Biden moves forward with transition as Trump continues to refuse to concede – live | American News

Even if Donald trump has yet to admit he lost the presidential election, a number of world leaders have already congratulated him Joe biden on his victory.

The Biden campaign said the president-elect spoke with leaders of Australia, Japan and South Korea last night.

Shortly after being declared the winner of the presidential race, Biden spoke to leaders from Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany and France.

Here are some reactions from world leaders after speaking with the President-elect:

Another 709,000 Americans submitted new claims for unemployment benefits last week, marking a drop of about 48,000 claims from a week earlier.

The figure marks the lowest number of new claims since March, indicating that the US job market could slowly recover.

But economists warn that the number of new jobless claims remains extremely high eight months after the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

There are also fears that the US economy will decline in the coming weeks, as coronavirus infections increase and Americans become more cautious about leaving their homes.

The United States set another single-day record for new infections yesterday, confirming 144,133 cases. Another 1,893 Americans also died from the coronavirus yesterday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said he did not believe a national lockdown would be necessary due to the development of coronavirus vaccines.

Pfizer announced earlier this week that its vaccine is 90% effective, and Fauci said he expected a vaccine to be widely available to the American public by April or May.

Asked by ABC News’ Robin roberts if the country is heading for a national lockdown, Fauci said he would like to ‘stay away from this’ because ‘there is no appetite for the lockdown’.

Fauci added, “I believe we can do it without foreclosure. I really do. “

Robins also asked Fauci, who has been director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, what he would say to those suffering from ‘Covid fatigue’.

Fauci replied, “Help is definitely on the way. … The cavalry is coming here. The vaccines will have a major positive impact. “

Fauci’s comments come as the country sets new records for coronavirus infections. According to Johns Hopkins University, the United States confirmed 144,133 new cases yesterday, breaking the one-day record set the day before.

Kayleigh McEnany, the outgoing White House press secretary raised many eyebrows this morning when she tried to distance herself from her own work during an interview with Fox News.

Although McEnany works for the White House, she recently spoke to the media in a personal capacity as an advisor to Donald trumpre-election campaign of.

When Fox News asked him if Joe biden would soon receive access to intelligence briefings, McEnany replied, “That would be a question more for the White House.”

This response is quite remarkable, given that McEnany is the main spokesperson for the White House. It’s also worth noting that McEnany has already deflected questions during White House press briefings by referring them to the Trump campaign.

Political journalists immediately expressed their outrage that McEnany, who earns a government salary of $ 183,000 a year, refuses to speak for the White House, when that is the main demand for his job.

Greetings from Washington, readers of the live blog.

It has been nine days since polling day and five days since Joe biden was declared the winner of the presidential race, but Donald trump still did not admit that he lost.

However, the president’s refusal to accept reality does not prevent the president-elect from moving forward with his transition to the White House.

Biden announced last night that he had chosen Ron Klain, a longtime adviser who served as “Ebola Tsar” under Barack Obama, as his chief of staff.

Further staff announcements are expected in the days and weeks to come, as Biden prepares for his inauguration on January 20.

But Biden’s determination to treat this as a normal presidential transition is at odds with Trump’s strategy of casting doubt on the integrity of the election by peddling unsubstantiated fraud allegations.

Trump’s advisers privately admit that his prosecutions in battlefield states are unlikely to go anywhere and that Trump will have to step down in January.

But until the president comes to terms with this reality, his refusal to concede will continue to be an international spectacle as the country tries to move forward.