US Presidential Election & covid-19 updates: Trump, Biden, transition, results, cases, latest news

wuruthbarrett

17 min readNov 25, 2020

US election and coronavirus: latest news

Electoral college votes (270 needed to win)

Joe Biden: 306
Donald Trump: 232

US covid-19 cases: 12.59 million

US covid-19 deaths: 259,976 (Source: JHU)

- US reports highest daily death toll since May: 2,146 fatalities were recorded on Tuesday in the US

- Trump insists his legal team “will keep up the good fight” in the courts

- President-elect Biden announces a number of cabinet picks, revealing his national security and foreign policy team

- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Nevada lawmakers certify the states’ Electoral College votes for Joe Biden

- General Motors has dropped its support for Trump administration’s fuel economy lawsuit

- President’s legal team publicly distances itself from “Trump Campaign Lawyer” Sidney Powell

- Former House Democrat calls for stimulus checks to be reserved for those willing to be vaccinated against covid-19, to help the US reach herd immunity

- FDA could approve Pfizer coronavirus vaccine “within weeks”, Americans could start to receive it by mid-December

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THANKSGIVING

Stores opening hours in Thanksgiving 2020: Walmart, Target, Costco…

US first time jobless benefit claims rise sharply

NBC News: The latest weekly total for initial jobless benefit claims ticked sharply up to 778,000 last week from 742,000 one week earlier, amid a further rise in coronavirus infections that is clearly dampening the labor market’s rebound.

Economists had predicted the total would be around 730,000.

The weekly data was released one day early by the Department of Labor, in view of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

While the new weekly total is far lower than the March peak of nearly 7 million claimants, it is still elevated when compared to pre-pandemic levels, which averaged 200,000 a week.

Another Trump loyalist has coronavirus

In spite of the president having promised that covid-19 would no longer be a problem following the election, his entourage continue to catch the virus.

Boris Epshteyn is currently Trump’s Strategic Advisor, was previously Special Assistant to the president and Comms Director.

China: Xi congratulates Biden on presidency

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday congratulated Joe Biden on winning the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, voicing hope the two countries could promote a healthy and stable development of bilateral ties, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Sino-U.S. relations have deteriorated to their worst in decades during incumbent U.S. President’s Donald Trump’s four years in office, with disputes simmering over issues from trade and technology to Hong Kong and the coronavirus.

In his congratulatory message to Biden, Xi said healthy ties between the world’s two biggest economies were not only in the fundamental interests of their two peoples but also expected by the international community, Xinhua reported.

Also on Wednesday, the Chinese vice-president, Wang Qishan, congratulated Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris, on being elected the next US vice-president, Xinhua said.

In an Op Ed for USA Today, Brad Raffensperger has spoken out about how he and his family donated to Trump’s campaign and voted for him in the election, but he threw them under the bus anyway.

Raffensperger resisted attempts from Trump and other powerful Republicans to devoid thousands of valid votes in the Peach State, arguably making him one of the unsung heroes of this election, and of democracy. He in turn drew heavy criticism from Trump and his cronies.

Joe Biden won in Georgia by 12,000 votes of 5 million cast.

“By all accounts, Georgia had a wildly successful and smooth election. “ Raffensperger writes.

Biden to address nation on Thanksgiving, surging coronavirus cases

President-elect Joe Biden is expected to deliver a Thanksgiving address on Wednesday from Wilmington, Del.

Biden’s White House transition team said in a press release that the president-elect’s speech would touch on “shared sacrifices Americans are making this holiday season” while delivering a message “that we can and will get through the current crisis together.”

The speech comes as millions of Americans have begun travelling against advice to stay home this holiday, despite surging case and death numbers nationally.

Newsmax CEO admits coverage is not accurate

Rival right-wing television network to Fox News, currently in favour of Donald Trump has all but admitted to peddling fake news and conspiracy theories.

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy has admitted that some of the channel’s post-election news coverage has not been accurate, but defended the output as merely providing people’s opinions.

Ruddy was being interviewed on Peacock’s The Mehdi Hasan Show about how he can justify the misinformation and conspiracy theories that have been aired on the network, which has seen a surge of viewership and praise from Donald Trump.

Hasan accused Newsmax’s post-election coverage as like “watching a parallel universe” as it continues to push disputed claims of widespread voter fraud, the debunked theory that Dominion Voting Systems glitch massively favoured Joe Biden and the suggestion that Trump could still be president in January.

Hasan also played an “especially ridiculous” clip from Diamond and Silk, who appear on Newsmax despite being cut from Fox News for spreading conspiracy theories about the covid-19 pandemic.

Trump takes credit for stocks surge

Yesterday Donald Trump was very quick to claim credit for a record stock market level in the US. In a very short and bizarre press briefing where he refused to take any questions, the president said:

“That’s a sacred number, 30,000. Nobody thought they’d ever see it. That’s the 48th time we have broken records during the Trump administration.”

The record set by the Dow Jones Industrial Average is in stark contrast to what Trump had promised if Joe Biden won the election — he had claimed that it would crash the stock markets.

Via The Guardian

Exclusive: White House considers lifting European travel restrictions

The White House is considering rescinding entry bans for most non-U.S. citizens who recently were in Brazil, Britain, Ireland and 26 other European countries, five U.S. and airline officials told Reuters.

The Trump administration imposed the bans in a bid to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic. It is not considering lifting separate entry bans on most non-U.S. citizens who have recently been in China or Iran, the officials said.

The plan has won the backing of White House coronavirus task-force members, public health and other federal agencies, the people briefed on the matter said, but President Donald Trump has not made a final decision and the timing remains uncertain.

The White House, Department of Homeland Security and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not comment.

Many administration officials argue the restrictions no longer make sense given that most countries around the world are not subject to the entry ban. They contend lifting the restrictions would be a boost to struggling U.S. airlines, which have seen international travel fall by 70%, according to airline industry data.

Meghan Markle speaks out about miscarriage

In an essay named “The Losses We Share” , The Duchess of Sussex links her personal trauma this summer of losing her unborn child, Markle roots the event in the global context of the millions of families who have lost loved ones to covid-19, the tragedies that sparked the black lives matter protests and the 1 in 8 women who experience miscariage.

“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” Meghan wrote in the essay for the New York Times.

“In being invited to share our pain, together we take the first steps toward healing.”

Heavy US air traffic ahead of Thanksgiving

Amid pleas from public health officials not to travel or mix households this holiday season, with no nationwide restrictions, millions of Americans are still travelling this Thanksgiving.

Markets set to recover for six months due to vaccine hopes, cheap cash

The blistering rally in global stock markets is set to continue for at least six months, albeit at a shallower pace, amid hopes more cheap cash and a covid-19 vaccine allow economies to heal and corporate earnings to recover, a Reuters poll found.

With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the globe, economic activity ground to a halt as governments forced citizens to stay home and businesses to close, disrupting supply chains.

That collapse led to unprecedented levels of fiscal and monetary stimulus and with that cheap money supply set to continue, around 75% of respondents to an additional question said the bull run would last at least six months.

Over half of those respondents in the Nov. 12–24 poll said at least a year.

“The rebound in equities from March to October was the initial ‘hope’-driven phase of a new bull market, led mainly by valuation expansion as profits collapsed, while we are now moving into the longer ‘growth’ phase as profits start to recover,” noted analysts at Goldman Sachs.

“Negative real interest rates should continue to support the bull market in 2021.”

Trump plans to pardon Michael Flynn

President Trump has told confidants he plans to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts, two sources with direct knowledge of the discussions tell Axios.

Flynn’s pardon would be the culmination of a four-year political and legal saga that began with the FBI’s investigation into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 election.

‘We’re drowning’: COVID cases flood hospitals in America’s heartland

After pounding big U.S. cities in the spring, covid-19 now has engulfed rural and small-town America, seeming to seep into the country’s every nook and cranny. According to Reuters’ interviews with more than a dozen medical care providers and public health officials in the nation’s heartland, many hospitals are severely lacking in beds, equipment and — most critically — clinical staff, including specialists and nurses.

Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations are spiking nationally. But the Midwest — encompassing a dozen states between Ohio and the Dakotas — has been especially brutalised. Reported case rates are more than double that of any other region in the United States, according to the covid tracking Project, a volunteer-run data provider. From mid-June to mid-November, reported cases in the Midwest rose more than twentyfold.

Read Reuters full report

Biden presidency will not be “a third Obama term”

Here’s the key moment from that Joe Biden interview last night, when he said his presidency would not be “a third Obama term”, via The Guardian.

“We face a totally different world than we faced in the Obama-Biden administration,” Biden said. “President Trump has changed the landscape.”

He went on to say that his administration aimed to represent the “spectrum of the American people as well as the spectrum of the Democratic party” Biden added, agreeing that he’d even consider appointing a Republican who voted for Trump.

“I want this country to be united,” Biden said.

Biden expressed his wish to pursue a “progressive” agenda. Asked if he’d consulted with progressive senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on cabinet appointments, the president-elect said “there’s nothing really off the table” when it comes to who he’ll tap to join his administration. But, he said, “taking someone out of the Senate, taking someone out of the House … is a really difficult decision that will have to be made”.

21 Republican lawmakers who privately expressed contempt for Trump named by Carl Bernstein

Renowned Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein has publicly named 21 Republican senators he says have “repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for [Donald] Trump and his fitness” for office, as reported by The Guardian.

“I’m not violating any pledge of journalistic confidentially in reporting this: 21 Republican Sens–in convos w/ colleagues, staff members, lobbyists, W. House aides–have repeatedly expressed extreme contempt for Trump & his fitness to be POTUS,” tweeted Bernstein, before identifying the 21 senators.

They were: Rob Portman (Ohio), Lamar Alexander (Tennessee), Ben Sasse (Nebraska), Roy Blunt (Missouri), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), John Cornyn (Texas), John Thune (South Dakota), Mitt Romney (Utah), Mike Braun and Todd Young (Indiana), Tim Scott (South Carolina), Rick Scott and Marco Rubio (Florida), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Richard Burr (North Carolina), Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania), Martha McSally (Arizona), Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts (Kansas) and Richard Shelby (Alabama).

EU must not relax Covid-19 measures too quickly, chief executive says

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday against relaxing coronavirus lockdown measures too quickly, telling the European Parliament there was a risk of a third wave of infections.

“I know that shop owners, bartenders and waiters in restaurants want an end to restrictions. But we must learn from the summer and not repeat the same mistakes,’ von der Leyen said. “Relaxing too fast and too much is a risk for a third wave after Christmas,” she told EU lawmakers. (Reuters)

Bill Gates predicts when the next pandemic will arrive

Microsoft founder Bill Gates has revealed on his podcast, Bill Gates and Rashida Jones Ask Big Questions, his thoughts on the future of global pandemics. In a far-reaching conversation with actor and writer Jones, Gates outlined his hopes for a post-covid world and what challenges humanity will face. Read more…

CORONAVIRUS

Bill Gates predicts when the next pandemic will arrive

US reports highest daily death toll since May

The United States registeted 2,146 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University — marking the the 21st time that the US has reported 2,000-plus covid-19 fatalities in a single day.

Tuesday’s death toll was the highest since May. The most deaths in a single day were recorded April 15–2,603 people. The total death toll now stands at 256,925, as the total caseload nears 12.6 million

Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus death toll rises to 102,739

Mexico’s health ministry on Tuesday reported 10,794 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 813 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of cases to 1,060,152 and the death toll to 102,739. Health officials have said the real number of infections is likely significantly higher.

EU bracing for battles with new Biden administration

While most European leaders have welcomed the election of Joe Biden as the new US president, the EU is already preparing itself for several battles on a number of different fronts with the new administration, according to this FT article.

“There will be a number of easy wins and enhanced co-operation on climate, the pandemic and remedying some of the offences of the past four years,” Kristine Berzina, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States told the FT.

“But there are real dangers that disagreements on issues like data privacy and digital taxation will make it more difficult to get agreements on other issues that are very important for both the US and Europe — particularly China.”

CDC may shorten COVID-19 quarantine period guidelines

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may soon shorten the length of self-quarantine period recommended after potential exposure to the coronavirus, a top official said on Tuesday.

Health authorities currently recommend a 14-day quarantine in order to curb transmission of the virus but an official said Tuesday that there is evidence that the period could be shortened if patients are tested for the virus during their quarantine.

“Let me confirm that we are constantly reviewing the evidence and we are starting to have evidence that a shorter quarantine complemented by tests might be able to shorten that quarantine period from 14 days to shorter days,” a top U.S. health official said on a Tuesday press call. (Reuters)

Panic buying in California amid new coronavirus restrictions

In pictures: A sign hanging from an empty shelf notifies customers to limit the purchase of high demand items such as toilet paper and disinfecting wipes at a Target store in Fremont, California, on 24 November 2020.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a limited overnight stay-at-home order designed to slow down the rapid surge of Covid-19 cases. (EFE/EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO)

US sets coronavirus hospitalization record

The number of people hospitalized in the US due to coronavirus reached a record 88,080 as cases continue to surge across the country.

There have been close to 12.6 million cases reported in the US since the start of the pandemic, while 259,925 people have died, according to the latest data from John Hopkins University.

Speaking to Fox News, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, made reference to the “silent epidemic”.

“The real driver of this epidemic now is not the public square,” Redfield said. “It really is driven by the silent epidemic — the asymptomatic infections largely in individuals between the ages of say 12 and 35.”

Biden’s names cabinet picks with “unmatched experience”

Joe Biden addressed the nation after naming several picks for his cabinet, which will be the most diverse in history with Avril Haines becoming the first female director of national intelligence and Alejandro Mayorkas set to be first immigrant Latino to lead the Department of Homeland Security.

“While this team has unmatched experience and accomplishments, they also reflect the idea that we cannot meet these challenged with old thinking and unchanged habits,” said the President-elect.

“For example we’re going to have the first woman to lead the intelligence community, the first Latino and immigrant to lead the Department of Homeland Security and a groundbreaking diplomat at the United Nations.”

US Presidential Election & covid-19 updates: Trump, Biden, transition, results, cases, latest news

US election and coronavirus: latest news

US first time jobless benefit claims rise sharply

Another Trump loyalist has coronavirus

China: Xi congratulates Biden on presidency

Biden to address nation on Thanksgiving, surging coronavirus cases

Newsmax CEO admits coverage is not accurate

Trump takes credit for stocks surge

Exclusive: White House considers lifting European travel restrictions

Meghan Markle speaks out about miscarriage

Heavy US air traffic ahead of Thanksgiving

Markets set to recover for six months due to vaccine hopes, cheap cash

Trump plans to pardon Michael Flynn

‘We’re drowning’: COVID cases flood hospitals in America’s heartland

Biden presidency will not be “a third Obama term”

21 Republican lawmakers who privately expressed contempt for Trump named by Carl Bernstein

EU must not relax Covid-19 measures too quickly, chief executive says

Bill Gates predicts when the next pandemic will arrive

US reports highest daily death toll since May

Mexico’s confirmed coronavirus death toll rises to 102,739

EU bracing for battles with new Biden administration

CDC may shorten COVID-19 quarantine period guidelines

Panic buying in California amid new coronavirus restrictions

US sets coronavirus hospitalization record

Biden’s names cabinet picks with “unmatched experience”

Written by wuruthbarrett