- United States president-elect, Joe Biden, has called for unity while saying he will help the US become a “nation healed”.
- Biden, a former Vice President under Barack Obama, passed the 270 electoral vote threshold needed for victory on Saturday, with the states of Pennsylvania and Nevada breaking in his favour.
- President Donald Trump has not yet conceded. He and his allies, who have pushed unfounded claims of voting fraud, say they will continue to challenge results in several states.
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the US elections. This is Joseph Stepansky taking over from Usaid Siddiqui.
Changing of the guard in the US creates jitters in Taiwan
People in Taiwan are wondering how the Joe Biden presidency might affect the United States’ warming relationship with the self-ruled island.
As Erin Hale reports, while some are concerned, most analysts believe ties will remain strong because it is not only the administration of outgoing President Donald Trump that favours a tougher line on China. It’s a view shared across the aisle in Congress and among the US public.
“The US-Taiwan relationship will likely remain strong primarily because Washington’s interests converge with Taipei’s interests,” said Bonnie Glaser, a senior adviser for Asia and the director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“There are shared values as well as concerns about growing Chinese power and the way it is being used. US efforts to strengthen ties with Taiwan may be less public and less visible than under the Trump administration, but they will persist.”
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Japan’s Suga says wants to work with Biden to strengthen alliance
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he wants to work with Biden to strengthen the Japan-US alliance and secure peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.
Speaking to reporters, Suga also said nothing had been decided on the timing of phone talks with Biden or a visit to the United States, but added he wanted to arrange them at the right time.
Maduro hopes for ‘decent’ dialogue after Biden win
Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro says he hopes to resume a “decent, sincere” dialogue with the United States, following Biden’s win.
The target of US sanctions aiming to force him from power, Maduro broke off diplomatic relations with Washington in January 2019, after President Donald Trump’s administration – along with around 60 other countries – recognised rival Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s president.
Guaido, who has declared himself the Latin American country’s interim leader, has also congratulated the US president-elect.
Stacey Abrams says Democrats will pour resources into key Georgia Senate runoffs
Georgia Democratic activist Stacey Abrams said on Sunday that her party would pour unprecedented resources into two runoff Senate races in the traditionally Republican-leaning state that will likely determine control of the chamber.
Abrams, who narrowly lost a race for governor in 2018, has been credited with boosting Democratic hopes in the state, where President-elect Joe Biden is currently leading by around 10,000 votes with the race there yet to be called.
Democratic candidates businessman Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock face uphill battles in their January 5 runoff elections against incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively.
“I want to push back against this anachronistic notion that we can’t win in Georgia,” Abrams said on CNN’s State of the Union programme. “We will have the investment and resources that have never followed a runoff in Georgia for Democrats.”
Iran’s Zarif calls on neighbours to cooperate following Trump’s defeat
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has called on his country’s neighbours to cooperate in achieving common interests, following Trump’s defeat in the presidential election.
“Trump is gone, and we and our neighbours will stay. Betting on foreigners does not bring security, and disappoints. We extend our hands to our neighbours to cooperate in achieving the common interests of our peoples and countries,” Zarif Tweeted in Arabic late on Sunday.
“We call on everyone to embrace dialogue as the only way to end differences and tensions. Together to build a better future for our region.”
Trump will lose special Twitter protections in January
Trump will be subject to the same Twitter Inc rules as any other user when Biden takes office on January 20, the social media company has said.
Twitter places “public interest” notices on some rule-breaking tweets from “world leaders” that would otherwise be removed. Such tweets from political candidates and elected or government officials are instead hidden by a warning and Twitter takes actions to restrict their reach.
But the company said this treatment does not apply to former office holders.
“This policy framework applies to current world leaders and candidates for office, and not private citizens when they no longer hold these positions,” a Twitter spokesman said in a statement to Reuters news agency.
Former Obama officials Morell, Haines likely candidates for Biden spy jobs: Report
Two former senior US intelligence officials – Michael Morell and Avril Haines – have emerged as leading contenders to serve as director of national intelligence or run the CIA in President-elect Biden’s administration, several current and former intelligence officials told Reuters news agency.
Morell served as the CIA’s deputy director in the administration of former US President Barack Obama between 2010 and 2013, and during that time also served two stints as acting agency director.
Haines served as CIA deputy director and as Obama’s deputy national security advisor, said the sources.
Other names being discussed by both Democratic Party and intelligence officials as possible candidates for director of national intelligence include Mike Rogers, a former Republican representative in the US Congress who chaired the House Intelligence Committee, and Michael Leiter, a former official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a branch of the DNI, the sources told the news agency.
Republican former President George Bush congratulates Biden
Former US President George W Bush has offered his “warm congratulations” to President-elect Joe Biden, calling the Democrat “a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country”.
The two-term Republican, in a statement issued by his presidential centre in Dallas, also congratulated Biden’s opponent Donald Trump for his “extraordinary political achievement” in winning 70 million votes.
Bush’s statement made him one of the country’s most prominent Republicans to acknowledge Biden’s victory, declared Saturday, and offer him congratulations.
Battle for US Senate control awaits in Georgia after Biden win
Control of the United States Senate appears likely to hinge on two heated contests in the state of Georgia, where election runoffs are scheduled for early January.
The result in the southern US state would also determine how much a Biden presidency would be able to achieve after the Democrat won the race for the White House on Saturday.
So far after Tuesday’s election, the tally for the next Senate is 48 Republicans and 46 Democrats – plus two independents aligned with Democrats. Seats in North Carolina and Alaska are still too early to call and the two seats in Georgia are headed to runoffs on January 5.
The state is closely divided, with Democrats making gains on Republicans in the 2020 elections, fuelled by a surge of new voters. But no Georgian Democrat has been elected senator in some 20 years. As much as $500m could be spent on the two races, one strategist said.
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Biden launches transition website, Twitter
President-elect Biden has launched a transition website and Twitter account as he prepares to take on office on January 20.
“The work ahead in the next 73 days will be the foundation for an administration that puts the health, safety, and character of our communities first,” the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Twitter account said on Sunday in its first post.
Biden heads to church, Trump again golfs
Biden spent the morning after becoming president-elect attending church before visiting his son Beau’s grave, as he has started most Sundays throughout the campaign.
Trump, meanwhile, returned to his golf course in Virginia. That’s where he was on Saturday when news organisations first projected Biden’s victory.
Demonstrators gathered outside of the golf club, holding signs that said “Orange Crushed” and “Trumpty Dumpty had a great fall”.
Biden plans to appoint co-chairs to coronavirus working group: Campaign manager
Biden is planning to name former Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr David Kessler as co-chairs of the coronavirus working group that he is launching this week.
Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield announced the two public health experts would lead the task force during an appearance on the NBC programme Meet the Press on Sunday.
Murthy and Kessler have been part of a group of experts and doctors who have briefed Biden on the pandemic for months throughout the campaign. Murthy served as surgeon general during President Barack Obama’s second term, and Kessler was FDA commissioner in the 1990s and now serves as board chair at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Speaking on Saturday, Biden said responding to the coronavirus would be his administration’s first priority.
Trump allies Giuliani, Graham say it would be ‘wrong for Trump to concede’
Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham have said Trump should not concede at this time as Trump’s campaign launches lawsuits challenging results in several key battleground states.
Giuliani, who announced that a raft of lawsuits would be filed on Monday during a press conference on Saturday, told Fox News that “[conceding] would be wrong for [Trump] at this point”, while suggesting Trump had a chance of overturning results in several states.
To date, the Trump campaign has not produced any evidence of widespread fraud, and state election officials from both parties have said they have not encountered major malfeasance in the election.
Graham, who on Saturday called for the Department of Justice to investigate claims of fraud, has also said Trump should not immediately concede: “Do not concede, Mr. President. Fight hard,” he said on Fox News.
In Pictures: Indians celebrate Kamala Harris’s US election win
Waking up to the news that Kamala Harris had won the race to be the next US vice president, overjoyed people in her Indian grandfather’s home town set off firecrackers, offered prayers and carried placards.
Groups gathered at street corners of the tiny village of Thulasendrapuram, population 350, reading newspapers and chatting about the Democrats’ victory in the US presidential election before moving to the Hindu temple.
View the full photo gallery here.
Joe Biden ‘no saviour’ of the Palestinians
In October 1973, newly elected Delaware Senator Joe Biden visited Israel on his first official overseas trip and met then-Prime Minister Golda Meir.
The 30-year-old was visibly moved as Meir explained what she said was Israel’s militarily dangerous situation surrounded by “enemy states”, but he cheered up when the Israeli leader revealed what she said was Israel’s secret weapon: The Israelis have nowhere else to go.
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US is our closest and most important ally, says UK’s Johnson
The United States is our closest and most important ally, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, adding London and Washington could do something on trade – despite Washington being a tough negotiator.
“But on the trade deal with the US, I’m a keen student of the United States’ trade policy and they’re tough negotiators,” he told reporters.
“And I’ve never believed that this was going to be something that was going to be a complete pushover under any US administration. I think there’s a good chance we’ll do something.”
How will a Biden presidency affect NATO and Brexit?
With Biden defeating Trump in the race for the US presidency, many leaders in Europe are hopeful that a shift in US foreign policy awaits.
Biden has pledged to immediately rejoin several initiatives that Trump dumped, including the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Iran nuclear deal, if Tehran also complies. He also vowed to reverse the US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
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‘No greater ally’: UK minister predicts close ties with Biden
Biden will have no closer ally or more dependable friend than the UK, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said, expressing confidence the two countries’ “special relationship” would endure.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was once fondly dubbed “Britain Trump” by President Donald Trump, congratulated Biden on his victory on Saturday, saying he looked forward to “working closely together on our shared priorities”.
How will a Biden presidency affect Turkey?
Just a couple of weeks before president-elect Joe Biden’s victory, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was giving a party rally of his own in southeast Turkey, delivering a defiant message to the US.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” said Erdogan to his NATO ally.
“Impose your sanctions already, whatever they may be,” he added, referring to US threats over Turkey’s purchase of a controversial Russian missile system.
The comments were perhaps also directed at Biden. As one senior Turkish government official told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity: “People here are not overwhelmed with the prospect [of a Biden presidency].”
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Iran’s Rouhani says next US administration should make up for Trump’s mistakes
Iran’s president said the next US administration should use the opportunity to compensate for Trump’s mistakes, Iranian state TV reported.
Tensions have spiked between the US and Iran since 2018, when Trump exited a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, and then reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
“Trump’s damaging policy has been opposed … by the American people. The next US administration should use the opportunity to make up for past mistakes,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying.
Palestinian president urges Biden to ‘strengthen’ Palestinian-US ties
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on Biden to “strengthen” relations between the Palestinians and Washington, which have collapsed during Trump’s term in office.
In a statement congratulating Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, Abbas urged the incoming administration “to strengthen the Palestinian-American relationship,” and to strive for the Middle East “peace, stability and security”.
Trump supporters continue protesting against vote count in Arizona
Outside the Maricopa County Elections Department, hundreds of Trump supporters rallied for a fourth consecutive day, insisting the Democratic Party had stolen the election.
The demonstrators took turns addressing the crowd and kneeling to pray for Trump. At times, they broke out in chants of “four more years” and “back the blue”.
Several protesters wore hats reading “Make America Great Again”, while others had flags or T-shirts that referenced QAnon – the widespread conspiracy theory that Trump is waging a secret war on child sex traffickers.
Read more here.
All the latest updates as Biden projected winner in 2020 presidential election
On Saturday (November 7), the Associated Press projected that Biden had passed the 270 electoral vote margin needed to win the presidency. Biden currently has 290 electoral votes, according to the AP.
Hours later, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris made their first address to the country after passing the threshold, calling for unity and saying they would strive towards a “nation healed”.
Following our live updates from the day here.
