Veteran Democrat Nancy Pelosi has announced that she was seeking a re-election as Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
In a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Friday, the 80-year-old said: “Our vision for the next two years must be built on the success of Democratic House Majority in the 116th Congress, and to harness the extraordinary visions, values and vibrancy of our Caucus to secure the progress that the American people deserve.
“In that spirit. I am writing to request your support to be re-elected as Speaker.”
Pelosi became the first woman elected as Speaker of the House in 2007 and she served until 2011, reports ABC News.
She was elected again in 2019.
Pelosi was re-elected to the US House in California’s 12th Congressional District during this year’s general elections, in which all the 435 seats of the chamber were contested, Xinhua news agency.
House Democrats will formally begin the process of choosing their leaders on November 18.
Democrats are expected to keep control of the lower chamber, but their majority has been forecast to be narrower.
Photo shows US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confronting President Donald Trump at a reportedly explosive White House meeting. In the image, leading Democrat Pelosi is standing up at a large table, surrounded by male Congressional leaders and top military officials, pointing her finger towards the President, who is seated opposite her and appears stunned.
During a conference call on Thursday with House Democrats, Pelosi encouraged optimism from her colleagues, reports ABC News.
“This has been a life-or-death fight for the very fate of our democracy. We did not win every battle, but we did win the war,” she said.
“You hold your head up high. We helped Joe Biden get that mandate.”
Meanwhile in the Senate, based on races that have been called so far, Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked at 48 seats each.
Republican leaders said on Friday that it is still unclear which party will control the 100-seat upper chamber.
Democratic nominee Joe Biden said: “We’ve gotten over 74 million votes, that’s more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America.”…reports Asian Lite News
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Amid the growing suspense over the outcome of the recently-concluded US presidential election, Democratic nominee Joe Biden said that he was going to win the hotly-contested race “with a clear majority, with the nation behind us”, but stopped short of declaring victory.
In a televised address on Friday night, Biden said: “We’ve gotten over 74 million votes, that’s more than any presidential ticket has ever gotten in the history of the United States of America.”
The former Vice President said that the Biden/Harris ticket was on course to win on course to win over 300 electoral college votes and also Arizona and Georgia, the two traditionally Republican states, for the first time in over two decades, the BBC reported.
Biden added that he, along with his running mate Kamala Harris, have “rebuilt the blue wall” by winning back the Midwestern states.
“We’ll win this race with clear majority of nation behind us,” he said.
Regarding the raging Covid-19 pandemic, Biden said he would take action on the virus on “day one of his presidency”.
Acknowledging that tensions were high after the “tough election”, Biden urged the American public to “put anger and demonisation behind us”.
Donald Trump
“We have serious problems, we don’t have any more time to waste on partisan warfare. We may be opponents, but we’re not enemies,” the BBC quoted the former Vice President as saying.
“Your vote will be counted, I don’t care how hard people try to stop it, I will not let it happen.
“There is no reason we can’t own the 21st Century, we just need to remember who we are,” he added.
Currently, Biden appears close to winning the presidency after securing over 27,000 votes more than President Donald Trump in battleground Pennsylvania.
He is also leading in the swing states of Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
The ruling issued on Friday could delay the completion of voting in the state, where a victory could give the presidency to Biden…reports Arul Louis
After Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden pulled ahead of President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, a state court has ordered election officials to stop counting some votes.
The ruling issued on Friday could delay the completion of voting in the state, where a victory could give the presidency to Biden.
The order applies to so-called provisional ballots, a second vote which some voters were allowed to cast on election day to correct errors in postal ballots that they had already sent in.
Ruling on cases filed by Republican Party members, the court said that such ballots should be kept separately pending a decision, but rejected demands that they should be rejected outright.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, about 100,000 provisional ballots were cast, but it was not clear how many of them were covered by the court’s order.
Another state Republican Party case asking the federal Supreme Court to stop the counting of late-arriving postal ballots is pending.
The party asked the court on Thursday to order the election authorities in the state to keep the ballots received after election day separately and not act on them, pending a ruling on the legality of the late-arriving ballots.
A state court had extended the deadline for receiving postal ballots till 5 p.m. on Friday.
Trump was leading in the state by nearly 200,000 on Wednesday but the tables had turned and Biden was ahead by about 13,000 on Friday afternoon with 98 per cent of the votes in when the Republicans mounted the challenge.
If Biden wins Pennsylvania, he will have more than the 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Rather than the popular votes, the votes in the electoral college of state representatives determine who will be president.
The Republican Party acknowledged in its Sureme Court filing that “the vote in Pennsylvania may well determine the next President of the United States”.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said on Thursday that the late-arriving votes were being kept separately but may be counted.
Trump claimed on Thursday that he would have won but for the “illegal votes”, referring to the postal votes arriving after the polls closed.
The Supreme Court has mostly deferred to state courts on election matter because the constitution puts the responsibility for holding elections on state legislature.
The Republicans may be counting on a narrow reading of the constitutional provision and could argue that the federal court has jurisdiction because the extension was granted by a state court and not by the legislature as mentioned in the constitution.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic there has been greater use of postal ballots, with some states like California and New Jersey sending them to all registered voters.
Some states have extended the deadlines for receiving postal ballots because the large volume and post office delays.
Trump has said that the wide use postal ballots has led to abuse.
On Thursday, he accused the Democrats of trying to steal the election by using the postal ballots.
“If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late — we’re looking at them very strongly,” he said.
His claim was criticised by most of the media and politicians in his party as undermining people’s trust in elections.
Biden said, “Each ballot must be counted and that’s what is going on now. And that’s how it should be. Democracy is sometimes messy, so sometimes it requires a little patience.”
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
While Trump was unable to win most of the cases he has filed in state courts, there was a notable victory where a court ordered election officials to allow Republican Party observers to be stationed within six feet of the counting tables to watch the process.
Officials there had stationed them far away citing danger from the coronavirus and the observers complained that they could not clearly see the ballots.
While the case was being filed at the Supreme Court, Biden’s supporters in anticipation of a victory were celebrating in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which focus of the counting controversies.
McConnell also said both sides would have lawyers present to argue close races, and defended President Trump’s decision to launch legal challenges…reports Asian Lite News
Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who won his Senate re-election bid in Kentucky, told reporters that this year’s election “underscores the beauty of the electoral college” system.BBC reports
“What the electoral college guarantees is you have finality in 50 separate places. You get to a final outcome,” he said. “We ought to be grateful to the electoral college in a close presidential election like this.”
McConnell also said both sides would have lawyers present to argue close races, and defended President Trump’s decision to launch legal challenges.
“I don’t think the president should be criticised for suggesting he may have some lawyers, because the other guys are already doing that. In a close election you can anticipate in some of these states you’re going to end up in court – it’s the American way.”
Combo photo shows U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump attend their respective events on different occasions. (Xinhua/IANS)
Mitch McConnell has won his seventh term as the senior Senator from Kentucky, defeating Democratic nominee Amy McGrath.
With 79 per cent of the votes counted on Tuesday night, McConnell led McGrath, one of his toughest challengers since he was elected to the Senate in 1984, 57.9 per cent to 38.3 per cent, NBC News reported.
In his victory speech, McConnell said: “I’m the only one of the four Congressional leaders not from New York or California.
“I never imagined Kentuckians would make me the longest-serving senator in our state’s history or that my fellow Senate Republicans would make me the longest-serving Republican leader in US Senate history.
“Together, we’ve used Kentucky’s front-row seat for the good of our state and of our nation.
“Tonight, Kentuckians said, ‘We’re not finished yet’. Kentucky wants more of the policies that built the best economy in modern history, not socialism that would stifle prosperity and hurt workers.”
McGrath has not commented on the development yet.
The 78-year-old McConnell is also expected to seek re-election to his post as Senate Majority Leader.
Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency on Friday as he opened or extended leads over Trump in critical battlegrounds of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona…reports Asian Lite News
Kamala Harris, the first Indian and Black American candidate on a US presidential ticket, is pencilled in to speak ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden at a location that’s increasingly taking on the look of a victory podium set up at the Biden campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden is on the cusp of winning the presidency on Friday as he opened or extended leads over Trump in critical battlegrounds of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona. A Pennsylvania win alone will push him over the top of the 270-electoral vote target.
Voters check in to receive their ballots during the in-person early voting at a polling station in Madison Square Garden in New York, the United States, Oct. 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
As per campaign chatter, Harris speaking first is the Biden camp’s nod to the vice presidential candidate’s historic run. At this time, it is not clear if Harris and Biden will take the stage even if Pennsylvania results are not yet declared by that time.
At this time, the mood in the campaign is said to be one of “joy” and “relief” after an “emotional roller coaster” of a long and bruising election campaign season amid an ongoing pandemic.
Champagne bottles are being popped but the public posture remains muted yet confident.
A campaign staffer told NBC that the final call on the election result (in Biden’s favour) is “only an eventuality” and “imminent”.
The statement accuses Democrats of resisting the “basic principle” that “all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted”…reports Asian Lite News
President Donald Trump’s team has put out a statement, saying that “the American people deserve to have full transparency into all vote counting and election certification”.BBC reports
“This is no longer about any single election. This is about the integrity of our entire election process,” the statement said.
The statement accuses Democrats of resisting the “basic principle” that “all legal ballots must be counted and all illegal ballots should not be counted”, and says Trump will “pursue this process through every aspect of the law”.
“I will never give up fighting for you and our nation,” the statement concluded.
Trump has repeatedly suggesting counting postal votes that arrive after election day is “illegal”.
New York, Nov. 05 (Xinhua) — People watch live broadcast of the ballot counting during the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
Meantime, Biden leads Trump by nearly 6,000 votes in Pennsylvania and over 1,000 in deep red Georgia.
Millions of votes are still to be counted but even before we have the final tally, Biden has already 73 million votes nationally, the most in American political history.About 130,000 votes remain to be counted in Pennsylvania.
Biden leads Trump 253 to 214 in the electoral vote tally. A victory in Pennsylvania means it is game over for Trump, who ran a wild campaign in 2016 and has transformed the White House in the strangest of ways in the last four years
Biden is leading Trump 253-214 in the electoral vote count. He is on the cusp of victory if he carries Pennsylvania. Biden is now ahead by more than 9,000 votes there…reports Nikhila Natarajan
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
An increasingly confident Joe Biden campaign sent out a stern message on Friday, without naming US President Donald Trump, saying the “United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
Biden is leading Trump 253-214 in the electoral vote count. He is on the cusp of victory if he carries Pennsylvania. Biden is now ahead by more than 9,000 votes there.
“As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House,” Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement.
The Biden campaign’s remarks came on a day when Donald Trump has rage tweeted since 2 am, claiming (wrongly) that he has won the election based on “legal” votes, and that “these late ballots past Election Day are illegal”.
Trump is fuming and showing it on Twitter and elsewhere. His public posture remains combative although White House insiders have been saying, in conversations with reporters, that they feel deflated, especially now that Pennsylvania is slipping away to Biden.
The President’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow told CNBC that Trump seems ready to fight, a remark he repeated later in the day to White House pool reporters.
The President does not technically have to concede if he loses an election, it is more of a tradition. At this time though, Trump’s mood is to contest the election results in key battlegrounds by flinging lawsuits and seeing what sticks.
Meanwhile, key Republicans have begun breaking away from Trump’s stand, saying they see no evidence to support Trump’s baseless claim that Democrats are trying to “steal” the elections.
New York, Nov. 05 (Xinhua) -- People watch live broadcast of the ballot counting during the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
Millions of votes are still to be counted but even before we have the final tally, Biden has already 73 million votes nationally, the most in American political history. About 130,000 votes remain to be counted in Pennsylvania…reports Nikhila Natarajan
After three full days of waiting patiently for the slow march of vote counting to work itself out, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden finally stormed into the lead in battlegrounds Pennsylvania and Georgia on Friday morning, closing in on the White House which continues to turn on a handful of incredibly tight contests.
The Biden campaign believes that it has crossed the Pennsylvania challenge and is “joyous”, according to reporters on the ground in Delaware, the Biden headquarters.
Biden leads Trump by nearly 6,000 votes in Pennsylvania and over 1,000 in deep red Georgia.
Millions of votes are still to be counted but even before we have the final tally, Biden has already 73 million votes nationally, the most in American political history. About 130,000 votes remain to be counted in Pennsylvania.
New York, Nov. 05 (Xinhua) — People watch live broadcast of the ballot counting during the 2020 U.S. presidential election on Times Square in New York, the United States, Nov. 3, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Ying/IANS)
Trump is fuming, he remains defiant and continues to allege “fraud” in Pennsylvania and other battlegrounds. His children have chimed into the overall White House meltdown, in terms that generally occupy the wide arc between what’s “legal” and “illegal”.
Biden leads Trump 253 to 214 in the electoral vote tally. A victory in Pennsylvania means it is game over for Trump, who ran a wild campaign in 2016 and has transformed the White House in the strangest of ways in the last four years.
Biden is a sharp contrast to Trump, both in the personal and political realm. The last three days have shown Americans glimpses of that very difference.
Biden spent every day since November 3 trying to ease tensions and delivering his messages with little outward show of anxiety.
“I ask everyone to stay calm. The process is working,” Biden has said repeatedly. “It is the will of the voters. No one, not anyone else who chooses the President of the United States of America.”
In the podcast on Thursday, Bannon first called Fauci’s firing, as well as FBI Director Christopher Wray…reports Asian Lite News
The podcast Twittter account of Steve Bannon, US President Donald Trump’s former campaign adviser, has been suspended after he allegedly called for America’s top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci’s head to be put on “pikes”.
The suspension of the account @WarRoomPandemic came after Bannon’s statement went live on the micro-blogging platform on Thursday, The Hill News website reported.
In a statement to The Hill, Twitter said the account was suspended for violating “our policy on the glorification of violence”, adding that it had policies in place to address “explicit threats of violence and other forms of online abuse or harassment and hateful conduct”.
In the podcast on Thursday, Bannon first called Fauci’s firing, as well as FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“Second term kicks off with firing Wray, firing Fauci, no, I actually want to go a step farther, but the President is a kind-hearted man and a good man.
Washington, Sept. 23, 2020 (Xinhua) — Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, testifies during a hearing of U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in Washington, D.C., the United States, on Sept. 23, 2020. Anthony Fauci attended the hearing on Wednesday and warned of the long-term effects that disease might have on those infected. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via Xinhua/IANS)
“I’d actually like to go back to the old times of Tudor England. I’d put their heads on pikes, right, I’d put them at the two corners of the White House as a warning to federal bureaucrats, you either get with the program or you’re gone,” Bannon further said in the podcast.
Meanwhile, YouTube also removed Bannon’s video and has given it one strike.
YouTube has a three-strike policy before it terminates an account.
“We’ve removed this video for violating our policy against inciting violence. We will continue to be vigilant as we enforce our policies in the post-election period,” Alex Joseph, a YouTube spokesperson, told The Hill news website in a statement on Thursday.
The development came as counting of the votes cast in Tuesday’s US presidential election was still underway in few states, leading to tensions over the outcome.
Esper is helping lawmakers draft legislation to remove Confederate names from military bases, which could lead to a further rift between him and President Donald Trump…reports Asian Lite News
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman has denied a media report that claimed US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper was planning to resign.
“The NBC story is inaccurate and misleading in many ways. To be clear, Secretary of Defence Esper has no plans to resign, nor has he been asked to submit a letter of resignation,” Xinhua news agency quoted Hoffman as saying in a tweet late Thursday.
Citing three defence officials, NBC News had reported earlier in the day that Esper had “prepared his letter because he is one of the Cabinet officials long expected to be pushed out after the election”.
Esper is helping lawmakers draft legislation to remove Confederate names from military bases, which could lead to a further rift between him and President Donald Trump, the report said.
United States President Donald Trump participated in a phone call with Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on Sunday, October 4, 2020 from a conference room at the Walter Reed military hosptial where he is being treated for COVID-19. (Photo: White House/IANS)
For months, US media has been reporting about the President’s frustration with Esper, who opposed using active-duty troops against civil unrest in June when Trump threatened to send military forces to crack down on nationwide demonstrations against racial injustice.
At a press briefing in August, when asked if he would fire Esper, Trump said that he “considers firing everybody”.
Esper took office as the 27th US Defence Secretary in July 2019.
His predecessor Jim Mattis left office in December 2018 after clashing with Trump over the withdrawal of US troops from Syria.
