By Aaron Miller-
Republicans in Georgia released obituaries of deceased residents whose names they claimed were used to cast ballots in the state.
The news comes as Georgia announced it would conduct a recount of the presidential votes cast in the state by hand, a move which had been pushed by Mr Trump’s team. Media analysts and lawyers have expressed certainty that a reversal of the election outcome is next to impossible even if some votes are found to have been illegally cast. Trump’s team disagree and have other ideas, although. Only four Republicans have suggested Trump will have to step down, but 49 Republicans are still supporting president Trump’s legal claims.
Intelligence Briefing
Biden’s team are already complaining he has been denied access to necessary intelligent briefings. Trump’s public schedule hasn’t included an intelligence briefing since Oct. 1. The White House hasn’t provided a “readout” of any call between the president and a foreign leader in weeks. He hasn’t met with members of the White House coronavirus task force in months. He also offered no public comment on Tropical Storm Eta lashing the Florida Keys.
The Trump administration under the authourity of Attorney General William Barr has pushed his lawsuit in Georgia, after authorizing the Justice Department to probe allegations of voter fraud and President Donald Trump firing the Pentagon chief and blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden’s team.
Barr signed off investigations into the unsubstantiated claims made by Trump that the election of Joe Biden was rigged. In the meantime, the Biden team have complained that they are not getting daily briefings.
Top Republicans have abstained from pressurising Trump to accept his election loss. Trump has remained out of sight at the White House, as speculations keep building about how the defeated president would spend the coming days and weeks as he challenged the people’s verdict.
Biden has exceeded Trump in the popular votes with more than 5 million votes, and is already taken steps to set up his team.
Claims
Mr Trump has in the past 24 hours continued to escalated his claims of electoral sabotage, yesterday accusing ABC News and the Washington Post of possible ”illegal suppression”. The Trump team have been accused of refusing to give the president elect access to daily intelligence briefing, leading to grave concerns that Biden is being hindered from preparing for his political role.
Mr Biden on Wednesday appointed long time adviser Ron Klain as his chief of staff.
Mr Klain served as chief of staff for Mr Biden during Barack Obama’s first term, was chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore in the mid-1990s and was a key adviser on the Biden campaign, guiding Mr Biden’s debate preparations and coronavirus response. He’s known and worked with Mr Biden since the Democrat’s 1987 presidential campaign
Top Republicans have largely refused to put widespread pressure on Trump to accept his election loss. He has remained out of sight at the White House after briefly appearing from remembrance day on Wednesday. how the defeated president would spend the coming days and weeks as he challenged the people’s verdict. A shuffling process in the White House that has seen the president replace a number of officials with loyalists has worried many observers.
Others believed to be on the firing line include: FBI Director Christopher Wray, CIA head Gina Haspel and infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci.
The president was given cover to keep fighting by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, seen by many in the GOP as the one who may eventually need to nudge Trump to the exit.
“Our institutions are actually built for this,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate on Monday. “We have the system in place to consider concerns and President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has condemned the Republicans’ refusal to accept the election results as “extremely dangerous, extremely poisonous to our democracy.”
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said it was time for the transition to proceed unimpeded. “At this stage, I think the transition should be underway, even though it’s not finalized,” he said. “We want to make sure that the interests of national security and smooth transition” are carried out.
Republicans on Capitol Hill have been reluctant to push Trump to concede to Biden, to avoid the potential backclash from within Trump’s team.
Formal Delay
The General Services Administration held off on formally beginning the transition, preventing Biden’s teams from gaining access to federal agencies. An agency spokesperson said late Monday that an “ascertainment” on the winner of the election had not yet been made. Citing what the agency did during the extended 2000 electoral recount, it signalled that it may not do so until Trump concedes or the Electoral College meets next month.
EPA employees are reported to have told told agency retirees that the agency’s political appointees were refusing to discuss any transition, saying they were sure Trump would be re-elected.
Legal challenges already have been dismissed in battleground states like Georgia and Wisconsin. And Trump’s legal challenge was dealt another blow Monday when campaign adviser David Bossie, tasked with leading the effort, tested positive for the coronavirus.