Networks call Georgia for Biden as security officials say vote was ‘secure’
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As Donald Trump continues to refuse conceding the 2020 presidential race to Joe Biden, the president-elect was said to have spoken with Senate Republicans who have begun to admit he should at least receive intelligence briefings that have so far been denied.
On Friday afternoon most networks called Georgia for Mr Biden and North Carolina for Mr Trump bringing their respective electoral college vote totals to 306 to 232.
US federal and state cybersecurity officials, meanwhile, have delivered a direct rebuke to Donald Trump, who continues to allege irregularities and widespread fraud without evidence.
Chris Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the 3 November vote was “the most secure in history" in a report published Thursday, and added that Americans should trust the result. His agency had not find any evidence of ballots being lost, deleted or altered, he said.
President-elect Joe Biden has indicated he is already putting together his White House team. But who will be in his cabinet?
So far the campaign has kept its cards close to its chest, but there is growing speculation that Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren could be tapped to lead the Treasury Department, with Vermont senator Bernie Sanders leading the Department of Labor.
Alex Woodward has more:
Who is in Biden's cabinet?
Rumours and predictions among insiders and analysts about future White House leadership
Kim Kardashian appears to have confirmed she is a Biden-Harris supporter by posting three blue hearts above a picture of president-elect Joe Biden and vice president elect Kamala Harris.
Her husband Kanye West, who ran an independent bid for president himself, has not tweeted since 4 November, when he appeared to back himself for 2024.
Trump: ‘I won the election’
Donald Trump has tweeted for the first time since his defeat was declared - and it’s all in capital letters as you might expect.
The president complained that ‘bad things happened’ in the vote counting rooms while his observers were not present and claimed “MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!”
Twitter has already added a warning that "this claim about election fraud is disputed".
Donald Trump’s latest tweet alleging electoral fraud has already been flagged for making unsubstantiated claims.
Since election day, more than a third of his tweets have been labelled with warning notices by the social media site.
More than a third of Trump’s tweets have been flagged for disinformation since election day
‘Some or all of the content shared in this Tweet is disputed and might be misleading about an election or other civic process’
James Comey saves his statement until after the election, this time
“A wonderful day for America,” the ex-FBI director said.
No mention of any emails, of either the Hillary or Hunter variety.
Investors celebrate Biden winning US presidency
Investors and financial executives took a big sigh of relief on Saturday after major networks declared Democrat Joe Biden winner of the US presidential election, offering some certainty after days of conflicting reports about who might run the White House next term.
“Biden is good news for the markets,” Christopher Stanton, chief investment officer at Sunrise Capital Partners, said on Saturday. “We’re all so tired of the whipsaw that came with the Trump tweets.”
Major US stock indexes registered their biggest weekly gains since April this week, as investors bet Biden would win and Republicans would hold onto the Senate. - Reuters
Nigel Farage loses £10,000 bet on Donald Trump winning the US election
Nigel Farage is set to lose £10,000 after he bet that Donald Trump would win the US election.
The Brexit Party leader appears to have made the wager after Mr Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen put down $10,000 on a Joe Biden victory.
He even posted a picture of himself holding a sign displaying the 15/8 bet in Washington DC with the Capitol building in the background as the polls closed on 3 November, and declared that he was “absolutely optimistic” of winning.
Peter Stubley reports.
Watch: Twitter reacts to Joe Biden winning election
So you don’t have to, The Independent scoured Twitter for the top reactions to president-elect Joe Biden.
Watch below to see the responses from Barack Obama, Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Dominic Raab, Nanci Pelosi,
A notable absence is Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, as they’re little behind on the time difference down there. So for good measure:
Democratic party debates future priorities after Biden win
Some want the Biden administration to govern with a progressive focus, while others eye a shift back to the center, writes Josh Marcus.
“There’s something deeply wrong when working class Americans have that response to a major party that theoretically is supposed to be fighting for them,” Andrew Yang told CNN’s Don Lemon on Wednesday.
“You have to ask yourself, what has the Democratic party been standing for in their minds? And in their minds, the Democratic party unfortunately has taken on the role of the coastal, urban elites who are more concerned with various cultural issues than improving their way of life, that has been declining for years.”
Democratic party debates future priorities after Biden win
Some want the Biden administration to govern with a progressive focus, while others eye a shift back to the center
President-elect Biden tees up agenda as Trump mulls his defeat on the green
Joe Biden has ousted Donald Trump as president of the United States after a contentious pandemic-altered campaign of heated rhetoric that further exposed the country’s deep political divisions as a legal fight looms. For the next president, the hard part is still ahead: governing a nation in which 70m people voted for his opponent.
"America, I'm honoured that you have chosen me to lead our great country,” the president-elect tweeted. “The work ahead of us will be hard, but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have placed in me."
In a surreal scene, Mr Trump — who for years criticised then-President Barack Obama’s golf habit — was on the links at his Sterling, Virginia, club when the Associated Press and major US networks called Pennsylvania for Mr Biden. Its 20 Electoral College votes made the former vice president and longtime Delaware senator the president-elect.
The Independent’s Washington Bureau Chief, John T Bennett, looks at a most unusual Saturday in November.
President-elect Biden tees up agenda as Trump mulls his defeat on the green
‘It is important to respect and promptly accept the result,’ retiring Republican senator says — in rebuke of Trump’s legal challenges
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