US election 2020 results live: Trump reaction to Biden president-elect | updates

Trump plans rallies to protest election

President-elect Joe Biden has given is first speech following his victory in the US elections but Donald Trump has not yet acknowledged defeat and has launched an array of lawsuits to press claims of election fraud for which he has produced no evidence. State officials say they are not aware of any significant irregularities.

Trump has no public events scheduled for Monday, and has not spoken in public since Thursday. He plans to hold rallies to build support for his challenge to the election results, campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said.

Biden’s advisers are moving ahead and considering candidates for top Cabinet posts. But the transition cannot shift into high gear until the US General Services Administration, which oversees federal property, certifies the winner. 

Emily Murphy, the Trump appointee who runs the agency, has not yet done so and a GSA spokeswoman gave no timetable for the decision.

Until then, the GSA can continue providing Biden’s team with offices, computers and background checks for security clearances, but they cannot yet enter federal agencies or access federal funds set aside for the transition.

The Biden campaign on Sunday pressed the agency to move ahead. “America’s national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power,” the campaign said in a statement.

Trump to demand recounts

Trump, however, has shown no signs he will engage in a transition. Murtaugh said Trump will hold a series of rallies to build support for the legal fights challenging the outcome, though Murtaugh did not say when and where they would take place.

Trump will seek to back up his as yet unsubstantiated accusations of voting fraud by highlighting obituaries of dead people the campaign said voted in the election, Murtaugh said. Trump also announced teams to pursue recounts in several states.

Experts said that effort, like his lawsuits, are unlikely to meet with success.

“The chances of a recount flipping tens of thousands of votes across multiple states in his favor are outside anything we have seen in American history,” William Antholis, director of the University of Virginia’s Miller Center think tank, wrote in an essay on Sunday.

Photo: REUTERS/Mark Makela