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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
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Sam Levin and Gabrielle Canon in San Francisco (now) and Erin Durkin in New York (earlier)

Jeff Sessions protests: thousands march after Trump fires attorney general – as it happened

People take part in the ‘No one is above the law’ protest in Times Square, New York
People take part in the ‘No one is above the law’ protest in Times Square, New York Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters

Summary

We’re ending our live coverage for now, thanks for following along. Here’s a summary of the major developments of the day:

  • Protesters across the country rallied to advocate for the protection of special counsel Robert Mueller following Trump’s firing of attorney general Jeff Sessions.
  • The Florida governor and senate races are heading closer to possible recounts.
  • The Trump administration moved to restrict asylum claims by migrants, with a new rule that the ACLU said would violate the law.
  • State prosecutors across the US demanded that acting US attorney general Matthew Whitaker recuse himself from the Mueller probe.
  • A 2014 speech of Whitaker came to light, revealing that he once said he believed that judges should be Christian.
  • In the Georgia governor’s race, Brian Kemp declared victory and resigned as secretary of state, but Stacey Abrams said she would not give up and announced a lawsuit.
  • The Democratic candidate in the tight senate race in Arizona pulled ahead by roughly 2,000 votes.
  • Democrat Lucy McBath, a gun control advocate and mother of a slain teenager, won her congressional race in Georgia.
  • The White House faced growing scrutiny for its decision to revoke access to CNN reporter Jim Acosta.

It appears that one of Jeff Sessions’ final acts before walking out the door was a memo seeking to limit future “consent decrees”, which are orders the previous administration used to mandate reforms at police departments.

This issue has been a priority of Sessions, targeting Obama’s efforts to force reforms at police departments with records of racial disparities in enforcement, excessive force, and unjustified stops and arrests.

Democrats, newly in control of the House, are vowing to fight for gun control after a mass shooting in California killed 12 people at a bar. The shooting happened hours before Lucy McBath, a gun control advocate and mother of a slain teenager, won her congressional race in Georgia. Here’s what she had to say about the tragedy:

Democrat pulls ahead in Arizona Senate race

In the closely watched senate race in Arizona, the Democratic nominee, Kirsten Sinema, is now ahead of GOP candidate Martha McSally – by just 2,000 votes:

It’s still too soon to know who will ultimately prevail. Earlier in the day, McSally had 856,848 votes (49.37%), while Sinema had 839,775 votes (48.39%), according to the Arizona Republic.

Here are some photos and videos from protests from across the US, now underway.

New York City, US
New York City, US Photograph: Alba Vigaray/EPA
New York City, US
New York City, US Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
Protest in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC
Protest in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
New York City, US
New York City, US Photograph: Bryan R Smith/AFP/Getty Images
New York City, US
New York City, US Photograph: Jeenah Moon/Reuters
Washington, DC
Washington, DC Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

State prosecutors demand Whitaker recusal

New York attorney general Barbara Underwood and 17 other state prosecutors have sent a letter to acting US attorney general Matthew Whitaker to recuse himself from the Mueller probe:

They wrote:

You must be aware that your public comments criticizing Mr. Mueller’s investigation have been widely circulated. At various opportunities – in print, on television, and through social media – you have suggested cutting the Special Counsel’s budget or limiting his authority to follow lines of inquiry. As prosecutors and law enforcement officials committed to the rule of law, we believe that the independent Special Counsel must have the full authority to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute any violations of federal law.

The letter was signed by the attorneys general of Massachusetts, New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

For a close look at the Stacey Abrams v Brian Kemp race and the allegations of voter suppression in Georgia, check out the Guardian’s in-depth video from the campaign trail:

For a quick break from DC political news today, an 18-year-old has just become the country’s youngest mayor. In a race against two other candidates, Ben Simons won 41% of the vote and is now charged to represent the roughly 1,000 residents in his hometown Yoncalla, Oregon.

According to KEZI, the local ABC news affiliate, Simons graduated last June as his high school’s valedictorian and has worked as both a city councilor and volunteer firefighter. Now, along with being the city’s mayor, he is a student at Umpqua Community College.

“My age shouldn’t be my qualifying or disqualifying factor,” he told local reporter Brady Wakayama. “I really got the skill set and the ambition to take on this and I hope to do good for this community.”

Watch the story here:

Updated

AP may retract call for Ron DeSantis

The Associated Press, which makes definitive calls in the media about elections, has said it is closely monitoring the governor’s race in Florida, where election officials are still counting absentee ballots. The AP says it could ultimately retract its call for Republican Ron DeSantis:

AP on Tuesday called the election for Republican Ron DeSantis over Democrat Andrew Gillum. DeSantis holds a lead of 38,613 votes out of more than 8.2 million ballots counted a margin of 0.47 percentage points.

Under Florida law, a recount is mandatory if the margin of the winning candidate is less than 0.5 percentage points when the first unofficial count is verified Saturday by Florida’s secretary of state.

Should that count show DeSantis with a margin of less than 0.5 percentage points, triggering a recount, AP will retract its call for DeSantis. It is AP policy not to call a race that is facing a recount. If the race proceeds to a recount, no new call will be made until the recount is complete and the results of the election are certified by Florida officials.

Here’s the Gillum campaign’s statement from earlier:

Meanwhile, in a sign of how intense a recount could be, some commentators have noted potentially curious numbers in Florida, including in Broward County, where it appears there were fewer votes case in the Senate race than in the governor’s race:

Updated

Protests to defend Mueller launch across US

Thousands of demonstrators in more than 900 cities around the US are expected to take the streets tonight, in protest against Trump’s firing of Jeff Sessions. The “Mueller protection rapid response” organized by progressive advocacy organization, MoveOn, was planned for 5pm local time, and protests are already kicking off on the east coast.

Protesters at Lafayette Park in Washington DC.
Protesters at Lafayette Park in Washington DC. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

The event page lists all the events scheduled for tonight with a call to arms:

Donald Trump just crossed a red line, violating the independence of the investigation pursuing criminal charges in the Trump-Russia scandal and cover-up. Trump putting himself above the law is a threat to our democracy, and we’ve got to get Congress to stop him. We’re mobilizing immediately to demand accountability, because Trump is not above the law.”

Updated

Trump moves to restrict asylum claims

The Trump administration has moved to restrict asylum claims by migrants, with a new regulation that would block people from claiming asylum if they illegally cross the US-Mexico border.

The ACLU said it would be illegal to block the asylum process in this manner and would prohibit many individuals from applying. Said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s immigrants’ rights project:

US law specifically allows individuals to apply for asylum whether or not they are at a port of entry. It is illegal to circumvent that by agency or presidential decree.

The Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, and the acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, released a statement on the rule that said:

Consistent with our immigration laws, the President has the broad authority to suspend or restrict the entry of aliens into the United States if he determines it to be in the national interest to do so. Today’s rule applies this important principle to aliens who violate such a suspension or restriction regarding the southern border imposed by the President by invoking an express authority provided by Congress to restrict eligibility for asylum. Our asylum system is overwhelmed with too many meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources, preventing us from being able to expeditiously grant asylum to those who truly deserve it. Today, we are using the authority granted to us by Congress to bar aliens who violate a Presidential suspension of entry or other restriction from asylum eligibility.”

The full language of the rule is available here. Read more:

Republican senator Jeff Flake has said he will try to force a vote on legislation that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller:

The AP had an independent video producer analyze the controversial video of CNN’s Jim Acosta tweeted out by the White House:

An independent video producer told the AP a video tweeted by the White House on an interaction between CNN reporter Jim Acosta and a White House intern appears to have been manipulated to make the reporter’s actions look more aggressive.

Abba Shapiro did a side-by-side and frame-by-frame analysis of AP’s video from President Donald Trump’s contentious news conference Wednesday and the version spread on Twitter by Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Shapiro said that when Acosta’s hand touches the intern’s arm as she reaches for his microphone, the action speeds up in the apparently altered video to accentuate his movement. Earlier in the video, Shapiro noticed three frames that were frozen to slow down the action. This, Shapiro said, enables the manipulated video to run the same length as the original.

The White House News Photographers Association has also released a statement condemning the White House for sharing a “manipulated video”:

Whitaker once said judges should be Christian

Sam Levin here, taking over our live coverage. My colleague Jon Swaine has more on Matthew Whitaker, who once said that judges should be Christian and proposed blocking non-religious people from judicial appointments:

Matthew Whitaker, who was made acting attorney general on Wednesday after Trump fired Jeff Sessions, said judges needed a “biblical view of justice” and questioned the judgment of secular lawyers.

Whitaker made the remarks at a conservative forum in April 2014, where he appeared as a candidate for the Republican US Senate nomination in Iowa. Video clips of the event were saved by People For the American Way, a liberal campaign group.

The Republican candidates were asked what justification they would use to block the confirmation of federal judges nominated by Barack Obama, who was then US president.

Whitaker said he wanted to know about a judge’s judicial philosophy, along with their views on natural law, natural rights and the US founding documents. But he added: “I don’t think that gets us far enough.”

See his full story here:

Rep. Linda Sanchez has withdrawn her candidacy to be House Democratic caucus chair, citing a family issue.

That leaves New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and California Rep. Barbara Lee in the running for the position, set to be vacated by Rep. Joe Crowley who fell to progressive challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Rep. Steve Cohen called the new acting attorney general a “hatchet man hired to destroy the Mueller investigation.”

Cohen (D-Tenn.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that whether Matthew Whitaker must recuse himself from overseeing the investigation - which he does not intend to do, according to reports - may be determined in court.

“Our democracy is under attack,” he said on CNN. “This is an open and notorious and brutal assault on our democracy.”

House Democrats, who won control of the body this week, have said they will investigate Trump’s firings of Jeff Sessions. They sent letters Thursday to several top administration officials demanding the preservation of all documents and materials relevant to the special counsel’s Russia investigation and the Sessions firing.

They also asked current House Judiciary chair Bob Goodlatte to hold hearings right away, but Cohen acknowledged that won’t happen.

“We might as well be writing to Santa Claus and asking him for a Lexus,” he said.

Florida governor and Senate races likely head to recount

The Florida governor’s race appears headed for a recount, as Ron DeSantis’s lead over Andrew Gillum has dropped below 0.5%, the threshold that triggers a new count.

The Senate race, which is even closer, will go to a lengthier hand recount, per the Orlando Sentinel.

Updated

After he resigned as Georgia secretary of state, Brian Kemp declared victory in the governor’s race, even as his opponent continued to contest the race.

“We’ve won the race. It’s very clear now, and we’re moving forward with the transition,” Kemp said.

The Stacey Abrams campaign announced a lawsuit Thursday over delays in distribution of absentee ballots.

Kemp denounced that and other suits as “quite honestly ridiculous lawsuits.”

“The votes are not there for her. I certainly respect the hard fought race that she ran, but that’s a decision that she’s going to have to make,” Kemp said.

Whitaker is friends with Trump's 2016 campaign co-chair

Donald Trump’s new acting attorney general is close friends with the president’s 2016 campaign co-chair, Reuters reports. A former government ethics chief says the friendship makes it inappropriate for the interim attorney general, Matt Whitaker, to oversee the special counsel’s investigation into the campaign.

Reuters writes:

Matthew Whitaker, named on Wednesday to replace Jeff Sessions, will directly oversee Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible links between Trump’s campaign team and Russian officials.

Sam Clovis, who was co-chair of Trump’s 2016 campaign and has testified before the grand jury in the Mueller investigation, said he and Whitaker became good friends when they ran against each other as Republicans in a 2014 Senate primary campaign in Iowa. Whitaker also later served as the chairman of a Clovis campaign for state treasurer.

In an interview with Reuters, Clovis said Whitaker is “a wonderful man” and “a dear friend.” He added that Whitaker was a “sounding board” for him when Clovis worked for Trump’s campaign.

Walter Shaub, who was director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics for four years before resigning in July 2017, said the friendship between Whitaker and Clovis should disqualify Whitaker from supervising the Mueller investigation.

“Whitaker has to recuse himself under DOJ’s regulation requiring recusal if you have a personal or political relationship with someone substantially involved in conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution,” Shaub told Reuters.

Mueller is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether anyone involved in Trump’s campaign had any involvement with the effort.

Updated

The husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway slammed Donald Trump’s appointment of an acting attorney general as unconstitutional in a new op-ed.

“President Trump’s installation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general of the United States after forcing the resignation of Jeff Sessions is unconstitutional. It’s illegal. And it means that anything Mr. Whitaker does, or tries to do, in that position is invalid,” George Conway and co-author Neal Katyal wrote in the New York Times.

They argue the move violates the appointments clause of the constitution, which argues that a principal officer – meaning an official who reports only to the president – must be appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

“It defies one of the explicit checks and balances set out in the Constitution, a provision designed to protect us all against the centralization of government power,” they wrote.

When a vacancy occurs in the attorney generals seat, the constitution requires another person who has undergone Senate confirmation – like the deputy attorney general or the solicitor general – take over the post, they argue.

Updated

A Houston judge voted out of office Tuesday, who spent Wednesday wholesale releasing juvenile defendants, on Thursday did not show up for court, the Houston Chronicle reports.

Fox News released a statement on the protest outside the home of Tucker Carlson:

New acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker once called the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian election interference “ridiculous” and “a little fishy,” CNN reported.

Donald Trump put Whitaker in the job temporarily after firing Jeff Sessions, who had recused himself from the Russia investigation.

Whitaker, formerly Sessions’ chief of staff, made the comments on the radio in 2017 before his appointment at the justice department, according to CNN.

“For whatever reason, Rod Rosenstein determined that the Department of Justice couldn’t handle this in their ordinary course of work, which I think was ridiculous,” he said on the “Rose Unplugged” radio show.

“I think it smells a little fishy, but I just hope it doesn’t turn into a fishing expedition, because I will be one of them ones jumping up and down making sure the limitations on this investigation continue because that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

In another clip uncovered by CNN, Whitaker said the Mueller probe would be “invalid,” “fraudulent,” and “dangerous to the public” if it expanded beyond Russian election interference to look at Trump’s finances.

And in another appearance, Whitaker said on the “Sean Hannity Show” that Trump’s alleged request that FBI director James Comey not investigate former national security adviser Michael Flynn did not amount to obstruction of justice.

“That doesn’t rise to the level of obstruction of justice and it doesn’t sound to me, based on what’s been reported, that Jim Comey, as he sat there, believed that the President was telling him to stop the investigation,” he said.

“As you know in the law and in these types of situations, the words and whatever the president did or didn’t say is going to be very important. And, if all he did was make a mere suggestion and not an outright command, I don’t think that rises to the level of obstruction of justice.”

Updated

Stacey Abrams’s campaign plans to file a lawsuit over absentee ballots in Georgia’s Dougherty county, they said Thursday.

Abrams trails Republican Brian Kemp in the vote count, but has not conceded after a race dominated by accusations of voter suppression.

The campaign will charge in the suit that the county mailed out absentee ballots too slowly, the Hill reported.

They’re asking that all ballots be counted, even if they were received past the deadline.

“We are in this race until we’re convinced that every vote is counted,” Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said at a Thursday press conference, according to the Hill. “We don’t believe any of these numbers are credible.”

Updated

A Colarado man whose son was killed in the Aurora movie theater shooting won a state legislative seat.

Democrat Tom Sullivan, of Arapahoe county, defeated an incumbent to take a seat in the state House of Representatives, local NBC affiliate 9News reports.

Sullivan said he felt ignored by lawmakers after his son, Alex Sullivan, 27, was killed in the 2012 mass shooting.

“They never wanted to talk to me before, and they’re gonna’ have to talk to me now,” Sullivan told the station. “I’ve already had the worst day I’m ever gonna have.”

Updated

Nationwide protests planned to protect Mueller investigation

There will be protests tonight in New York and around the country against interference in the Robert Mueller Russia investigation.

A group called Trump is Not Above the Law plans to rally in Times Square starting at 5pm and then march to demand the investigation be allowed to continue unfettered after Donald Trump fired Jeff Sessions.

Updated

Florida’s chief legal officer has told election supervisors to prepare for the possibility of multiple recounts, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Both a Senate race between Senator Bill Nelson and outgoing Governor Rick Scott, and the governor’s race between Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis, are close enough that it’s possible a recount could be triggered. The Republicans lead in both races.

Updated

There were reports of high voter turnout around the country – and then there was this precinct in Providence, Rhode Island, where not a single voter showed up.

The Providence Journal reports that Precinct 2807 has just 11 registered voters – and none of them showed Tuesday, according to deputy director of Elections Miguel Nunez.

Four of the voters cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election, but none did in the last midterms in 2014.

The poll site is at the Cathedral of St John, near the Rhode Island State House and other government offices.

Updated

Matthew Whitaker does not intend to recuse himself

New acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker does not intend to recuse himself from overseeing the Russia investigation, the Washington Post reports.

The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian election interference and possible collusion with Donald Trump’s campaign has been overseen by deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, because Jeff Sessions recused himself – a move that infuriated Trump.

Whitaker’s associates told the Post he will keep himself in charge of the investigation – and he’s unlikely to approve any request by Mueller to subpoena the presidents.

One source said Whitaker, who has been Sessions’ chief of staff, questioned why Rosenstein was allowing the investigation to go on so long.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that Mueller’s investigators have begun writing their final report.

Mueller asked Trump’s lawyers last month to hand over call and visitor logs from Trump Tower related to Roger Stone, a former Trump aide who has been in the cross hairs of the investigation, a source told CNN.

Updated

The protest last night outside Tucker Carlson’s home, which Carlson said included banging on and cracking his door, is drawing condemnation including from liberals.

Here’s Late Show host Stephen Colbert:

And Media Matters senior fellow Matthew Gertz:

Updated

House Democrats plan to restore a congressional committee on climate change that Republicans had scrapped, the New York Times reports.

Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said she will urge her caucus to bring back the select committee to “prepare the way with evidence” for future legislation to tackle carbon emissions and climate change. It’s just a preliminary step since Democrats are unlikely to be able to pass such legislation with Republicans still in control of the Senate.

Republicans defunded the panel when they took control of the House.

Updated

Christine Blasey Ford continues to receive threats after making sexual assault allegations against supreme court justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation process, her lawyers tell NPR.

“Justice Kavanaugh ascended to the Supreme Court, but the threats to Dr Ford continue,” said the lawyers, Debra Katz, Lisa Banks and Michael Bromwich.

Meanwhile, Kavanaugh was welcomed to the court with a ceremonial swearing in Thursday. Donald Trump and his new acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker attended, as did First Lady Melania Trump, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, retired Justice Anthony Kennedy and many of Kavanaugh’s former colleagues, according to the Associated Press.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, hospitalized with fractured ribs, was absent.

Updated

Democrat Andrew Gillum, who had conceded to Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s race, now says with results tightening there may be a recount.

Updated

Twitter has suspended the account of an anti-fascist group that protested outside Tucker Carlson’s Washington DC home Wednesday night, the Washington Examiner reported.

The group Smash Racism DC protested outside the Fox News host’s home, and Carlson said group members pounded on his front door, and one woman threw herself against the door and cracked it.

His wife locked herself in a pantry and called 911, he told the Washington Post.

“I called my wife,” Carlson told the paper. “She had been in the kitchen alone getting ready to go to dinner and she heard pounding on the front door and screaming ... Someone started throwing himself against the front door and actually cracked the front door.”

In since-deleted tweets, the group threatened that Carson was “not safe”, according to the Washington Times.

“Every night you spread fear into our homes – fear of the other, fear of us, and fear of them. Each night you tell us we are not safe. Tonight you’re reminded that we have a voice. Tonight, we remind you that you are not safe either,” the tweet said.

“It wasn’t a protest. It was a threat,” Carlson told the Post. “They weren’t protesting anything specific that I had said. They weren’t asking me to change anything. They weren’t protesting a policy or advocating for legislation ... They were threatening me and my family and telling me to leave my own neighborhood in the city that I grew up in.”

Updated

Bernie Sanders: white voters still 'uncomfortable' voting for black candidates

Senator Bernie Sanders said the results of some of Tuesday’s elections show that many white voters are still “uncomfortable” voting for black candidates.

Sanders was referring to governor’s races in Florida, where Democrat Andrew Gillum lost, and Georgia, where Stacey Abrams is trailing in the vote count though she has not conceded. A third candidate who would have been his state’s first black governor, Ben Jealous in Maryland, also lost.

“I think you know there are a lot of white folks out there who are not necessarily racist who felt uncomfortable for the first time in their lives about whether or not they wanted to vote for an African-American,” Sanders told The Daily Beast.

“I think next time around by the way it will be a lot easier for them to do that,” he said.

The Vermont senator and 2016 presidential candidate told the Daily Beast Abrams ran a “brilliant campaign” and Gillum is a “fantastic politician”. “He stuck to his guns in terms of a progressive agenda. I think he ran a great campaign. And he had to take on some of the most blatant and ugly racism that we have seen in many many years. And yet he came within a whisker of winning,” he said.

Updated

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is being considered to replace Jeff Sessions as attorney general, CBS News reports.

Donald Trump has installed Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general , but a permanent replacement will have to be confirmed by the Senate.

Christie, after running for president in 2016 himself, endorsed Trump and ran his transition, but was ultimately pushed aside.

According to CBS, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani, outgoing Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, and former attorney general William Barr are also in the running.

Updated

Eric Schneiderman will not face criminal charges

Former New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman will not be criminally charged on accusations he assaulted multiple women, prosecutor Madeline Singas told Newsday and others.

She said that while she believes the allegations are true, “legal impediments, including statutes of limitations, preclude criminal prosecution”.

One of Schneiderman’s alleged victims reacts to the news:

Schneiderman says he accepts responsibility for his behavior and has spent time in rehab.

Updated

Barbara Underwood – the acting New York Attorney General who sued Donald Trump over his troubled charity – will stay on in her old role as solicitor general when a new AG takes office in January, her spokeswoman said.

Underwood took over after ex-AG Eric Schneiderman resigned in disgrace over charges he physically abused several women.

She pledged not to run for a full term in the office, and Letitia James, the New York City Public Advocate, won the seat Tuesday.

When James takes over, Underwood will resume her former job as solicitor general.

Updated

Brian Kemp resigns as Georgia secretary of state

Republican Brian Kemp, who is leading in election results to become Georgia’s next governor, resigned Thursday as secretary of state.

Kemp’s campaign says he has enough votes to secure victory, but Democrat Stacey Abrams has not conceded. His service as secretary of state - the official who oversees elections - was controversial throughout the race, which featured multiple allegations of voter suppression.

The Associated Press reports:

Attorney Russ Willard with the attorney general’s office of Georgia announced the resignation in federal court Thursday morning.

Willard said Kemp delivered a letter of resignation to Gov. Nathan Deal on Thursday morning, and it is effective at 11:59 a.m.

The state said Kemp will not perform any election-related duties Thursday.

The announcement came ahead of a scheduled hearing Thursday for a lawsuit in which five Georgia voters asked that Kemp be barred from exercising his duties as the state’s chief elections officer in any future management of his own election tally.

Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams has pointed to ballots that have yet to be counted and says there’s still the possibility of a December runoff in one of the nation’s marquee midterm races

In an interview with WSB Radio on Thursday, Kemp said he and his campaign are declaring victory because it isn’t possible for Abrams to pick up enough votes to force a Dec. 4 runoff.

Abrams’ campaign has said there are still enough uncounted votes to force a runoff and that they need to pick up about 15,000 votes to do so.

Kemp said his rival’s campaign is using “old math.” Without providing specifics, he said in the radio interview that the number “is actually more like 30,000 votes.”

The Abrams campaign continues to accuse Kemp of improperly using his current post as secretary of state.

Updated

Democrats: 'Inappropriate' for Whitaker to oversee Mueller inquiry

Democrats on the House judiciary committee sent a letter to acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker Thursday demanding to know who is now in charge of the Russia investigation.

Representative Jerrold Nadler, the incoming chair of the judiciary committee after Democrats took control of the House, has vowed to investigate Donald Trump’s firing of Jeff Sessions, who he replaced with Whitaker.

In the new letter, Nadler (D-NY) and other Democrats ask Whitaker to confirm who is currently supervising special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference. They ask whether the justice department has produced a legal opinion on whether an AG not confirmed by the Senate – which Whitaker has not been – is permitted to oversee the investigation.

“It is our strongly considered judgement that the Justice Department should allow Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein to continue to supervise the matter,” they write. “It would of course be wholly inappropriate for you to supervise the investigation, given your well-documented statements regarding the efficacy of the Russia investigation.”

The Democrats ask for rules to be instituted mandating that any report Mueller produces will be made public and ensuring he won’t be terminated minus extraordinary circumstances. They also ask the acting AG to preserve any documents related to Trump’s firing of Sessions for use in a future investigation.

“The forced firing of Attorney General Sessions appears to be part of an ongoing pattern of behavior by the President seeking to undermine investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election,” Nadler and his colleagues wrote.

“President Trump’s actions risk plunging the country into peril, akin to a ‘slow motion Saturday Night Massacre.’ Congress and the Justice Department worked together at that time to avoid a full-fledged constitutional crisis in the Watergate era. It is therefore incumbent that we now set aside any institutional differences we may have and work together to protect our nation and the rule of law from this grave threat.”

The group also wrote to current House judiciary committee chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) asking for emergency hearings on Sessions’ departure, though it is likely an investigation will wait until the Democrats formally take control in January.

Updated

More details on the injuries suffered by supreme court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, from the AP:

Ginsburg fell in her office at the supreme court on Wednesday evening, the court said.

She went home after the fall but experienced discomfort overnight and went to George Washington University Hospital early Thursday, where she was admitted. Tests showed she fractured three ribs.

It’s not the first health scare the 85-year-old justice has overcome: she’s had two bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014.

Updated

Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a Brooklyn Democrat, has announced his candidacy to be House Democratic caucus chair.

If successful, he would replace fellow New Yorker Joe Crowley, who led the caucus before losing his re-election bid in a primary to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“We have seized the majority; now we must keep it. There is an unconventional President in the Oval Office who dominates the news cycle with his outrageous claims, name-calling and falsehoods. Undoubtedly, he will try to use the House Democratic Caucus as a foil to explain his shortcomings and inability to lead,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to colleagues announcing his candidacy.

“To stay in charge, we must act aggressively on a bold legislative agenda and consistently message to the American people what we are doing to improve their quality of life.”

Updated

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is using an apparently doctored video to justify the decision to revoke the White House press credentials of CNN’s Jim Acosta.

Acosta lost his pass after asking a series of pointed questions of Trump at a Wednesday press conference. During the exchange, a female White House staffer approached him and attempted to physically remove a microphone from his hand, while he holds on to it.

Video of the incident makes clear it was the staffer who initiated physical contact, but the White House accused Acosta of “placing his hands on a young woman”. The video shared by Sanders appears to have been sped up, to make Acosta’s arm movements appear more aggressive. Several reporters noted it apparently originated on the conspiracy theory site Infowars.

Updated

Democrat Lucy McBath has won a House seat in the Atlanta suburbs, after Republican Rep. Karen Handel conceded a close race Thursday morning.

“After carefully reviewing all of the election results, it is clear that I came up a bit short on Tuesday,” Handel said in a tweet. “Congratulations to Representative-Elect Lucy McBath & I send her only good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her.”

McBath is a gun control activist who got involved in politics after her son, 17-year-old Jordan Davis, was shot and killed in a gas station parking lot by a white man who objected to loud music he and his friends were playing.

She has said she was motivated to run for office after the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

It’s a big shift for a Congressional seat once held by Newt Gingrich, the Republican former House speaker.

Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized

Supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been hospitalized after fracturing three ribs in a fall at court, the Associated Press reports.

The 85-year-old justice is a liberal stalwart on the nation’s highest court.

Updated

Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage. Donald Trump’s firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions has thrown into question the fate of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Democrats, who won control of the House in Tuesday’s election, are vowing to investigate the removal of the attorney general.

Meanwhile, Trump has escalated his attacks on the press, revoking the credentials of CNN’s Jim Acosta after a female White House staffer tried to physically remove a microphone from his hand at Wednesday’s press conference.

Updated

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What happened with Androgenic? Unexpected on-camera moment goes viral within hours
A viral video showing Androgenic’s hat being pulled off sparked major debate online. Viewers questioned his image after seeing what appeared to be a receding hairline. The term “fraudmaxxer” trended on X, and some online rankings reportedly dropped him. While the video’s authenticity remains unverified, the incident has fueled discussion…
The Times of India
The Times of India
Nicki Minaj shares photo of ‘meaningful’ bible signed by Trump
The ‘God Bless The U.S.A.’ Bible is sold for $1,000 online
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Nutritionists Warn: The 3 Toddler Snacks Parents Waste $400+ on Yearly
Image source: Pexels.com
Kids Ain't Cheap
Kids Ain't Cheap
Thailand moves to cut sugar in popular drinks amid health drive
Major chains agree to halve default sweetness, but street vendors and cafes remain outside sugar tax rules
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Curious Kids: What is the smallest thing in the universe?
Curious Kids is a series for children in which we ask experts to answer questions from kids.
The Conversation
The Conversation
Social media can be addictive even for adults, but there are ways to cut back
Social media addiction has been compared to casinos, opioids and cigarettes
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
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