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WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – On Sunday (November 15), US President Donald Trump briefly acknowledged losing the US election in a morning Twitter post, but then backtracked, saying he concedes “nothing” and promising to wage a judicial fight against the electoral law, experts say it is unlikely to succeed.
President-elect Joe Biden focused on the coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that is intensifying in the weeks leading up to his inauguration, by setting up meetings with vaccine developers.
Ron Klain, chosen by Biden as White House chief of staff, urged the Trump administration to allow for a smooth transition, calling it vital to national security and the fight against Covid-19.
The total number of coronavirus cases in the US surpassed 11 million on Sunday, according to Reuters data, a million more new cases from a week ago, the fastest increase since the pandemic began.
The health crisis will be a primary concern for Biden, who will take office on January 20. Klain said that Biden’s scientific advisers would meet with Pfizer Inc and other drug companies starting this week to prepare for the “giant logistics project” of widespread vaccination against a virus that has killed more than 245,000 Americans and put people out of work. million more.
Biden defeated Trump in the November 3 election by winning a series of battleground states that the Republican president won in 2016. The former Democratic vice president also won the national popular vote by at least 5.5 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points. , with some the ballots are still being counted.
Trump, who is pursuing risky litigation challenging election results in multiple states, made conflicting statements on Twitter.
He initially appeared to first publicly admit that Mr. Biden won, then changed course. He also repeated unsubstantiated claims of widespread electoral fraud.
“He won because the election was rigged,” he wrote, without referring to Mr. Biden by name, adding a list of complaints about the vote count. About 90 minutes later, he wrote: “He only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I grant NOTHING! “
After a golf outing at a club he owns in Virginia, Trump said on Twitter that he would soon file “large cases showing the unconstitutionality of the 2020 election.” His campaign has filed lawsuits seeking to revoke the results in several states, without success.
Legal experts have said that Trump’s litigation has little chance of altering the election outcome, and election officials from both parties have said there is no evidence of major wrongdoing.
Speaking on NBC’s Meet The Press, Klain said: “Donald Trump’s Twitter doesn’t make Joe Biden president or not president. The American people did that. “
The General Services Administration’s decision, led by a Trump appointee, not to recognize Biden as president-elect has prevented Biden and his team from gaining access to government office space and funds normally awarded to an administration. incoming to ensure a smooth transition. .
Without explicitly mentioning the transition, Trump praised the agency’s manager, Emily Murphy, writing on Twitter: “Good job Emily!”
Klain said Murphy’s agency must formally recognize Biden and said ensuring the president-elect receives intelligence reports before taking office and facilitating coordination with the White House coronavirus task force is critical.
He urged Congress to pass bipartisan legislation for coronavirus relief before the end of the year. Talks about such legislation have stalled.
‘Vaccine challenge’
Klain previously said a smooth transition was necessary to ensure that the government was prepared to launch a Covid-19 vaccine early next year.
Pfizer said last week that its vaccine candidate proved more than 90 percent effective in initial trials, raising hope that widespread vaccination in the coming months could help control the pandemic.
Other companies are also in advanced stages of developing promising vaccines.
“It’s great to have a vaccine, but vaccines don’t save lives. Vaccines save lives, ”Klain said. “And that means you have to put that vaccine in the arms of people across the country.”
Manufacturing and distribution mechanics fall to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he added, so it’s important that Biden’s team can coordinate with current HHS officials.
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert and a member of the White House task force, underscored the importance of a smooth transition in efforts to control of the pandemic.
“It would be better if we could start working with them,” he said of the coordination between the existing task force and the Biden team.
Dr. Fauci welcomed Klain’s selection and said that he had been “great” under former President Barack Obama in managing the United States’ response to an Ebola outbreak in 2014.
Biden’s campaign said it had raised $ 10.5 million (S $ 14.1 million) of its goal of $ 30 million for a “Biden Fight Fund” for election advocacy efforts, according to a fundraising petition. of funds sent on Sunday.
A laborious manual recount is underway in Georgia, where Biden has been projected as the winner and has a lead of more than 14,000 votes.
Patrick Moore, a legal adviser for Biden’s campaign, said the tally so far had shifted vote totals “almost imperceptibly” and in favor of Biden, and that there was no evidence of widespread wrongdoing.
Control of the United States Senate will be decided in two January runoff elections in Georgia, which will be important to the fate of Biden’s ambitious legislative agenda. Klain said that Biden could campaign in Georgia before the second round.
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