellphone. It has to stop.
This is elections. This is the backbone of democracy, and all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this. It’s too much. Yes, fight for every legal vote. Go through your due process. We encourage you. Use your first amendment. That’s fine.
Death threats, physical threats, intimidation, it’s too much. It’s not right. They’ve lost the moral high ground to claim that it is.
I don’t have all the best words to do this because I’m angry. And the straw that broke the camel’s back today is, again, this 20-year-old contractor for a voting-system company just trying to do his job … in fact, I talked to Dominion [a voting system company] today, and they said he’s one of the better ones they’ve got. His family’s getting harassed now. There’s a noose out there with his name on it, and it’s just not right.
I’ve got police protection outside my house. Fine. You know, I took a higher-profile job. I get it. Secretary ran for office. His wife knew that too. This kid took a job. He just took a job. It’s just wrong. I can’t begin to explain the level of anger I have right now over this. And every American, every Georgian, Republican and Democrat alike, should have that same level of anger.
Mr President, it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia. We’re investigating, there’s always a possibility, I get it. You have the rights to go to the courts. What you don’t have the ability to do – and you need to step up and say this – is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed, and it’s not right. It’s not right … all of this is wrong.
DiGenova, who said for Chris Krebs to get shot, is a former US attorney. He knows better. The people around the president know better. Mr President, as the secretary said yesterday, people aren’t giving you the best advice of what’s actually going on on the ground. It’s time to look forward. If you want to run for re-election in four years, fine – do it. But everything we’re seeing right now, there’s not a path. Be the bigger man here, and step in. Tell your supporters: “Don’t be violent. Don’t intimidate.” All that’s wrong. It’s un-American. More

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Barack Obama chastised Democratic political candidates for using “snappy” slogans like “defund the police” that he argued could turn voters away, in an interview released this week.
“You lost a big audience the minute you say it, which makes it a lot less likely that you’re actually going to get the changes you want done,” the former president told show host Peter Hamby in an interview with Good Luck America, a Snapchat political show.
“The key is deciding, do you want to actually get something done, or do you want to feel good among the people you already agree with?” Obama added.
However, Obama also defended the place of young progressives as important “new blood” in the Democratic party, singling out Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – who has spoken out strongly on the phrase and the essence of defunding police departments to boost social spending.
Former Obama campaign operative Ben LaBolt shared part of the president’s interview with Hamby online on Tuesday before the full interview went live on Snapchat on Wednesday.

Ben LaBolt
(@BenLaBolt)
President Obama, about the best message architect there is, suggests a thoughtful alternative to “Defund.” Via @PeterHamby. https://t.co/ai64FDPgTI pic.twitter.com/UABXL5yLmr

December 2, 2020

The remarks drew immediate backlash from notable, Black progressive Democrats – including the Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who stressed “defund the police” was not about mere words but a “demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country”.

Ilhan Omar
(@IlhanMN)
We lose people in the hands of police. It’s not a slogan but a policy demand. And centering the demand for equitable investments and budgets for communities across the country gets us progress and safety. https://t.co/Vu6inw4ms7

December 2, 2020

“We didn’t lose Breonna because of a ‘slogan’,” said Kentucky state representative Charles Booker, referencing Breonna Taylor, the Black, Louisville woman who was shot dead in her own apartment by police in March during a botched raid.
Booker broke barriers in 2018 when he became the youngest Black lawmaker elected to the Kentucky state legislature in nearly a century. And he ran a close contest for the Democratic nomination to challenge – ultimately unsuccessfully – the Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s seat in the November election.

Charles Booker
(@Booker4KY)
We didn’t lose Breonna because of a slogan. Instead of conceding this narrative, let’s shape our own. It’s time we listen to the people, organize and build coalitions around our own message, and cast a vision that inspires us all to lead for change at the ballot box and beyond. https://t.co/mBg7wanaR6

December 2, 2020

Cori Bush, who made history last month by becoming the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress shot back at Obama that “Defund the Police” was “not a slogan. It’s a mandate for keeping [Black] people alive.”
“With all due respect, Mr President – let’s talk about losing people,” she said. “We lost Michael Brown Jr. We lost Breonna Taylor. We’re losing our loved ones to police violence.”
The Black Lives Matter movement member’s rise in politics stemmed from her work as a community activist during protests against the shooting death of Mike Brown in Ferguson in 2014.
Bush is also the only candidate to formally run on a platform of defunding the police – a point many analysts say make criticism of the movement unwarranted.
Defund the Police has been a widely used phrase and policy initiative that gained traction over the summer as racial justice and anti-policing protests erupted in response to the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May.
As a policy initiative, defunding police departments involves the reallocation of local and state resources away from law enforcement into public services, designed to address issues of poverty, inequality and mental health – factors that contribute to crime.
The former president’s comments echoed other moderate Democrats who have taken issue and consider the phrase polarizing, prompting criticism of a progressive movement led by what some have called radical messaging.

Jamaal Bowman
(@JamaalBowmanNY)
Damn, Mr. President.Didn’t you say “Trayvon could’ve been my son?” In 2014, #BlackLivesMatter was too much.In 2016, Kaepernick was too much.Today, discussing police budgets is too much.The problem is America’s comfort with Black death — not discomfort with slogans. https://t.co/DJUSZebgW5

December 2, 2020

In South Carolina, where the Democratic base is largely composed of Black Americans who skew older and moderate, the Democratic incumbent Joe Cunningham lost his House seat to Republican Nancy Mace in the November election.
In the days following, the South Carolina congressman and House minority whip James Clyburn, who was regarded as instrumental in turning around Joe Biden’s flagging campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination when the moderate was behind leftist champion Bernie Sanders, told NBC News the slogan hurt some Democratic candidates.
“If you instead say ‘Let’s reform the police department so that everybody’s being treated fairly,’” Clyburn offered alternatively. “Not just in policing, but in sentencing, how can we divert young people from getting into crime?’”
While Obama took issue with progressive slogans, he also criticized moderate leadership for failing to recognize the increasingly powerful influence of young, progressives such as Ocasio-Cortez.
The former president chastised the Democratic National Committee for only briefly featuring such democratic socialists in their opening montage during their national convention in Milwaukee in August.
“She speaks to a broad section of young people who are interested in what she has to say, even if they don’t agree with everything she says. You give her a platform,” he said, adding that across political ideologies “new blood is always good” for the party. More

Donald Trump has floated the idea of running for president again in 2024 at a holiday reception at the White House on Tuesday evening.“It’s been an amazing four years,” Trump told the crowd, which included many Republican National Committee members. “We’re trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years.”Trump’s comments appeared to acknowledge that he thought he could have lost the election. While speculation about a presidential run in 2024 has been rife, and many US politics watchers expect him to declare a bid soon, he has not spoken publicly about it before.The video was streamed live on Facebook by one attendee of the party, Pam Pollard, who is national committee member for the Oklahoma GOP. The footage showed dozens of people crammed into the Cross Hall of the White House state floor, standing closely together. Many seen in the video were not wearing masks. Coughing could be heard.The Trumps began hosting holiday receptions this week, intent on celebrating a final season before Trump leaves office on 20 January. Trump has not formally conceded, but belatedly allowed the transition to Biden to proceed.According to social media postings reviewed by The Associated Press, the White House Christmas events have featured large crowds of often maskless attendees gathered indoors – violating the very public health guidance the US government has pressed the nation to follow this holiday season as cases of Covid-19 skyrocketed across the country.The White House has been the site of at least one suspected Covid-19 super-spreader event, and dozens of the president’s aides, campaign staffers and allies have tested positive in numerous outbreaks. Trump himself was hospitalized for the virus in October, and the first lady and two of his sons have tested positive. Numerous others have had to quarantine.Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s spokeswoman and chief of staff, had said last month that the White House would be moving forward with events, “while providing the safest environment possible.” She said that would include smaller guest lists, that “masks will be required and available, social distancing encouraged while on the White House grounds, and hand sanitizer stations throughout the State Floor.”“Attending the parties will be a very personal choice,” she added.The video of Trump discussing the 2024 election emerged as he threatened to veto the $740bn National Defense Authorization Act unless it included a measure eliminating a federal law protecting tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter.“If the very dangerous & unfair Section 230 is not completely terminated as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), I will be forced to unequivocally VETO the Bill when sent to the very beautiful Resolute desk,” Trump tweeted late on Tuesday.Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects tech companies from liability over content posted by users, and has been under attack from Trump and Republican lawmakers, who have criticized internet platforms’ content moderation decisions and accused them of stifling conservative voices.The sweeping NDAA sets policy for the Department of Defense. It has been passed for six decades, one of the few major pieces of legislation seen as a “must-pass” because it governs everything from pay raises for the troops to how many aircraft should be purchased or how best to compete with rivals like Russia and China.Congressional aides expressed skepticism Trump would actually veto the legislation. Democrats won’t agree to repealing 230 because the 24-year-old law provides a vital protection to social media companies.With Associated Press and Reuters More

The British government has vowed to stand with Australia to “protect our key interests and values” and push back at “disinformation” amid a deepening rift in Canberra’s relationship with Beijing.The American ambassador to Australia also accused a Chinese foreign ministry official of spreading “disinformation through fabricated images and disingenuous statements” about Australia.The United Kingdom and the United States are the latest countries to speak out in support of Australia, after France and New Zealand criticised China over an official tweeting a digitally-created image depicting an Australian soldier cutting the throat of a child in Afghanistan.China has accused Australia of overreacting to the tweet and hyping the issue for domestic political purposes.When asked about the tweeted image, a spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told the Guardian the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, “has made clear we will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Australia to make sure that we protect our key interests and values”.“Disinformation is an issue we take extremely seriously and we will continue to coordinate closely with Australia and other international partners to ensure our citizens are protected,” the spokesperson said.The Guardian understands the British government believes that China, as a leading member of the international community, should live up to the obligations that come with that. It views the tweeted image as clearly fake and deeply concerning.When asked in the House of Commons last month about China’s escalating trade actions against Australia, Raab indicated he had regular exchanges with the Australian foreign minister, Marise Payne, and expressed “solidarity”.Raab said the UK was also working alongside Australia and the other Five Eyes partners – the US, Canada and New Zealand – on issues such as the crackdown on pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong.The US ambassador to Australia, Arthur Culvahouse, responded to questions from the Guardian by saying the Australian government had “responsibly investigated and disclosed allegations that its soldiers committed crimes in Afghanistan”.“The world can only wish that the Chinese Communist party were to bring the same degree of transparency and accountability to credible reports of atrocities against the Uighurs in Xinjiang,” Culvahouse, who was appointed by Donald Trump, said in an emailed statement on Wednesday.Those sentiments were backed by the US State Department’s deputy spokesperson, Cale Brown, who described the Afghanistan tweet as “a new low, even for the Chinese Communist party”.The CCP’s latest attack on Australia is another example of its unchecked use of disinformation and coercive diplomacy. Its hypocrisy is obvious to all. While it doctors images on @Twitter to attack other nations, the CCP prevents its own citizens from reading their posts.— Cale Brown (@StateDeputySPOX) December 2, 2020
The Florida senator Marco Rubio wrote to the chief executive of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, to ask why the tweet had not been taken down. A Twitter spokesperson has previously said the image contained within the tweet had been “marked as sensitive media”, meaning it is hidden behind a warning message by default.On Tuesday, Scott Morrison turned to the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat to reach out to the Chinese Australian community.The prime minister sought to make clear that the escalating tensions between the two governments – which led last week to the imposition of hefty tariffs on Australian wine – were not a reflection on Chinese Australians.Morrison wrote that “the post of a false image of an Australian soldier does not diminish our respect for and appreciation of our Chinese Australian community or indeed our friendship with the people of China”.The prime minister said the “difficult issues” that had arisen in the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force’s report into alleged war crimes by special forces soldiers in Afghanistan were being dealt with in a “transparent and honest way”.Earlier this week, when he demanded an apology from the Chinese government over the tweet by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, Morrison said the dispute was broader than just the two countries, and that other nations were watching.Zhao’s tweet seized on the findings of a recent report from a four-year official investigation into the conduct of Australian special forces soldiers in Afghanistan, known as the Brereton report.Another Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, held up the front page of the Brereton report at Tuesday’s regular press briefing in Beijing as she declared that the “computer-generated graphic” was not a case of disinformation.“The Australian side … is under immense criticism and condemnation from the international community for the ruthless killing of Afghan innocents by some of its soldiers, but the Australian side wants to turn that into a tough-on-China position,” Hua said.The Chinese embassy in Canberra urged the Australian government to “face up to the crux of the current setback of bilateral relationship and take constructive practical steps to help bring it back to the right track”.“The rage and roar of some Australian politicians and media is nothing but misreading of and overreaction to Mr Zhao’s tweet,” an embassy spokesperson said.The former senior Australian foreign affairs official Richard Maude told the Guardian on Tuesday there was no end in sight to the rift in the relationship with Beijing, and it was a “pretty lonely and tough battle for a middle power to be in on its own”.“What we really need is enough countries to be willing to publicly take a stand,” Maude said.Australia and China have been at odds over a number of issues over the past few years, including the Turnbull government’s decision to exclude Chinese telcos Huawei and ZTE from Australia’s 5G network and its introduction of foreign interference laws that were seen as targeting China’s activities.But the relationship deteriorated sharply in April when the Morrison government issued an early call for an independent international inquiry into the origin and handling of Covid-19 and floated the idea of international weapons inspector-style powers for pandemic investigations.It triggered a furious reaction from Beijing, which has subsequently taken trade actions against a range of Australian exports including barley, red meat and wine, citing technical grounds. More

US president-elect Joe Biden has formally introduced his choices for top economic advisers. ‘Our message to everybody struggling right now is this: help is on the way,’ Biden said. Biden’s nominations would put several women in top economic roles, including Janet Yellen, who if confirmed by the Senate would be the first woman to lead the US treasury in its 231-year history.  Yellen said the economic impact of the pandemic was ‘an American tragedy’
‘Help is on the way’: Joe Biden introduces economic team as pandemic rages
Bipartisan group pitches $908bn Covid-19 relief to break deadlock in Congress More

An alleged “bribery for pardon” scheme at the White House is under investigation by the justice department, according to a court filing unsealed on Tuesday.
The heavily redacted document does not name Donald Trump or other individuals and leaves many unanswered questions, but comes amid media reports that the US president is considering sweeping pardons before he leaves office next month.
It shows that the justice department investigation alleges that an individual offered “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence”.
Two individuals acted improperly as lobbyists to secure the pardon in the “bribery-for-pardon schemes”, as the document puts it. All three names are blacked out.
On Tuesday night, a justice department official told Reuters that no US government official is the “subject or target” of investigation into whether money was funnelled to the White House in exchange for a presidential pardon.
Trump issued a brief response on Tuesday night, resorting to one of his favourite phrases to criticise the media even though the details were contained in official court papers. “Pardon investigation is Fake News!” he tweeted.
The watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (Crew) tweeted in response: “It’s hard to overstate how big a deal the phrase ‘bribery-for-pardon schemes’ is.”
The document was unsealed by the district court for the District of Columbia, in Washington. Some of its 20 pages are entirely redacted, implying that revealing the details now might jeopardise an ongoing investigation.
They discuss a review by chief judge Beryl Howell in late August of a request from prosecutors for documents gathered for the bribery investigation. More than 50 digital devices including iPhones, iPads, laptops, thumb drives and computer drives were seized after investigators raided unidentified offices. It was not clear why Howell decided to release the filing now.
Trump last week pardoned Michael Flynn, his former national security adviser, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Trump and Rudy Giuliani, his personal lawyer, discussed as recently as last week the possibility of a “pre-emptive pardon”. Giuliani tweeted a denial.
The court disclosure unleashed a whirlwind of speculation in Washington. The Democrat Adam Schiff, the chair of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, told the MSNBC network: “People shouldn’t presume – and there may be a tendency to leap to the – that this may involve some of the personalities that have been very much in the news and are worried about their criminal liability.
“It may be someone that we’ve never heard of that wants a pardon and is well-heeled and therefore in a position to make a sizeable contribution. So it doesn’t have to be any of the parties that we think that may want a pardon: the [Paul] Manaforts, the Giulianis and others. It could be someone completely different but, at the end of the day, someone in that chain has to be close enough to the White House where they could conceivably deliver on the official act of pardon if the bribe were paid.”
Reuters contributed reporting More