Twitter said it will hand control of the @POTUS account on Inauguration Day to the new Biden administration, the company said Friday.
The @POTUS account is the official account of the president of the United States and is separate to the @realDonaldTrump account Trump uses to tweet.
This will also apply to about a dozen White House accounts, including the @FLOTUS and @PressSec accounts, Nick Pacilio, a Twitter spokesperson told CNN Friday.
An archive of Obama’s @POTUS account can be found under the handle @POTUS44.
Members of the Michigan state legislature’s Republican leadership who met with President Donald Trump at the White House Friday afternoon said they “have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan.”
The Michigan lawmakers — who visited the White House at the invitation of the President — didn’t say anything to suggest they were going along with Trump’s long-shot effort to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
“Michigan’s certification process should be a deliberate process free from threats and intimidation,” the lawmakers continued in their statement. “Allegations of fraudulent behavior should be taken seriously, thoroughly investigated, and if proven, prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And the candidates who win the most votes win elections and Michigan’s electoral votes. These are simple truths that should provide confidence in our elections.”
Trump, his attorney Rudy Giuliani and other allies have continued to peddle false claims of nationwide voter fraud.
The leaders said they also talked about Covid-19 relief with the President, and delivered a letter requesting more federal funds to fight the pandemic. They also said that they had accepted Trump’s invitation to the White House meeting “as we would accept an invitation from any sitting President if asked to meet at the White House.”
State House Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth was also scheduled to attend, a source familiar said ahead of the meeting.
There are also discussions currently underway with Trump about inviting Republican state legislators from Pennsylvania to the White House, two sources told CNN.
It’s not clear if those invitations have been extended yet, but Trump has expressed interest in doing so as he tries to insert himself into the vote certification process. The deadline for counties in Pennsylvania to certify their totals is Monday.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed the paperwork that officially grants the state’s 16 electoral votes to President-elect Joe Biden.
“The Governor has formalized the certification delivered to our office by the Secretary of State – as is required by state law,” Kemp spokesperson Tate Mitchell told CNN in an email.
Earlier on Friday, Kemp announced he would “follow the law” and certify the electoral votes for Biden.
State law requires Kemp, a Republican, to award Georgia’s electoral votes to the certified winner of the presidential election. A federal judge on Thursday rejected a last-ditch lawsuit that tried to block certification, and Biden’s victory was certified Friday afternoon by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“Earlier today, Secretary Raffensperger presented the certified results of the 2020 general election to my office,” Kemp said at a news conference. “Following Judge (Steven) Grimberg’s ruling yesterday, state law now requires the governor’s office to formalize the certification, which paves the way for the Trump campaign to pursue other legal options and a separate recount if they choose.”
Because of the close margin, the Trump campaign can request a recount. Georgia already conducted a statewide audit, hand-counting about 5 million ballots, to any future recount is extremely unlikely to change the results.
Certifying election results is typically a formality, but the process has become the latest battleground in President Trump’s longshot attempt to cling onto power. His campaign is trying to block or delay certification in key states in hopes of overturning Biden’s victory through the Electoral College.
After the news conference, Kemp’s office put out a news release saying, explicitly, “Governor Kemp Formalizes Election Certification.” But Kemp also embraced some of Trump’s complaints about the process in Georgia.
Kemp asked Raffensperger to conduct a partial audit of absentee ballots to double-check that the signatures matched – caving to a persistent demand from Trump throughout the post-election process. It’s unclear if this can happen at this stage of the process, and CNN has reached out to Raffensperger’s office for comment.
Trump has berated Kemp on Twitter over the signature-matching issue, blaming the governor for a legal agreement the state reached earlier this year with Democratic groups regarding absentee ballots. Raffensberger’s office has said Trump is mischaracterizing that agreement, known as a consent decree, by falsely claiming it weakened verification rules for absentee ballots. Signature-matching is used to verify the identity of absentee voters.
Kemp also said it was “unacceptable” that small batches of uncounted ballots were found during the audit. Election officials have repeatedly said these mishandled ballots were caused by mistakes and incompetence – not fraud.
Watch:
The Michigan State Board of Canvassers is scheduled to meet on Nov. 23 to certify election results. The board’s certification of election results is what triggers electors to be selected, which is what gets sent to the Electoral College.
The Michigan State Board of Canvassers is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans. The members are appointed by the governor “with the advice and consent of the Senate,” according to the law.
Here’s what we know:
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has certified President-elect Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the state, according to a news release.
The announcement caps off a whirlwind day where Raffensperger’s office announced that the results were certified, only to send a “correction” one hour later, saying the process was still ongoing. They followed that up with a third news release around 4 p.m. that said certification was completed.
An official from the Raffensperger’s office told CNN that the latest announcement is accurate, and that the results were certified. This is a blow to President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results.
Biden won Georgia by 12,670 votes, or 0.26% of the nearly 5 million ballots cast statewide, according to final certified results from the Secretary of State.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to follow suit by certifying that Georgia’s electors will go to Biden. It’s unclear when that will happen – the deadline is Saturday night – but Kemp is set to speak tonight.
A Nevada District judge has denied a request by a losing Republican congressional candidate for a re-vote in the state’s largest county Clark County.
Losing candidate Jim Marchant had requested a new election in just one of the seven counties covered by congressional district – the Democratic-rich Clark County. For that reason, Judge Gloria Sturman denied the request. She also said that it would have been difficult for Marchant to make up the 30,000 votes between Marchant and Democrat Steven Horsford.
A similar case filed by the conservative activist Sharron Angle and the Election Integrity Project begins in Sturman’s court soon. And another losing Republican Congressional candidate heads into Sturman’s court on Monday over the same issues.
President Trump will participate in this weekend’s virtual G20 summit, an administration official said. This year’s summit is hosted by Saudi Arabia.
It’s not clear which sessions he will be present for, but he will represent the US during the yearly gathering of industrialized nations.
President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Wilmington, Delaware.
This is the first in-person meeting the lawmakers hold with Biden since he won the election.
Reporters were allowed in for an extremely brief spray, where the four could be seen sitting around in a socially distant matter at a big table wearing masks.
Biden told Schumer and Pelosi that when he is President, his Oval Office will be “mi casa, you casa,” which translates from Spanish to “my house is your house.”
Biden did not answer any shouted questions, and pooled press was ushered out quickly as soon as a question was shouted.
The meeting comes as Covid-19 cases continue to surge in the country and another stimulus deal is yet to be reached in Congress.
Some of the last remaining stimulus programs for the unemployed, renters and student loan borrowers are set to expire at the end of December unless Congress or President Trump take action. While Congress moved swiftly to deliver trillions of dollars in pandemic relief programs when the country first shut down in March, a lot of those benefits have already lapsed.
Despite bipartisan support for another stimulus package, lawmakers have failed to come to any agreement for months, and there is little confidence that a deal could be reached in the lame-duck session.
More than 2,000 American deaths were recorded by Johns Hopkins University on Thursday — the highest number since early May.
Joe Biden’s team is making a fundraising push for its transition operations as the General Services Administration has yet to ascertain Biden as the election winner – a move that would open up millions of dollars in federal money for the president-elect’s transition work.
The Biden transition team sent it’s a grassroots fundraising plea to its supporter list on Friday, with the e-mail reading, “without ascertainment, we need to fund the transition ourselves, and that’s why we’re reaching out to you today.”
The transition team started its fundraising efforts months ago and has raised more than $10 million in private donations for the transition efforts so far, a source familiar with the fundraising efforts said. But the e-mail sent today represents a new phase in their fundraising process as they are now turning to grassroots donors in their push.
More details: Three Democratic bundlers said they have recently received requests to raise more money for the transition operation as the GSA’s ascertainment is stalled.
The recent fundraising efforts come as the transition is unable to access millions of dollars in appropriated funding for its work as the GSA administrator Emily Murphy has not formally recognized Biden as the winner of the election.
The transition team started raising money for its operations several months ago. The maximum contribution to the transition is $5,000, significantly smaller than the $360,600 donation limits for the Biden Victory Fund in the general election.
Even as some Republicans are starting to speak out about President Trump’s attacks on the election results, a wide array of Republicans continue to back the President — and some are endorsing his long-shot strategy of winning in the Electoral College and subverting the will of voters in key battleground states.
North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, who will serve on the House GOP’s leadership team in the next Congress, on Friday characterized the unsubstantiated allegations leveled by the Trump team as “breathtaking” and “serious enough that they need to be investigated.”
Hudson said “yes” states should delay certifying the results until the allegations are “adequately investigated.”
Asked if he’d be okay if state legislatures named electors that differed from the outcome of the vote counts in their states, Hudson told CNN, “Yeah, that’s the constitutional process.”
“I mean, it’s breathtaking to think about,” Hudson said of the allegations. “And if it’s not true, then there needs to be a reckoning on our side.”
Federal law encourages states to resolve disputes over vote-counting by Dec. 8, six days before electors meet in their state capitals to cast their ballots. If Biden’s win is certified by Dec. 8, Congress must recognize the pro-Biden electors.
Under the longshot theory, Republican-led legislatures could appoint pro-Trump slates of presidential electors, even if Biden carried the popular vote in their state, assuming a state has not certified the vote in time.
Asked on Thursday if his state should delay certifying the election, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar told CNN, “I believe it should.”
Gosar also said the “state has the ability” to name its own electors to the Electoral College if the results aren’t certified as part of the “system set up by our founders.” And when asked if he would support the state legislature naming its own electors, Gosar said, “I do.”
President Trump seemed to recognize that he will not remain President for much longer while delivering remarks on lowering drug prices on Friday, implying that it will be up to the new administration as to whether the rules remain in place.
He seemingly recognized that he won’t be in power much longer, however later in his remarks he again falsely claimed he won the election.
Trump also baselessly accused drug companies of withholding news about the efficacy of their vaccines until after the election as some sort of retaliation against Trump for the policies he is instituting.
Trump added that if an announcement on vaccines was made prior to the election, he might have won.
Trump ended his remarks to the media by refusing to take any questions from reporters.
This was his first public appearance in a week. He last took questions from the press on Election Day, 17 days ago and still won’t publicly acknowledge that he has lost the election.
His speech in the briefing room lasted just 22 minutes.
Biden-Harris transition officials Jen Psaki and Yohannes Abraham once again lamented in a briefing with reporters today the General Services Administration’s refusal to ascertain the election, warning of its national security and public health implications for Americans.
Remember: The current GSA administrator, Emily Murphy, still has yet to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory — as President Trump refuses to concede — and sign a letter to release funds to the Biden transition team through a process called ascertainment.
Asked if they believe a Wall Street background is harmful or an asset to working in the White House, Psaki said, “I think it’s pretty safe to say that he’s not a fan of Wall Street policies or an advocate for a lot of the policies that some people would be in favor of or be pushing for from that end. His record speaks for itself and his advocacy and work speak for themselves.”
The team stressed that Kamala Harris has been an “integral part” of all personnel conversations that have happened during the transition and will continue to play that role.
On any possible upcoming Cabinet announcements, Psaki reacted to progressive groups’ criticism that has already come out on rumored lists, saying, “I would encourage people to wait until we’ve made even one announcement about a cabinet member and certainly more than just a dozen White House names, before they pass judgment.”
Psaki and Abraham both stressed that when Biden takes the White House in January, they will continue to follow the science to keep the safety of their team a priority, noting from their work-from-home Zoom calls that they are not working from a transition office at the moment and intend to be models for the country on how to approach work life during a pandemic.
They did not share details about whether or not or how many people might be physically working from the White House.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany would not say when President Trump will concede the election to Joe Biden and allow for a smooth transition to take place.
In her non-answer, she discussed the fact that Trump received more votes than any President in history and the ongoing issue with certifying the election results in Michigan.
What McEnany says is false, however. The two Republican canvass board members from Wayne County, Michigan, did certify the election results after initially declining to do so. They then filed affidavits Wednesday seeking to “rescind” their votes to certify the election result.
She also falsely claimed later in her remarks that this election with “mass mail-out voting” is a system that is “particularly prone to fraud.” There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the election.
Later in her briefing, McEnany added that the President will wait for litigation to play out before he potentially concedes.
Remember: Trump has refused to concede the race and blocked his administration from taking any of the administrative steps typically taken in a transfer of power. This includes allowing the General Services Administration to declare that there is a president-elect — a move that triggers the transition process. Major new organizations, including CNN, projected Biden will win the presidential election.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said Friday that he hasn’t yet certified the results of the presidential election, one hour after issuing a press release announcing it was complete.
The certification will formalize the razor-thin presidential results after a statewide audit confirmed that Joe Biden got more votes than President Trump and would be a major blow to Trump’s longshot efforts to overturn the outcome of the election.
“Numbers don’t lie,” Raffensperger said during a news conference earlier Friday. “As Secretary of State, I believe that the numbers that we are presented today are correct.”
Raffensperger’s office then issued a press release at 12:26 p.m., saying, “The Georgia Secretary of State Office today certified the results for the November 3, 2020 General Election.” But it sent a “correction” at 1:06 p.m. saying, “Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger today will certify the results for the November 3, 2020 General Election.”
Certifying election results is typically a formality, but the arcane process has become the latest battleground in Trump’s longshot attempt to cling to power. His campaign is trying to block or delay certification in key states in hopes of overturning Biden’s victory through the Electoral College.
Read more here.
This story has been updated following Raffensperger’s announcement the results have not been certified.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany denied that there was any pressure on the head of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, to ascertain the results of the election and begin the official presidential transition, again baselessly claiming the election has not been decided.
Pressed on concerns from members of Congress that the Biden transition should have access to transition resources, including communication with agencies, she said the Trump administration was doing what was required by the Presidential Transition Act.
“There is a Presidential Transition Act that determines exactly what an admin needs to do in advance of an election and we have done everything statutorily required and we will continue to do that,” McEnany said.
She said she had “never” been instructed not to engage with members of Biden’s team and had “never heard of an instruction to that end,” despite reporting to the contrary.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed during Friday’s press briefing that President Trump will be meeting with Michigan lawmakers, as the President continues his longshot effort to attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
CNN previously reported that the meeting between Trump, Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and House Speaker Lee Chatfield will be at the White House at 4 p.m., according to a source familiar.
Some background: Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and other allies have suggested that GOP state legislatures in battleground states Joe Biden won should try to use a delay in certification to appoint their own slate of electors and ignore the states’ popular votes for Biden.
It’s not clear what Trump’s message to the Michigan GOP lawmakers will be. Both Shirkey and Chatfield have said that they will honor their state’s popular vote and not stray from the process of how electors in Michigan are selected.
Two sources told CNN there are also discussions currently underway with the President about inviting Republican state legislators from Pennsylvania to the White House. The deadline for counties in Pennsylvania to certify their totals is Monday.
A GOP Senate source told CNN that the combination of Rudy Giuliani’s news conference yesterday and the President meddling in the Michigan election process has some GOP senators reconsidering their silence.
This source says most had hoped that Trump’s tirade would have worked itself out by now, but his actions in the last 24 hours make that hope seem more and more distant.
The source didn’t want to speak on the record because of the sensitivity of the topic.
This source said that a handful of GOP senators are talking about whether and how to interject in a way that will be most effective with the President.
There is some talk of trying to talk to the President and trying to implore him to go out on a high note by touting wins in the House, and helping win the two outstanding Georgia seats — not to mention taking credit for the vaccine movement and other accomplishments.
The source emphasized, however, that this is not a leadership position right now – more rank and file Republicans.
Remember: Trump has refused to concede the race and blocked his administration from taking any of the administrative steps typically taken in a transfer of power. This includes allowing the General Services Administration to declare that there is a president-elect — a move that triggers the transition process.
President-elect Joe Biden has announced another round of White House staff that demonstrate he intends to continue acting on his pledge to make his administration reflect the diversity of the country. The staff positions announced today will be filled by longtime aides to the Bidens.
Louisa Terrell, who served as Executive Director for the Biden Foundation, will become Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. She comes to the position with experience that includes acting as the Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs in the Obama-Biden administration.
As CNN reported Thursday, Carlos Elizondo will be White House Social Secretary.
Elizondo worked in the Obama administration as social secretary for then-vice president Joe Biden and Second Lady Jill Biden. He will be only the second man to serve as White House Social Secretary and will inherit a unique dynamic as the White House adapts its activities to the age of coronavirus. He is the third Latino to be named to the East Wing. Earlier in the week, Anthony Bernal was named as a senior adviser to Jill Biden and Julissa Reynosa Pantaleon was tapped as her chief of staff.
Ambassador Cathy Russell will assume the role of Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Russell served at the White House and the State Department for both of President Barack Obama’s terms, and she currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Biden-Harris Transition Team. Prior to that, se served as Vice Chair of the Biden-Harris Campaign.
Future First Lady Jill Biden’s Policy Director will be Mala Adiga, who served as her senior advisor and a senior policy advisor on the Biden-Harris campaign. Adiga — who will work for a First Lady who has said she intends to prioritize education and military families in her portfoli — previously worked at the Biden Foundation as Director for Higher Education and Military Families.
Two sources tell CNN there are discussions currently underway with the President about inviting Republican state legislators from Pennsylvania to the White House.
It’s not clear if those invitations have been extended yet, but President Trump has expressed interest in doing so as he tries to insert himself into the vote certification process.
This would be another brazen step on the heels of Trump meeting with lawmakers from Michigan this afternoon. The deadline for counties in Pennsylvania to certify their totals is Monday.
Biden for President Senior Advisor Bob Bauer warned in a 30-minute Zoom call with reporters that “there is harm being done to the democratic process” and he slammed the Trump legal effort.
In particular, Bauer blasted Rudy Giuliani’s takeover of the Trump legal effort ridiculing Giuliani’s performance in federal court in Pennsylvania this week, calling it a “spectacle” where Giuliani showed up completely unprepared for the case.
Bauer said that all of the Trump campaign’s efforts to stop the certification process in battleground states will fail, as well as any efforts to convince state legislators to elect a slate of pro-Trump electors.
“The election is over,” Bauer stated. “Everyone knows the election is over.”
There will be a press briefing with White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later today, an official confirms to CNN. The briefing is scheduled for noon ET.
The last time McEnany briefed reporters from the White House briefing room podium was Oct. 1, the Thursday before President Trump — and then, McEnany herself — tested positive for Covid-19.
Questions about the election and the coronavirus pandemic will likely come up.
President-elect Joe Biden has expedited the selection of his Cabinet and is planning to make the first of several key announcements next week, an official said, as part of a concerted effort to show that he is moving forward despite President Trump’s increasingly brazen attempts to sabotage the election.
On Thursday, Biden said he has settled on his choice for Treasury secretary, but officials said he’s also reached a decision — or is on the cusp of doing so — on other critical Cabinet posts, a few of which are expected to be announced before Thanksgiving.
Monday and Tuesday are being eyed as tentative days for the first introductions of members of Biden’s Cabinet, an official said, with others coming later.
Lael Brainard, a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, is seen as the top contender to lead the Treasury Department. If selected, she would become the first woman to serve in that position, a move that would help Biden to start to deliver on his pledge to name a diverse Cabinet.
But three officials close to the Biden transition declined to say whether Brainard was the final choice, saying it is a closely held decision that the President-elect would likely reveal right after Thanksgiving.
But Biden could announce his choice for secretary of State as soon as next week, officials said, along with another Cabinet post.
While Biden is well-known for his deliberate and often slow decision-making, particularly on personnel matters, the timeline of some Cabinet decisions is being accelerated because of a desire to move quickly to form a new government in the wake of Trump’s intransigence about the election.
Read more here.
Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield is going to the White House today, a source familiar with the plans told CNN.
The news comes after President Trump invited Republican state lawmakers from Michigan to the White House on Friday, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Thursday, as the President and his legal team continue to mount efforts to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.
Trump extended the invitation on Thursday morning to the Michigan lawmakers by calling the state senate’s Republican majority leader Mike Shirkey, the person familiar previously told CNN.
Shirkey has not responded to emails from CNN either, and his phone mailbox was also full.
Trump also called two Republican canvass board members from Wayne County to offer his support, the person said Thursday, after they went back and forth on voting to certify the election results from the state’s largest county, which includes Detroit. The board members filed affidavits Wednesday seeking to “rescind” their votes to certify the election result.
It’s not clear what Trump’s message to the Michigan GOP lawmakers will be. Both Shirkey and Chatfield have said that they will honor their state’s popular vote and not stray from the process of how electors in Michigan are selected.
Biden currently has an approximate 154,187-vote lead over Trump in the Great Lakes State.
On Sept. 24, Shirkey led the Senate to pass a resolution assuring that electors will vote for the candidate with the most votes as certified by election officials.
WATCH:
President Trump will publicly appear on camera for an official event today — his first on-camera event in front of reporters in a week.
At 2:30 p.m. ET, Trump will deliver remarks on prescription drug prices. It’s not clear if the President will take questions.
Trump also participated in the virtual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit this morning, but the event was closed to the press.
The President has invited Republican state lawmakers from Michigan to the White House today, according to a person familiar with the matter, as Trump and his legal team are mounting an effort to overturn the results of the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden. This event is not currently on his schedule.
Trump’s previous on-camera event was last Friday, Nov. 13 when he delivered a speech in the White House Rose Garden and touted his administration’s efforts to help produce a coronavirus vaccine.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Friday that he’ll certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory later in the day, and will formalize the razor-thin presidential results after a statewide audit.
Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said certification will occur around 10 a.m. ET Friday.
Raffensperger, a Republican, told reporters that the audit confirmed that Georgia’s voters picked Biden.
Perhaps in a move to pacify Trump supporters, Raffensperger said, “Like other Republicans, I’m disappointed our candidate didn’t win Georgia’s electoral votes.”
When the results are certified, it will be a major blow to Trump’s longshot efforts to overturn the election results. Certifying election results is typically a formality, but the arcane process has become the latest battleground in Trump’s attempt to cling onto power.
His campaign is trying to block or delay certification in key states in hopes of overturning Biden’s victory through the Electoral College.
The scheme essentially becomes impossible if key states certify their presidential results before Dec. 8, which is known as a “safe harbor” deadline under federal law. Georgia has now certified its results, which means it met the deadline and that Congress is required to respect these results.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has until 5 p.m. ET Saturday to sign the paperwork that officially grants Georgia’s 16 electors to Biden, according to state law. Kemp has been relatively quiet during the post-election audit, and CNN has asked his office if he plans to sign the paperwork without incident.
A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit to delay Georgia’s certification. The case was brought by one of the potential Republican electors, and the Trump campaign was not officially involved. Lin Wood, who brought the lawsuit, would have served as a pro-Trump elector if Trump won Georgia.
President-elect Joe Biden turns 78 today, and when he is sworn in as president in January, he will be the oldest person in US history to have the job.
He will beat, by eight years, the record set by President Trump when he was elected in 2016 at age 70.
Biden was among the youngest men ever elected to the Senate in 1972, and in his third bid for the presidency, his life story of overcoming personal tragedy met the moment of a nation in the grips of health and economic crises.
Vice-president elect Kamala Harris will also be making history when she takes office. She will become America’s first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president.
President-elect Joe Biden will meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in Wilmington, Delaware, today, according to a transition official.
This will be the first in-person meeting for the trio since Biden won the election.
The meeting comes as Covid-19 cases continue to surge in the country and another stimulus deal is yet to be reached in Congress. More than 2,000 American deaths were recorded by Johns Hopkins University on Thursday — the highest number since early May.
Some of the last remaining stimulus programs for the unemployed, renters and student loan borrowers are set to expire by the end of December unless Congress or President Trump takes action.
While Congress moved swiftly to deliver trillions of dollars in pandemic relief programs when the country first shut down in March, a lot of those benefits have already lapsed.
Despite bipartisan support for another stimulus package, lawmakers have failed to come to any agreement for months, and there is little confidence that a deal could be reached in the lame-duck session.
The former head of the General Services Administration during the 2000 election said Thursday that he would ascertain the 2020 results and begin the formal transition to a Joe Biden presidency, which the current administrator has yet to do.
The current GSA administrator, Emily Murphy, still has yet to acknowledge Biden’s victory — as President Trump refuses to concede — and sign a letter to release funds to the Biden transition team through a process called ascertainment. Without the GSA’s signoff, Biden and his team are stuck in limbo, barred from access to federal agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic and classified intelligence briefings.
Barram confirmed to CNN that he and Murphy spoke over the phone before the Nov. 3 election, saying it was a “very cordial conversation” and that Murphy had asked him about his experiences in the GSA.
“I’m very sympathetic to her. It’s a tough spot to be in. I just think she has to finally come to a decision and like I say, I’m sympathetic for her. I think it will make everything work when she finally does,” Barram said.
Barram said that the current situation is “dramatically different” than the GSA’s delay in ascertainment during the 2000 standoff between George W. Bush and Al Gore, which came down to Florida and 537 votes that separated the two candidates.
“Both George Bush and Al Gore, and all of their team, they knew exactly what the deal was. It was whoever would win Florida would win the election. And that’s all we were dealing with. And so it was not settled in Florida. And it was clearly not settled in Florida until the Supreme Court ruled. And then when the Supreme Court ruled, Al Gore immediately conceded,” Barram said.
Barram had eventually ascertained Bush as the 2000 election winner after the Supreme Court ended the Florida recount.
Biden leads Trump by thousands of votes in several states in which the Trump campaign has filed lawsuits and is attempting to delay states’ certifications of the results. Biden is also on track to net 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.
Read more here.
Though states finalize and certify their results after every election, the process of confirming the winner of the general election has taken on new significance this year, as President Trump continues to contest his loss.
Here are key things to know about the process:
Read more here.
