Iran Press/ America: After six days of hand-counting ballots, the Georgia secretary of state’s office reaffirmed on Thursday that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. had defeated President Trump in the state, which had long been considered a Republican stronghold.
The Trump campaign asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, a Republican, for a full hand recount one week after Election Day. Mr. Raffensperger announced soon after that all 159 counties would participate in a “risk-limiting audit” that would include a hand recount. The audit of roughly five million votes was completed late Wednesday.
Though the result was something of a foregone conclusion, the recount took place amid escalating tension over the election outcome.
The state has until Friday to certify the election results.
Trump tries to subvert the election, inviting Michigan G.O.P lawmakers to the White House
President Trump on Thursday accelerated his efforts to interfere in the nation’s electoral process, taking the extraordinary step of reaching out directly to Republican state legislators from Michigan and inviting them to the White House on Friday for discussions as the state prepares to certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. the winner there.
Trump’s outreach to Republican officials in Michigan represented a remarkable intrusion into state and local politics: a sitting president personally contacting officials who usually play a small and invisible role in a routine process.
The president requested the White House meeting with Mike Shirkey, the State Senate majority leader, and Lee Chatfield, the speaker of the Michigan House, and they will sit down with him on Friday afternoon, according to a person briefed on the arrangements. It is not clear what the president will discuss.
Joe Biden, whose transition has been hindered by Trump’s attempt to cling to power, on Thursday delivered his most forceful condemnation yet of the president’s refusal to acknowledge his loss, saying Trump would be remembered as “one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history.”
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