Trump news: President to name Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court, reports say
President to make third SCOTUS appointment on Saturday as Joe Biden dismisses election threats as ‘distraction’ from administration failures
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Donald Trump has been accused with “flirting with treason” by Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren over his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power should he lose November’s election to Joe Biden.
The president has claimed he was the victim of a “political hit” on the issue, accusing the US Food and Drug Administration of deliberately making approval standards more stringent for drug companies in order to delay the release of a Covid-19 vaccine until after Election Day.
Speaking to supporters at a “black economic empowerment” event on Friday, the president accused Black Lives Matter supporters of “hurting the black community” and touted his claims to improve the lives of black Americans during his term.
The president is expected to announce his nominee to the high court on Saturday. The White House has signalled that he will nominate Amy Coney Barrett for the role, what will be his third appointment since taking office.
Mr Biden and Jill Biden visited Washington DC on Friday to attend memorials for late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is lying in state at the US Capitol. The president and top Republicans in Congress did not attend the service.
In an interview with MSNBC on Friday, Mr Biden refused to speculate on the doomsday scenarios that legal scholars and election analysts have considered following the president’s threats to the election, insisting that the president is using fear as a distraction from his administration’s failures.
The Democratic candidate instead suggested that the rule of law will prevail and American voters will have their voice heard at the polls.
“It’s always about distraction with him,” he said.
He called the president’s attempts to undermine the results of the election “irresponsible and outrageous" and he suggested that a massive voter turnout will overwhelm the president’s claims that the results will be disputed.
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Election officials undercut Trump’s claims of intentional voter fraud in Pennsylvania mail-in ballot case
A statement on Friday from the county manager of Luzerne County poured cold water on Donald Trump’s suggestion that fraud was behind the discovery of discarded ballots in Pennsylvania, explaining that a temporary seasonal independent contractor had “incorrectly discarded” several ballots earlier this month. Officials did not know to whom the ballots had been cast until the Department of Justice announced them.
County manager David Perdri “immediately began an internal inquiry and informed her direct supervisor,” he said.
All garbage from the Elections Bureau was secured, and “each bag of garbage from the entire building in the dumpster was searched by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office, Pennsylvania State Police as well as Luzerne County staff" and placed in the FBI's custody, he said.
"While the actions of this individual has cast a concern, the above statement shows that the system of checks and balances set forth in Pennsylvania elections works," he said. "An error was made, a public servant discovered it and reported it to law enforcement at the local, state and federal level who took over to ensure the integrity of the system in place.”
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