Trump news live: Latest updates as Supreme Court lawsuit aims to overturn election

Washington’s high envoy in North Korea has urged Kim Jong Un to proceed partaking with the US whereas saying the chief missed his probability to basically reinvent the relations between the international locations through the presidency of Donald Trump, writes Stuti Mishra.

Deputy US secretary of state Stephen Biegun in a speech on Thursday mentioned he was dissatisfied that the denuclearisation negotiations had stalled and extra progress couldn’t be made after the 2 leaders met.

The Republican majority chief of the Pennsylvania senate mentioned she feared that her “home could be bombed” if she tried to oppose President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the outcomes of her state’s election, writes Namita Singh.  

Mr Trump misplaced Pennsylvania to his challenger Joe Biden by 81,000 votes, paving the Democrat’s solution to the White Home. In an effort to subvert the outcomes, 64 Republicans within the Common Meeting signed a letter final week urging the state’s congressional delegation to reject the state’s Electoral Faculty votes for Mr Biden. 

Donald Trump has as soon as once more claimed that he gained the election whereas quoting a columnist who mentioned 10 per cent of US voters would have modified their alternative in the event that they knew concerning the federal investigation into Hunter Biden’s tax affairs.

The president-elect’s son mentioned in a press release late on Wednesday that he was knowledgeable on 8 December that the US legal professional’s workplace in Delaware is probing his tax affairs, writes Mayank Aggarwal.

Senate Republicans beat again an try to dam Donald Trump’s intention to promote superior fighter jets and different weapons to a longtime Center East ally as some lawmakers voiced considerations about regional instability, writes John T Bennett.

The vote is probably the final legislative international coverage win for the outgoing president, and comes after senior White Home this week lobbied senators to vote in opposition to the decision. Forty-nine senators voted in opposition to the measure, with 47 voting in help.

Donald Trump s extraordinary effort to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Wisconsin returns to the courtroom on Thursday, with hearings in federal and state lawsuits searching for to invalidate a whole bunch of hundreds of ballots and provides the GOP-controlled legislature the ability to call Mr Trump the winner.

Trump’s attorneys are urging the courts to behave shortly so he can attraction any hostile ruling earlier than members of the Electoral Faculty meet on Monday and solid Wisconsin’s 10 votes for Mr Biden. Attorneys for Governor Tony Evers and the bipartisan state elections fee say the circumstances are with out benefit and ought to be dismissed.

China is imposing journey restrictions on some US officers in Hong Kong, its international ministry has mentioned.

The transfer is in retaliation for related measures imposed by Washington on Chinese language officers.

US diplomatic passport holders visiting Hong Kong and close by Macao will briefly not obtain visa-free entry privileges, spokesperson Hua Chunying mentioned, including that US administration officers, congressional staffers, staff of non-governmental organizations and their instant members of the family would face “reciprocal sanctions”.

Ms Hua gave the impression to be referring to American sanctions that block sure Chinese language and Hong Kong officers from touring to the US or having dealings with the US monetary system due to their roles in upending freedoms in Hong Kong.

Pyongyang squandered a possibility to basically reinvent its relationship with the US throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, Washington’s high North Korea envoy mentioned on Thursday.

Talking to a assume tank in Seoul throughout a go to to satisfy with South Korean safety officers, deputy secretary of state Stephen Biegun admitted he was dissatisfied denuclearisation negotiations had stalled and that extra progress was not made throughout his time main these efforts.

“Regrettably, a lot alternative has been squandered by our North Korean counterparts over the previous two years, who too typically have devoted themselves to the seek for obstacles to negotiations as a substitute of seizing alternatives for engagement,” he mentioned, in accordance with his ready remarks.

Mr Biegun mentioned he would urge the incoming Biden administration to proceed efforts at diplomacy.

China’s state information company lashed out on the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing it of “digging a gap” for Joe Biden’s incoming staff.

Steps corresponding to limiting visas for the 92 million members of the ruling Communist Get together and their households have “once more uncovered the sinister intentions of utmost anti-China forces in Washington to hijack China-US relations for their very own political acquire,” Xinhua mentioned in an editorial.

Washington has additionally slapped sanctions on a variety of Chinese language officers and corporations in latest days, over Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong and alleged involvement in North Korean coal smuggling.

Whereas Mr Biden has signaled he intends to maintain strain on China, he’s additionally anticipated to hunt a return to extra typical, much less confrontational type of diplomacy. 

“By relentlessly difficult the underside line of China-US relations on points regarding China’s core pursuits, anti-China politicians should not solely digging a gap for the following administration’s relationship with China, but in addition eying their very own private political positive factors,” Xinhua’s editorial continued.

With lower than a month left in workplace, the outgoing Massachusetts Consultant Joe Kennedy III used his farewell speech from the Home ground on Wednesday to lash out on the “best lie of our occasions” – that American assets are “finite” and too scarce to go round.  

In his almost five-minutes lengthy speech, Mr Kennedy mentioned the nation’s actual drawback was “shortage, [but] greed”, writes Namita Singh.

Dr Deborah Birx, the White Home’s coronavirus coordinator, is hoping to hitch the Biden administration in an identical position to assist distribute vaccines and battle Covid-19 because it continues to surge throughout the US.

Nevertheless, although she has served below each president since Ronald Reagan, her future within the subsequent administration isn’t sure.

Dr Birx has been criticised by public well being specialists and Democrats for failing to publicly problem Donald Trump’s coronavirus denialism.

On every thing from Trump’s aversion to masks to his harmful suggestion that ingesting bleach would possibly thrust back the virus, critics and supporters say she trod rigorously in an try to keep up her affect and thereby steer the president onto a extra rational course.

“The president’s departure from actuality turn out to be so excessive that it put her and others on the duty power in an untenable place,” mentioned Michael Weinstein, who heads the Aids Healthcare Basis and knew Dr Birx professionally after she was named the worldwide Aids coordinator in 2014.

“Historical past must choose whether or not they enabled the president by giving him credibility primarily based on their experience or whether or not she and the others did extra in serving to forestall extra individuals from being damage by the craziness,” he mentioned.

Dr Birx has intimated to Joe Biden’s staff that she envisions herself in a scaled-back position.

Extra reporting by  AP