The high stakes election was held on November 3 against the backdrop of an unprecedented pandemic that has killed more than 2,30,000 Americans and wiped away millions of jobs.US Election 2020: A day after Joe Biden propelled past the finish line to defeat Donald Trump, the President-Elect and his team said that they were prioritising to deal with the coronavirus pandemic as cases in the country near 10 million. Biden in his victory speech, said that he would appoint a 12 member coronavirus task force on Monday to mount an effective response to the pandemic. Biden will hold a briefing on his Covid-19 plans as well his plans to revive the economy tomorrow.
President Donald Trump on the other hand continues to reject the election outcomes and is pressing hard with legal rights to challenge Biden’s projected win. Trump is now facing pressure to cooperate with President-elect’s team to ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January. The General Services Administration is tasked with formally recognising Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the agency’s Trump-appointed administrator, Emily Murphy, has not started the process and has given no guidance on when she will do so.
Meanwhile, congratulations poured in for Biden from across the world, including from conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, making it hard for Trump to push his unfounded claims of election fraud.
A demonstrator reads a banner on display at Black Lives Matter Plaza, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President-Elect Joe Biden on Monday is set to deliver his remarks on his plans to beat the coronavirus and bring the economy back on track. In the afternoon Biden and Kamala Harris will hold briefings with transition advisors. Trump on the other hand has no public events planned for the day.
President Donald Trump is facing pressure to cooperate with President-elect Joe Biden's team to ensure a smooth transfer of power when the new administration takes office in January. The General Services Administration is tasked with formally recognising Biden as president-elect, which begins the transition. But the agency's Trump-appointed administrator, Emily Murphy, has not started the process and has given no guidance on when she will do so.
America's national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power," Jen Psaki, a Biden transition aide, tweeted Sunday.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told broadcaster Deutschlandfunk on Monday that not everything would change under U.S. President-elect Joe Biden but much would get better.U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently complained that Germany has failed to raise defence spending to 2% of economic output as mandated by the NATO military alliance. Maas said he did not think that the spending target would be in focus as much under Biden as under Trump.Maas said the argument over defence spending would not end under Biden but would be conducted in a different style.
Biden is a creature of Washington, with 47 years of political experience in the American capital. Biden has never been a crusader for political causes. His defining qualities were ideological flexibility and the capacity to adapt to the changing political circumstances.Working-class roots and folksy Irish ways add to Biden’s image as an affable leader capable of finding political compromises.Those skills will now come in handy, as Biden inherits a country that is split down the middle. He is doing the right thing by being gracious and promising to unite the country by reaching out to the Republicans.
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After nearly 4 days of anxiety, Donald Trump is still insisting that the race is not over. He continues to throw baseless allegations of illegal voting and election fraud. This has brought mixed reactions from people within his camp, with some nudging Trump to concede while many of his Republican allies are giving him space to process the
“Trump has not lost,'' declared South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham in an appearance on Fox News Channel. Rejecting the reality of the situation he added, “Do not concede, Mr. President. Fight hard.”
“He intends to fight,'' Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said as it was becoming clear that the president was headed for defeat.
Would Trump ever concede? “I doubt it,”said Trump's longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone, whose prison sentence was commuted by Trump in July.
Joe Biden's healthcare advisers have held talks with drugmaker executives on the U.S. government's Operation Warp Speed program to accelerate development of a possible COVID-19 treatment, a Biden spokesman said on Sunday.
"As we previously said in September, because President-Elect Joe Biden is absolutely committed to helping develop a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible, campaign medical advisers have received briefings from companies working to produce vaccines in order to be informed about the process," Biden's spokesman Andrew Bates said in an emailed statement.
“What a spectacle!” mocked Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, referring to the developments in the US since last week’s presidential elections. “One says this is the most fraudulent election in US history. Who says that? The president who is currently in office.”
One does not have to gloat over these developments the way the Ayatollah does. But to see an incumbent American president claim that the elections were “rigged” and make unsubstantiated charges of fraudulent voting and his refusal to commit to accepting the election results is an extraordinary chapter in the history of the United States. (Read more here)
The Trump campaign's strategy to file a barrage of lawsuits challenging President-elect Joe Biden's win is more about providing President Donald Trump with an off-ramp for a loss he can't quite grasp and less about changing the election's outcome, according to senior officials, campaign aides and allies who spoke to The Associated Press. Trump has promised legal action in the coming days as he refused to concede his loss to Biden, making an aggressive pitch for donors to help finance any court fight. Trump and his campaign have levelled accusations of large-scale voter fraud in Pennsylvania and other states that broke for Biden, so far without proof. (AP)
A bipartisan group from the last three White Houses is urging the Trump administration to move forward "to immediately begin the post-election transition process," the Associated Press reported.
The call from the Center for Presidential Transition advisory board comes as the General Services Administration is yet to formally recognize Democrat Joe Biden as the president-elect. That's a necessary move to free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden's team to begin putting in place the transition process at agencies.
"This was a hard-fought campaign, but history is replete with examples of presidents who emerged from such campaigns to graciously assist their successors," the advisory board members said in a statement.
Referring to the results of the US Presidential Elections, Donald Trump said we have all learned a lot in the last two weeks and tweeted, "Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!"
Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman have congratulated "Mr Joseph Biden on his victory in the Presidential elections in the United States of America," the official Saudi Press Agency tweeted.
Former President George W Bush has said the American people can have confidence that the recent presidential election was fundamentally fair, and its outcome is clear.
In a statement, the Republican Party leader said: “The fact that so many of our fellow citizens participated in this election is a positive sign of the health of our democracy and a reminder to the world of its strength. No matter how you voted, your vote counted. President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated. The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.” Read more
The Washington Nationals invited President-elect Joe Biden to throw out the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day of the 2021 season."We're excited to continue the long-standing tradition of sitting Presidents throwing out the first pitch at the home of the national pastime in our nation's capital," the team announced Saturday night.
The "long-standing tradition" has been absent of late. President Donald Trump becomes only the second sitting chief executive to not throw out a first pitch on Opening Day at a Major League Baseball game since William Howard Taft began the tradition in 1910. Fellow one-term President Jimmy Carter was the other.The Nationals are scheduled to open the season at Nationals Park on April 1 against the New York Mets. Reuters
Will Joe Biden be good for India? This is something every Indian wants to know. In case you missed it earlier, here is our explainer on what his stance could be like in some key areas, judging by his past record and statements.
When US President-elect Joe Biden was in India’s financial capital in 2013, he had told an audience that his distant relatives live in Mumbai.
Biden reiterated his claim two years later at an event in Washington, saying there are five Bidens living in Mumbai.
With the 77-year-old Democrat set to take oath as the 46th US President in just over two months, nobody in Mumbai has so far turned up to claim that he is Biden’s relative. Decades after he received a letter from someone by the last name of Biden from Mumbai, soon after becoming a senator, Biden learned that his “great, great, great, great, great grandfather” had worked in the East India Company. Read more
US President-elect Joe Biden concluded his victory speech by reciting his deceased son Beau’s favourite popular Catholic hymn “On Eagles’ Wings”, hoping that the carol will give comfort to many Americans grieving the loss of their loved ones due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Biden, 77, who is a practising Catholic, said the hymn has inspired him through the final days of his election campaign. He would be the second Catholic to hold the office of the President after John F Kennedy in 1960. The Democrat leader lost Beau, an Iraq war veteran who had served as Delaware’s attorney general, in 2015 to a brain tumour at the age of 46. Read more
US president-elect @JoeBiden reads the words of Irish poet Seamus Heaney
Now that the campaigning is over, the work begins for Joe Biden to start making good on the policy changes he promised. Here’s a breakdown of how a Biden presidency may affect some two dozen U.S. industries and what might rise to the top of his agenda as he takes over from Donald Trump in January. A few giant tech companies — practically industries unto themselves — are included for good measure. Click to read
Claiming that there is a history of election problems in US, President Donald Trump said a number of affidavits have been filed alleging voter fraud. He said what concerns him the most is that over 100 million mail-in votes poured in from cites like Philladelphia and Detroit which have "a long series of election problems".
Joe Biden’s election win is being greeted with a sigh of relief by many U.S. allies, whose confidence in Washington was shaken over the four years of President Donald Trump’s combative “America First” approach to the world.
The Biden administration is expected to reverse course quickly on parts of Trump’s foreign policy agenda by rejoining the Paris climate change agreement, working more closely with other countries to combat Covid-19 and trying to breathe new life into the Iran nuclear accord. NATO allies like Germany and France won’t be berated so publicly, and leaders of adversaries like Russia and North Korea won’t be showered in praise. Read full story from Bloomberg
When US President-elect Joe Biden was in India's financial capital in 2013, he had told an audience that his distant relatives live in Mumbai. Biden reiterated his claim two years later at an event in Washington, saying there are five Bidens living in Mumbai. With the 77-year-old Democrat set to take oath as the 46th US President in just over two months, nobody in Mumbai has so far turned up to claim that he is Biden's relative. Decades after he received a letter from someone by the last name of Biden from Mumbai, soon after becoming a senator, Biden learned that his "great, great, great, great, great grandfather" had worked in the East India Company. --PTI
On Sunday, the ancestral villages of US Vice-President elect Kamala Harris in Tamil Nadu were overjoyed with the Democrat Senator's elevation and welcomed an early Deepavali with fireworks and sweets to celebrate her win. The joy of locals in Thulasenthirapuram and Painganadu villages in this Cauvery delta district knew no bounds as they celebrated the victory of "the woman of our house", reported PTI.
Iran's president called on President-elect Joe Biden to 'compensate for past mistakes' and return the US to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, a state-run news agency reported Sunday. Hassan Rouhani's comments mark the most significant response from Iran to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris clinching the November 3 election. 'Now, an opportunity has come up for the next US administration to compensate for past mistakes and return to the path of complying with international agreements through respect of international norms,' the state-run IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. Read more
Hollywood actor Chirs Evans, a vocal Trump critic, took to Instagram to cheer Biden and Harris' win. He termed it a "special day." "Great work, America. I'm proud of you. #CharacterMatters," the "Captain America" star wrote.
In a stunning turn of events three days after the US Election Day, Joe Biden pulled ahead of President Donald Trump in the otherwise reliably Republican state of Georgia with a razor-thin lead of less than a full percentage point. But this is not the only unprecedented political situation that the state is witnessing at the moment.
The state’s two senate races are also now likely to head to a runoff election in January, which could ultimately determine the balance of power between the Republicans and Democrats in the US’ Senate. What is a runoff election? Why has the need for a runoff election arisen in Georgia? What is at stake here for President-elect Joe Biden? Know here
Meena Harris, sister of Kamala Harris remembers their mother Shyamal Gopalan Harris, says their mother taught them they could be and do anything. "She would be beyond proud today," she tweets.
Joe Biden thanks USA.
Gulf stock markets were muted on Sunday after Joe Biden's U.S. election victory, reflecting expectations that his administration will not bring radical changes to the region's struggling economies. In Saudi Arabia, the stocks index declined 0.2% at market open but posted some gains in early trading and was up 0.3% at 0725 GMT. Other Gulf markets were mixed. Expectations of moderate oil prices and a weaker U.S. dollar under a Biden administration could add pressure on Gulf government's budget deficits, analysts say, accelerating the need for reforms. "Long-term, low global interest rates, low oil prices, and a weaker U.S. dollar matter most and are generally negative for the Gulf," said Hasnain Malik, head of equity research at Tellimer.
Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, has approached the President about conceding the closely-fought election to his Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to media reports on Sunday. Kushner has approached the President about conceding the election, CNN quoted two unidentified sources as saying. Kushner has told others that he has urged the president to accept the outcome of the race — even if Trump won't come to terms with how it was reached, the Associated Press also reported on Sunday.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington. (AP photo)
Here are the Sunday front pages of the Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Washington Post.
Days of pent-up post-election anxiety gave way to spontaneous street celebrations as Joe Biden supporters on Saturday cheered news of his presidential win with a cacophony of banging pots and pans, honking horns and dance music in cities across the United States. Minutes after major television networks called the race in the former vice president's favor, throngs of people - most wearing masks to curb the spread of COVID-19 - streamed to the White House to rejoice outside a security fence as the sound of fireworks boomed in the distance.
President Donald Trump’s aides described a leadership vacuum in the White House on Saturday after he lost re-election and internal finger-pointing began, even as his associates wondered how he would grapple with defeat.
There was no all-hands staff meeting or memo on how officials should react. It was a marked contrast from the scene four years ago, when, after Trump won election, President Barack Obama gathered his own despondent staff in the Oval Office for a pep talk. The void has left staffers unsure what’s next. Trump’s advisers are split on how far to take various legal fights, delaying consideration of strategy both politically and in the courts. And the campaign has offered little additional clarity to surrogates, even as they gird them to contest an election that appears beyond the president’s reach.
After the declaration on Saturday that Democrat Joe Biden had won the race for the White House, Republican President Donald Trump and his allies made one thing clear: he does not plan to concede anytime soon. "The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor," Trump said in a statement released by his campaign around midday. The president's allies and advisers privately admitted that the former New York businessman's chances of overturning the election results and staying in the White House were slim. While preparing for an eventual concession, they called for time to let the legal challenges run their course
Iran's first vice president said he hoped for a change in "destructive US policies" after Democrat Joe Biden captured the U.S. presidency on Saturday, adding that the era of Donald Trump and his "adventurous and belligerent" administration was over. "I hope we will see a change in the destructive policies of the United States ... finally ... the era of Trump and his adventurous and belligerent team is over," Eshaq Jahangiri tweeted. Relations between Iran and the United States have taken a turn for the worse since 2018, when Trump pulled out of Tehran's nuclear deal with six powers and reimposed crippling sanctions. Hesameddin Ashena, an adviser to Iran's president, tweeted that "Iranians stood their ground bravely until that coward left".
US cases rose by more than 100,000 for the third straight day Saturday, as Covid-19 continues its escalation around the nation. The day’s cases, tallied by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg, weren’t completely counted and could rise. Infections on Friday reached a record 126,714.
In a speech where he declared victory in the presidential election, Biden said his coronavirus plan “will be built on a bedrock of science. It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern.”
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday extended greetings to US president-elect Joe Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris on their "remarkable" victory in the elections, expressing confidence that the Indo-American relationship will become stronger in the coming years. "as both our nations, with shared democratic values, strive to make the world more peaceful and prosperous".
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), the main Tamil party in Sri Lanka, on Sunday congratulated US President-elect Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris. The Biden-Harris ticket has defeated incumbent President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence in a bitterly-fought election that attracted a record number of Americans to cast their votes. TNA is the first Sri Lankan party to congratulate Biden and Harris for winning the US election. "As the premier political party representing the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, we congratulate (US) President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on a momentous victory," TNA said in a statement.
Harris, 56, the first immigrant and the first woman ever to become the US vice president is of Tamil origin. She is also the first African-American woman, the first Indian-American and the first Asian-American US vice president.
People in Thulasendrapuram, the native village of US Vice President-elect Kamala Harris celebrate her win in US elections 2020
US President-elect Joe Biden has said that he would be honoured to be serving with Kamala Harris, who scripted history by becoming the first woman and first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country. "I will be honoured to be serving with a fantastic vice president — Kamala Harris — who will make history as the first woman, first Black woman, first woman of South Asian descent, and first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country," Biden said in his victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday night. "It's long overdue, and we're reminded tonight of all those who fought so hard for so many years to make this happen. But once again, America has bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice,” he said. "Kamala, Doug — like it or not — you're family. You've become honorary Bidens and there's no way out,” he said.
President-elect Joe Biden said he would appoint a 12-member coronavirus task force on Monday, his first step toward fulfilling one of his biggest campaign promises — to mount an effective response to the pandemic that has infected millions and damaged the U.S. economy. The task force will be co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University, according to a person familiar with his plans. It will also include Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser.
The co-chairs of the task force are scheduled to brief Biden on Monday after the members are announced.
Republican President Donald Trump's campaign said on Saturday it had sued in Arizona, alleging that the Southwestern state's most populous county incorrectly rejected votes cast on Election Day by some voters in the U.S. presidential race. The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Maricopa County, said poll workers told some voters to press a button after a machine had detected an "overvote." The campaign contended that decision disregarded voters' choices in those races, saying new voting machines were used on Election Day on Tuesday.
President-elect Joe Biden concluded his speech this evening by citing a popular Catholic hymn "On Eagles' Wings," saying it was a favorite of his deceased son Beau and has inspired him through the final days of the campaign. “In the last days of the campaign, I’ve been thinking about a hymn that means a lot to me and to my family, particularly my deceased son Beau.” he said. “It captures the faith that sustains me and which I believe sustains America.”
(Source: AP)
"We must restore the soul of America," Joe Biden said while addressing the nation as president-elect. "Tonight the whole world is watching America, and I believe that at our best, America is a beacon for the globe. We will lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example," Biden said.
Biden said he will first attempt to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. "On Monday I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers. I will spare no effort, none, or any commitment to turn around this pandemic.”
Biden said he was surprised by the celebrating in the streets across the country calling it an "outpouring of joy, of hope, renewed faith in tomorrow to bring another day." "I am humbled by the trust and confidence you have placed in me," Biden added.
He went on to thank his family and wise wife and mark having the honor of working with the first African American vice president who is also of Indian descent. “Don’t tell me it’s not possible in the United States of America,” Biden said, sparking cheers from the crowds and honks from cars.
"I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify. Who doesn't see red states and blue states, only sees the United States. I am a proud democrat will work as a proud president." Addressing Trump supporters, Biden said he understood the disappointment. He’s lost before. But now, “Let’s give each other a chance,” he said.
“Folks, the people of this nation have spoken,” he began. "We have won with the most votes ever cast. People of this country have delivered a convincing victory, a victory for We the People," he says in his acceptance speech
During her speech, Harris also remembered her late mother, Shamala Gopalan Harris. “When she came here from India, at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible,” she said. So I am thinking about her and about the generations of women - Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women – who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight.”
“While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she added.
Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian American woman to become vice president-elect, began her speech by quoting the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who said, “Democracy is not a state, it’s not an act.” “Protecting our democracy takes struggle, takes sacrifice,” she said. “But there’s joy in it.” "We the people have the power to build a better future," she said.
Addressing supporters in Wilmington, Kamala Harris thanked the voters and said, "We the people have the power to build a better future. And when our very democracy was on the ballot in this election and the very soul of America was at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America. You chose hope, science. You chose Joe Biden."
Forty-eight years to the day after he was first elected a senator from Delaware, Joseph R. Biden Jr. will speak to the nation for the first time as president-elect on Saturday night. In his first statement after he defeated incumbent Republican US President Donald Trump to become the 46th President of the United States, Biden Saturday said he is “honoured” by the trust American people have placed in him and that he will be a “President for all Americans — whether you voted for me or not.”
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday that he can not congratulate a winner of the U.S. presidential election until all legal proceedings are concluded, calling his decision "politically prudent". Democrat Joe Biden won the election on Saturday after a victory in the battleground state of Pennsylvania put him over the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes. [nL1N2HT069} "With regard to the U.S. election, we are going to wait until all the legal matters have been resolved," Lopez Obrador said at a televised news conference. The Mexican president himself contested two presidential elections he lost, in 2006 and 2012, before winning on his third bid in 2018.
President-elect Joe Biden is going to deliver victory speech at 6:30 am (IST).
Control of the Senate likely won’t be decided until a January runoff in Georgia, even after Democrat Joe Biden won the White House on Saturday.
That post-election cliff-hanger will determine the balance of power in Washington, as neither party appears to have a lock on a Senate majority right now.
So far, the tally for the next Senate is 48 Republicans and 48 Democrats after Tuesday’s election. Two seats in Georgia are headed to runoffs on Jan. 5. And seats in North Carolina and Alaska are still too early to call.
The stakes are high for a momentous political struggle in Georgia during President Donald Trump’s final lame-duck days in office. The state is closely divided, with Democrats making gains on Republicans, fueled by a surge of new voters. But no Democrat has been elected senator in some 20 years. As much as $500 million could be spent on the two races, one strategist said. (AP)
“I am very proud of Kamala, I will call and congratulate her soon… My phone hasn’t stopped ringing since the news came out,” said 80-year-old Gopalan Balachandran, the maternal uncle of Kamala Harris, who was announced as the Vice-President elect of the United States on Saturday.
Balachandran said he and the rest of Harris’s family in India would be flying to the US to attend the swearing-in ceremony in January next year.
“My daughter is already there, helping Kamala with her campaign. All of us will fly down… I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he told The Indian Express.
Balachandran, who was previously with the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, is a resident of Delhi’s Malviya Nagar, and is the brother of Harris’s mother Shyamala Gopalan. Around 10 pm, Harris’s sister tweeted, “OMG it’s happening… our next Vice President of the United States…our first-ever MADAM Vice President…my sister @KamalaHarris!” Read more