Trump news live: Latest updates as president repeats election gripes in midnight rant

Donald Trump has ended Barack Obama’s 12-year run as most admired man in Gallup’s annual ballot, having tied with the previous president in 2019.

Mr Obama is now tied with Dwight Eisenhower for essentially the most ever first-place finishes on the prime of the ballot.

Michelle Obama leads the ballot on most admired girls, with vice president-elect Kamala Harris coming in second place.

The US has begun talks with Turkey to deal with sanctions Washington imposed imposed over Ankara’s buy of Russian S-400 missile defence programs, Ankara has mentioned.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish overseas minister, mentioned negotiations had begun on making a joint working group.

The 2 international locations are Nato allies, however the US imposed sanctions on Turkey’s Defence Business Directorate, its chief Ismail Demir and three different staff this month on account of the acquisition.

Talking at a information convention on Wednesday, Mr Cavusoglu mentioned Mike Pompeo, the American secretary of state, had now indicated curiosity in organising a joint working group after Washington beforehand declined the concept.

“In our assembly with Pompeo, we mentioned our proposal nonetheless stands and the People mentioned let’s work collectively on this situation. There are talks proper now, the joint working group has not been arrange but,” Mr Cavusoglu mentioned.

Learn our full story by Borzou Daragahi from earlier this month for extra background:

A tweet by the Arizona Republican Celebration of a portrait of Donald Trump painted in colonial model has triggered a flurry of feedback from Twitter customers who’re evaluating the outgoing president to Benedict Arnold, a disgraced Revolutionary Conflict turncoat.

The portray reveals Mr Trump carrying an analogous uniform as Arnold, holding a gun in his proper hand and the American flag within the left, with a White Home-like construction within the background, and an eagle fluttering behind him, writes Stuti Mishra.  

Georgia Senate runoff Democratic hopeful Raphael Warnock mentioned Brexit was pushed by “ethnocentrism and hate” in a sermon in 2018, a video of which has just lately resurfaced, writes Mayank Aggarwal.

“Nativism and ethnocentrism and bigotry in excessive locations on each side of the Atlantic. Earlier than there was Trumpism over right here, there was Brexit over there,” mentioned Mr Warnock, who has been the pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church since 2005.  

They’re both the present that retains on giving or the grift that will not cease grifting, writes Justin Vallejo.

The Lincoln Challenge, a political group based by Republican “By no means Trumpers”, is a uncommon political creature that achieves bi-partisan ire throughout the ideological spectrum.

“If AOC is attacking you on one aspect, and Donald Trump is attacking you on the opposite, it means you’re over the goal,” co-founder Reed Galen instructed The Impartial.

Donald Trump’s push handy People a $2,000 (£1,477) cheque to assist them by means of the coronavirus pandemic has been checked by Republicans within the Senate.

A invoice together with a $600 stimulus cost has already been handed.

The roadblock mounted on Tuesday by Mitch McConnell might not be sustainable as stress mounts. Mr Trump desires the Republican-led chamber to observe the Home and improve the assist.

A rising variety of Republicans, together with two senators dealing with runoff elections in Georgia on 5 January, have mentioned they’ll assist the bigger quantity. However most GOP senators oppose extra spending, even when they’re additionally cautious of going in opposition to Mr Trump.

Learn extra concerning the ins and outs, chicanery and confusion right here:

The distinguished QAnon conspiracy theorist and Trump supporter DeAnna Lorraine appeared on Tuesday to be having a disaster of confidence within the president, as she recommended he may not have a grand plan to retain energy in spite of everything, writes Namita Singh.

“As a result of we now have a lot trusted this plan, we at all times assume he’s taking part in 5D chess. So something that appears questionable, we expect okay, it’s a technique. He’s taking part in 5D chess. We don’t have something to fret about,” Ms Lorraine may very well be seen saying within the video posted by Proper Wing Watch.  

The Trump marketing campaign has filed a brand new authorized problem within the US Supreme Court in search of to overturn election leads to Wisconsin, writes Justin Vallejo.

The transfer was introduced by marketing campaign lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who mentioned the submitting was aimed on the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket’s resolution to reject their claims in opposition to greater than 50,000 ballots. Joe Biden gained Wisconsin by a margin of about 20,000 votes.

The Trump marketing campaign says its petition will current claims that ballots have been counted by voters with out identification, incomplete absentee ballots have been counted, and ballots have been collected by hand at occasions held earlier than the election.

Related claims by the president and his surrogates prior to now haven’t been backed by any proof. Lawsuits alleging fraud that “stole” the election from Mr Trump have been thrown out by courts throughout the US as his marketing campaign has descended into incoherence and conspiracy.

Donald Trump was up into the small hours final evening, rehashing his many bad-faith complaints about dropping the election.

The president, whose schedule over Christmas claimed he would work “tirelessly” on behalf of People earlier than he was noticed {golfing} as a substitute, wheeled out all of the outdated hits even because the coronavirus pandemic continued to rage round him.

The vote was “rigged”, he claimed. (It wasn’t.) He complained a few “very boring & incoherent Editorial” within the Wall Avenue Journal. (Attainable.) Georgia’s governor and secretary of state are “silly”. (They’ve did not assist his baseless claims of voter fraud.)

As well as, “a whole bunch of hundreds of ballots mysteriously [flowed] into Swing States very late at evening as everybody thought the election was simply gained by me”, Mr Trump griped. (Absentee ballots have been counted after in-person ones in lots of states, as had been predicted earlier than the election. It meant Joe Biden’s obvious deficit in some locations disappeared because the evening wore on, as a result of Democrats have been extra prone to vote by mail and the president had spent months demonising the method in messages to his supporters.)

An audit of voters’ signatures in Cobb County, Georgia, has discovered no proof of fraud, the secretary of state has mentioned.

Brad Raffensperger mentioned the Trump marketing campaign was now out following “three strikes”, referring to the trio of fraud claims it had made within the state which have all been dismissed.

He mentioned in a press release: “The secretary of state’s workplace has at all times been targeted on calling balls and strikes in elections and, on this case, three strikes in opposition to the voter fraud claims they usually’re out.

“We performed a statewide hand recount that reaffirmed the preliminary tally, and a machine recount on the request of the Trump marketing campaign that additionally reaffirmed the unique tally. This audit disproves the one credible allegations the Trump marketing campaign had in opposition to the power of Georgia’s signature match processes.”

Auditors checked 15,118 signatures out of about 150,000 absentee ballots in Cobb County.

Mr Trump had beforehand claimed that an audit of voter signatures would show that widespread fraud came about in Georgia. Earlier than that, nonetheless, he had additionally mentioned that finishing up the audit was not potential, a suggestion that fed into his nonsense net of conspiracy designed to painting the system as rigged in opposition to him.

Mr Trump traces up the pins and actuality retains knocking them down.