Outgoing US President Donald Trump suffered a new setback after the end of the recount in Wisconsin, but nonetheless adhered to the theory of widespread fraud in the presidential election in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.
On Sunday, the Wisconsin state announced the end of the state's recount, and said that the results confirmed President Biden's victory in the state that has 10 votes in the 538-seat electoral college, which will meet in the middle of next month to vote for one of the candidates.
The state will announce the validation of the results later Monday.
The Associated Press said that after the recount, Biden remained ahead by more than 20,000 votes, gaining an additional 87 votes in Dane and Milwaukee counties.
While the Biden campaign said that the recount confirmed his victory as shown by previous results, the Trump campaign said that the process revealed real problems with the legality of the ballot papers.
The outgoing president had said in a previous tweet that the recount in Wisconsin is not related to a review of the number of votes, but rather to finding illegal votes, indicating that a case will be filed as soon as the results of the recount that have already been announced.
Trump confirmed in a telephone interview with Fox News that a number of heads of state were calling him to inquire about what he described as the chaos that prevailed in the electoral process in the United States.
He said that the elections witnessed what he called widespread fraud, a phrase he has repeated since the first results that showed Biden’s victory, adding that the judges do not want to hear what his legal team has of evidence of fraud, as he put it.
The new setback for Trump, who had been hoping to turn the entire election result in his favor, came after losing lawsuits in states that were crucial to Biden's victory, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Michigan.
No fraud, and
despite losing most of the lawsuits that he filed to change the results, or delaying approval of results in several states, he is still insisting on continuing his legal battles, including resorting to the Supreme Court, at a time when Republican leaders acknowledge that there is no fraud.
In the context, the Republican Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, said that the courts did not see any evidence of widespread fraud that could alter the results of the presidential elections.
Hutchinson called for the need to secure the transition of power from the Trump administration to the administration of President-elect Joe Biden.
And lawmakers and Republican governors demanded that Trump acknowledge the election result and accelerate the transfer of power to Biden.
It is noteworthy that Biden won 306 of the electoral college votes and more than 80 million votes in the popular vote, compared to 232 of the assembly votes for Trump and just under 74 million in the popular vote.
Biden earlier appointed a number of his aides to key positions (French)
New appointments
Meanwhile, US President-elect Joe Biden, 78, has appointed Jane Sackey as the White House spokeswoman, and Kate Biddingfield as White House communications director in his next administration.
Saki held prominent positions during the administration of former President Barack Obama, including director of communications at the White House, and spokesperson for the State Department.
As for Biddingfield, she held the positions of director of communications, deputy campaign manager for Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during the presidential election, and worked as director of communications in Biden's office when he was vice president under Obama.
This is the first time in White House history that an all-female staff has been appointed to occupy prominent positions within the White House communications and media team.
For its part, The New York Times said Sunday that Biden had appointed Brian Deiss to head the US National Economic Council.
The president-elect had appointed several members of his cabinet, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
On the other hand, Biden’s office said Sunday that he sprained his ankle when he slipped while playing with his dog.
The office added - in a brief statement - that the accident occurred on Saturday, and that an orthopedist will examine the president-elect as a precaution.