On a rain-swept Wednesday, US President Donald Trump laid a ceremonial wreath at Arlington cemetery in commemoration of the United States’ Veterans Day as his contest of the November 3 election muddled forward.
The president avoided speaking to reporters but kept up his tweeting, claiming “a mountain of corruption dishonesty” in the US election despite lacking evidence.
President-elect Joe Biden laid his own wreath at a memorial in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He also met behind closed doors in Wilmington, Delaware, with his transition team as he prepared to name his future White House aides and Cabinet officials.
Longtime Biden aide and campaign adviser Ron Klain is reportedly poised to become the White House chief of staff.
Speaking “tactfully” to reporters Tuesday, Biden said Trump’s failure to concede the election, given the apparent results, was an “embarrassment” and would reflect badly on Trump’s “legacy”.
Trump’s campaign filed a new lawsuit in federal court in Michigan, alleging irregularities in the heavily Democratic city of Detroit and asking a judge to delay certification of the vote.
Biden won Michigan by more than 148,000 votes, adding the state’s 16 Electoral College votes to his winning total of 290 so far. It takes 270 electoral votes to become president.
A top lawyer representing Democrats in Trump’s election lawsuits predicted on Twitter, the president’s latest claim would fail.
The Trump campaign filed a similar lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania yesterday challenging the results of the presidential election in Democratic counties and asking a judge to prohibit certification of the results.
Trump plans to formally request a recount in Wisconsin next week, a state official said.
In Georgia, where Biden leads by 14,000 votes out of five million cast, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the state will conduct a recount by hand and a random audit of ballots.
“This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvass all at once,” Raffensperger said at a Wednesday news conference.
But unless outcomes change in the Midwest, Georgia’s recount will not affect the outcome of the presidential race. It could have an influence on whether Republicans or Democrats control the US Senate which will have a major effect on Biden’s presidency.
Trump won the state of Alaska picking up three electoral votes as expected, The Associated Press reported. The state typically supports Republicans.
Republican and Democratic election officials in 45 US states have told The New York Times there is no evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities, the newspaper reported.
Most Republicans in Congress are continuing to at least publicly back Trump’s claims about the election. Some have ventured to say Biden is the likely winner.
“We’re on a path, it looks likely Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States,” Pennsylvania US Senator Pat Toomey told a television interviewer in Pittsburgh.
