President-elect Biden News: Live Updates


Deposit …Erin Chef / The New York Times

President Trump said Thursday that if the Electoral College led Joseph R. Although Biden Jr. made the election as president a formality, he left the White House, although he reiterated baseless allegations of fraud that he said would be “very difficult” to accept.

For the first time since election day, Mr. Trump, who has been questioning reporters, also threw himself into the fight for Senate control, saying he would leave for Georgia soon. Republic will travel to Georgia to support Republican candidates in the two-run election in January.

When asked if he would step down in January after Electoral College College voted for Mr. Biden on Dec. 14, Mr. Trump replied: “Sure I will. Sure I will. ”

Speaking in the White House diplomatic room after a Thanksgiving video conference with members of the U.S. military, the president stressed that new adoration about voting issues before opening day would be “shocking.” “It’s very difficult to accept, because we know there was a lot of fraud,” he said.

But even as he continued to deny the reality of his defeat, Mr. Trump acknowledged that his days as president were numbered.

“The time is not on our side,” he said in a rare admission of weakness. He also complained that he referred to the “Biden Administration” as “premature”, announcing his intention to violate his “America First” foreign policy vision.

Asked if he would attend Mr. Biden’s inauguration, as the departure is a matter for the president, Mr. Trump said nicely.

“I do not want to say that yet,” he said. ‘

In his remarks Thursday, Mr. Trump said he would visit Georgia on Saturday. White House spokesman Jude Deere later clarified that the president meant Saturday, December 5th.

The election results saw Democrats win 48 seats in the U.S. Senate. Jo Jones Sof and Rev. Dr. Rap. If Rafael Warnock, Georgia’s Democratic Challengers, can pull off a victory over both Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loffler, his party will gain real control of the 50-50 split Senate as the vice president is elected. Kamala Harris will vote tiebreaking.

The president added that he could return to the state a second time to support Republicans, “depending on how they do it.”

Iran’s top nuclear scientist, who has long accused US and Israeli spies of plotting to develop nuclear weapons, was shot dead as he traveled in a vehicle in northern Iran on Friday.

According to American intelligence assessments, scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed to be 59, has been the driving force behind Iran’s nuclear weapons program for two decades, and according to American intelligence assessments, the main part of the effort was peacefully disbanded in the early 2000s. And theft of Iranian nuclear documents by Iranians.

The assassination of Mr Fakhrizadeh, whoever was responsible, could have far-reaching implications for the incoming Biden administration. Iran, which assassinated Iranian Major General Qasim Suleimani, who ran a select Kuds force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in an American attack in January, is bound to react sharply in Iran, just like the US attack in January.

An obscure figure, Mr. Fakhrizadeh, has long been the No. 1 target of Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, believed to be behind a series of assassinations of scientists a decade ago, including some of Mr. Fakhrizadeh’s subordinates.

The killings come at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the Trump administration. Mr Trump was dissatisfied with the attack on Iran just two weeks ago, after his aides warned he could escalate into a wider conflict during his last week in office.

Mr. Trump asked senior advisers at a meeting of the Oval Office on Nov. 12 whether he had the options to take action against Iran’s main nuclear site at Natanz next week. In the days that followed, Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State and former director of the CIA, visited Israel to see what would be his last trip there.

Forcing Iran to halt the expansion of its nuclear program would be a significant shock to Mr Biden, who seeks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Such a strike on the eve of the new administration could poison relations with Tehran to such an extent that it would be impossible to negotiate a resumption of the deal or tighten its terms.

Mr. Trump last week asked Secretary of Defense, Mark T. Following the dismissal of Asper and other Pentagon aides, the Department of Defense and other national security officials have privately expressed concern that the president could launch an overt or covert operation against Iran or others. Opponents at the end of his term. Others have speculated that Mr. Netanyahu, who was on the verge of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities at various moments, may try to take action while Mr. Trump is still in office.

Mr. Trump’s top advisers – Mr. Pompeo and Gen. Mark A. Top US officials and commanders have warned of Iran’s misconduct while Miley, including the president, has argued against a military strike against Iran.

“For decades, the Iranian regime has funded and supported terrorism and terrorist organizations,” said Gen. Kenneth F. Kennedy, head of the military’s Central Command. McKenzie Jr. said last week on a webinar about the Middle East.

U.S. officials will not comment on the killings Friday morning, saying they are seeking information. But some U.S. officials have argued that the recent death of Mr. Fakhrizadeh in the wake of such mysterious assassinations of Iran’s top nuclear scientists will send a chilling message to other top scientists working on the program: If we can get it, we can get it too.

Deposit …David Dermer / Associated Press

President-elect Joseph R. The potential fight over Biden Jr.’s selection of agriculture secretary is erupting, and Black wants to re-focus the Department of Agriculture on hunger against traditionalists who make a powerful law, who believe the department should be a voice for rural America. .

Representative of South Carolina James E. Claiburn, the highest-ranking black member of Congress and perhaps the most important supporter in Mr. Biden’s Democratic primary, is represented by Ohio Representative Marcia L. Fudge is African-American. Democrat from Ohio.

Mr. Caliburn, whose support Mr. Biden previously helped boost the former vice president’s nomination by the South Carolina primary, spoke on the phone this week about Mrs. Fight. The legislator also lobbied for him with two close advisers to the president-elect and discussed the issue with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“I feel very strong,” Mr. Klebern said in an interview Wednesday about Ms. Luz, who chairs the nutrition and oversight subcommittee at the House Agriculture Committee.

“It’s time for Democrats to treat the Department of Agriculture the way it wants to be,” he said, adding that most of the people in the budget are concerned with consumer issues and nutrition and things affecting people’s daily lives. ”

But there are complications. Two of Mr Biden’s farm-state allies are also being discussed for the job: former North Dakota Senator Heidi Hitkamp and former Iowa Governor Tom Wilsk, who serves as Secretary of Agriculture for President Barack Obama.

The delicate proxy clash in this position, which is not usually the case with more high-profile cabinet positions, provokes Democrats to emphasize issues such as hunger and nutrition against more traditional members of the party, who believe the department should represent rural America. The expanded agency oversees agricultural policy, forest service, food security and animal health, but also oversees food stamp programs, nutrition services, rural housing and rural development. More often than not, the discussion explains to Mr. Biden the challenges in building his administration. . Each appointment he interlocks with others, and if he does not select a different candidate for one position it is possible that he will remain in another position.

The agricultural job in particular is dragging Mr Biden between his two central campaign themes, which he reiterated in clear words in his victory speech this month: that he owes a special debt to African-American voters, and that he wants to be president. For all Americans, including those who did not vote for him. Mr. Biden’s rent was nowhere higher than that of rural America, especially the heaviest white parts of the farm belt.

Deposit …Erin Chef / The New York Times

Soon Illinois Senator Richard J. Durbin officially learned on Monday that there would be a Democratic inauguration at the top of the Judiciary Committee, he was on the phone to his colleagues trying to deny support for the position.

Mr. Durbin spoke of his bid to replace California Senator Diane Feinstein, who stepped down as a senior Democrat on the panel under intense pressure from progressive activists who considered him insufficiently aggressive for the job. “I’ve been to these competitions before.”

One Democrat with whom Mr. Durbin did not speak was Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who made it clear by the next afternoon that he too was interested in the job. Some of the same progressive activists who pushed for Ms. Feinstein’s removal said they would support her.

The contest set off a rare internal power struggle that reflects widespread controversy among Democrats over their party’s direction and approach in the new Congress. As they share the election results, which gave them control of the White House but gave up hope of hanging the Senate by the ropes, some are pushing for a new, more fighting style and pay generation change.

Deposit …Amr Alfiki / The New York Times

President-elect Joseph R. Attempts to confirm Biden Jr. have begun with enthusiasm, and even so, President Trump has continued to cast doubt on the election results, although, by some method, he may still be far from officially losing the title. 2020 presidential election.

On Monday, the Trump administration finally authorized a week-long delayed transition process after Michigan certified Mr. Biden as its winner. Nonetheless, Mr. Trump continued to press on Quixotic lawsuits and tweeted messages indicating fraud and defamation. His inability to accept an election is one of the latest reality-rejection moments of a career that is busy with the nickname: Loser.

After Mr. Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States in January 2017, his administration insisted that despite all the evidence against the inaugural audience, it was the largest ever. But no suggestion otherwise Mr. Trump would have lost in some imaginative contest about the size of the opening crowd.

Now, almost four years later, citizens have voted, baseless lawsuits accusing them of electoral fraud have been dropped and states have certified the vote. However, the bunch of losers in the 2020 presidential election is consistent with the rest of the country.

Mr. Trump’s career is full of moments that require a courageous effort to turn negative into positive, often by saying something over and over and over again until the truth is displaced or the audience gets tired of surrendering.

Such behavior by the President reflects a binary-code approach to life that leaves no room for nuisance or confusion. If a person is not one, then that person is zero.

“You’re either a winner or a loser,” Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, said in an interview last week. “Reality is secondary. That’s all understanding. “