REHOBOTH BEACH / WASHINGTON: US President-elect Joe Biden solidified his victory over President Donald Trump on Friday after the state of Georgia went its way, leaving Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recount.
Edison Research, which made the call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other state on the battlefield with a pending vote count, would go to Trump, ending the electoral vote count at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump.
The numbers gave Biden, a Democrat, a resounding defeat to Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes that Trump, a Republican, won to defeat Hillary Clinton, a 2016 victory that Trump called “crushing.”
While Trump had yet to give in, Biden officials reiterated that they were moving forward with transition efforts regardless.
Although the national popular vote does not determine the outcome of the elections, Biden he was ahead by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points. Their participation in the popular vote, 50.8%, was slightly higher than Ronald reaganshare of the vote in 1980 when he defeated Jimmy Carter.
Trump, a Republican, has claimed without proof that he was duped by widespread electoral fraud and has refused to budge. State election officials do not report serious wrongdoing, and several of their legal challenges have failed in court.
To win a second term, Trump would have to revoke BidenIt leads in at least three states, but has so far been unable to provide evidence that it could do so in any of them. States face a “safe harbor” deadline of December 8 to certify their elections and elect voters to the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on December 14.
A Michigan state court on Friday rejected a request by Trump to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which was strongly in favor of Biden. And lawyers for Trump’s campaign dropped a lawsuit in Arizona after the final vote count struck down.
Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system removed or lost votes, changed votes “or was compromised in any way,” two security groups said in a statement issued Thursday by the main cybersecurity agency. from the United States.
Trump was scheduled Friday afternoon to make his first public statements since Biden he was projected as the winner of the elections on November 7. The White House He said he will address the nation about efforts by the government and drug makers to develop effective treatments for the coronavirus pandemic.
TRANSITION TALK
Biden Officials said Friday they would move forward with the transition, identifying legislative priorities, reviewing federal agency policies and preparing to fill thousands of jobs in the new administration.
“We are moving forward with the transition,” said Jen Psaki, Senior Advisor for Bidentransition team, he said in a conference call on Friday, while emphasizing that Biden it still needs “real-time information” from the Trump administration to deal with the resurgent pandemic and threats to national security.
Psaki urged the Trump White House to allow Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to receive daily intelligence reports on potential threats around the world.
“With each passing day, it becomes more worrying that our national security team and the president-elect and vice president-elect do not have access to those threat assessments, intelligence reports, real-time information about our commitments around the world.” said Psaki. ” Because, you know, you don’t know what you don’t know. ”
Biden it will be reported by its own group of national security experts next week, he said. He met with transition advisers again Friday at his Delaware beach home, where he is planning his approach to the pandemic and preparing to appoint his top appointees, including cabinet members.
Trump’s refusal to accept defeat has stalled the official transition. The federal agency that provides funding to an incoming president-elect, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognize Bidenvictory, denying him access to federal office space and resources.
Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera, a Trump confidant, said he had spoken to the president by phone on Friday and that Trump had given him the impression that he would follow the U.S. Constitution and resign after he was appointed. all votes will count.
“He told me that he is realistic. He told me that he would do the right thing,” Rivera said in an interview with Fox. “I do not have the impression that he was plotting to overthrow the elected government.
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