Georgia's Twin Runoffs Will Likely Drag Out Results for Days

The high-stakes Jan. 5 Senate runoffs in Georgia are expected to play out a lot like November’s presidential election -- with the result delayed for days, or weeks, as near-record numbers of votes are counted.

In the Nov. 3 contest, the results were so close that it took 10 days before television networks projected that Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia. The state didn’t certify his victory for another week, and it was certified twice more, lastly on Dec. 7.

With the runoff elections expected to be similarly tight, the results are likely to be slow again, leaving control of the U.S. Senate in doubt well into next month.

“Almost no chance it’s called on election night,” said Kerwin Swint, a political scientist at Kennesaw State University.

Adding to the drama, just as in November, the first returns coming in on election night are likely to favor Republicans, with Democrats gaining ground as mail-in and absentee ballots are counted in subsequent days.

“And then here comes the lawyers on horseback,” predicted Rick Dent, a political consultant who worked for the late Zell Miller, the last Democratic Senator from Georgia.

The unusual dual run-off pits GOP Senator David Perdue against Democrat Jon Ossoff, and Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler against Democrat Raphael Warnock, after none of the candidates got more than 50% of the vote in the Nov 3 general election.

The outcomes are critical to deciding whether the Senate will be split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans -- leaving Democratic Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to cast tie-breaking votes -- or the GOP will stay in command of the Senate. And that outcome is critical to Biden’s ability to enact his legislative agenda in the first two years of his term.

The Democrats plan to fight to the end. Harris will travel to Savannah to campaign on behalf of Ossoff and Warnock on Sunday, while Biden will do the same in Atlanta on Monday.

President Donald Trump’s continuing unfounded claims of voter fraud in Georgia and elsewhere appears to have inspired Perdue to set the stage for post-election challenges.

“No matter what shenanigans they did in November, we know what they were up to, and now we’re watching,” Perdue told a rally on Tuesday. “And we’re going to do everything we can to make this election in January clear, transparent and fair.”

Congress Goes On

The new Congress begins Sunday and the already finalized Nov. 3 races give Republicans 50 seats to Democrats’ 48. On that day, Perdue’s current term expires and his seat will stay vacant until the winner of his showdown with Ossoff is decided.

Loeffler is serving out an unfinished term of former Senator Johnny Isakson, so she can continue to work, uninterrupted, even if a winner in her contest against Warnock is not yet certified.

The high stakes are reflected in an early voting turnout that has already reached more than 2.3 million, according to latest numbers from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, including more than 802,000 returned absentee ballots, and more than 1.5 million people voting in-person.

One official said Tuesday the state hopes counties will have processed all the absentee ballots they receive up to Jan. 5, so that all they need to process on Election Day will be what arrives that day before 7 p.m.

But the official, who asked not to be identified to speak freely, said that most counties had counted all their absentee ballots before the general election on Nov. 3, and it still took days to process the last-minute arrivals.

Swint said that counting process “will probably be at least a few days, and then very likely court challenges after that.”

“The process will follow whatever course the process must take,” Ossoff said Tuesday when asked about potential lawsuits and challenges. But he added, “We will see how the process unfolds to make sure every ballot is counted.”

He accused the GOP of already filing lawsuits “trying to move folks who have recently registered to provisional status. They’re trying to purge the rolls. They’re trying to remove drop-boxes where people can submit their absentee ballots. And again, this is an effort to disenfranchise black voters in Georgia.”

The expected lack of clarity has at least one of the four senate campaigns quietly considering holding no event on Election Night, at all.

 

Trump administration bolsters order barring U.S. investment in Chinese firms

FILE PHOTO: A vehicle drives past the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., U.S. December 13, 2020. REUTERS/Raphael Satter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Monday strengthened an executive order barring U.S. investors from buying securities of alleged Chinese military-controlled companies, following disagreement among U.S. agencies about how tough to make the directive.

The Treasury Department published guidance clarifying that the executive order, released in November, would apply to investors in exchange-traded funds and index funds as well as subsidiaries of Chinese companies designated as owned or controlled by the Chinese military.

The “frequently asked questions” release, posted on the Treasury website on Monday, came after Reuters and other news outlets reported that a debate was raging within the Trump administration over the guidance. The State Department and the Department of Defense had pushed back against a bid by Treasury Department to water down the executive order, a source said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that the announcement “ensures U.S. capital does not contribute to the development and modernization of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) military, intelligence, and security services.”

“This should allay concerns that U.S. investors might unknowingly support (Chinese military-controlled companies) via direct, indirect, or other passive investments,” he added.

Specifically, some media outlets reported that Treasury was seeking to exclude Chinese companies’ subsidiaries from the scope of the White House directive, which bars new purchases of securities of 35 Chinese companies that Washington alleges are backed by the Chinese military, starting in November 2021.

The guidance released on Monday specifies that the prohibitions apply to “any subsidiary of a Communist Chinese military company, after such subsidiary is publicly listed by Treasury.” It added that the agency “intends to list” publicly traded entities that are 50% or more owned by a Chinese military company or controlled by one.

“Treasury’s published FAQ represents a clear victory for the U.S. security community in its determined effort to preserve strong capital markets sanctions associated with [the executive order] — the first of their kind,” said Roger Robinson, a former White House official who supports curbing Chinese access to U.S. investors.

The November executive order sought to give teeth to a 1999 law that mandated that the Department of Defense compile a list of Chinese military companies. The Pentagon, which only complied with the mandate this year, has so far designated 35 companies, including oil company CNOOC Ltd and China’s top chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.

Since the November order, index providers have already begun shedding some of the designated companies from their indexes.

 

McConnell introduces competing bill for $2K stimulus checks

US President Donald Trump speaks alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), as they hold a meeting about tax reform in the Roosevelt Room. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 3:05 PM PT – Tuesday, December 29, 2020

In an effort to compete with the Democrat-approved bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introduced his own bill to provide $2,000 stimulus checks.

McConnell proposed the new bill on Tuesday, shortly after he rejected a request for unanimous consent on the House’s bill.

Unlike the Democrat approved bill, however, McConnell’s version would repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Additionally, it would set up a commission to study voter fraud. This came after Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) vowed to delay a vote to override President Trump’s veto of the NDAA until the Senate votes on the stimulus payments.

McConnell’s bill could provide a work-around to that filibuster.

 

 

Hunter Biden Laptop Cartoons

 

Rasmussen Poll: Majority Says Media Buried Laptop to Help Biden

More than half of likely voters believe news media outlets ignored a report in October that Hunter Biden's laptop computer was found to have emails incriminating him and his father in illicit foreign business deals and potential influence peddling to help the elder Biden's presidential campaign, a Rasmussen poll released Tuesday found.

Fifty-two percent believed the story was buried so as to not damage Joe Biden's presidential aspirations, 32% say it was ignored because it was a "partisan hit job," and 17% were not sure.

Fifty-six percent believe it is likely the elder Biden was consulted and perhaps profited from his son's business dealings in Ukraine and China, including 43% who believe it is very likely. That outnumbers the people surveyed who believe the connection is unlikely 38%, and 22% who consider it very unlikely.

The poll was taken Monday and Tuesday among a national survey of 1,000 likely voters, less than a week after Hunter Biden acknowledged the U.S. Attorney's Office in Delaware was investigating is tax filings.

That admission came nearly two months after the New York Post first revealed the laptop, left for repairs at a Delaware computer shop, contained emails indicating Hunter Biden introduced his father to a senior official at a Ukrainian energy company, contradicting Joe Biden's claim he never spoke to his son about his business dealings.

The emails also show the company official asked Hunter Biden about ways "you could use your influence" on energy concern's behalf.

Twitter blocked any posts that included the story, claiming it violated the company's hacking policy, and Facebook similarly slowed spread of the story.

A July Rasmussen survey showed 75% of Republicans and 47% of non-affiliated voters believed media outlets would aid Biden in the campaign. Only 29% of Democrats agreed.

The most recent poll said 70% of likely voters have been following the Hunter Biden story closely, 38% very closely. Of those closely following the story, 76% said news media organizations deliberately ignored the story before election day to assist Joe Biden, and 72% said he likely profited from his son's overseas involvements.

 

Rasmussen Poll: 72 Percent Say Trump Is Model for GOP

President Donald Trump attends a rally in support of Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga.,  and Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., on Dec. 05, 2020 in Valdosta, Georgia. T(Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

A large majority of likely Republican voters want the party to be more like President Donald Trump than the average GOP member of Congress, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.

Just 24% of likely GOP voters see the average congressional Republican as a better model for the party than Trump, while 72% say the GOP should be more like the outgoing president.

Still, according to the poll, a slight majority (52%) would like a new Republican on the 2024 presidential ticket, while 63% among Democrats and unaffiliated likely voters want a fresh face.

That data point is significant because in a similar Rasmussen survey six years ago, 60% of likely GOP voters wanted a new face to be their presidential nominee, leading to the rise of Trump.

Just 33% of this recent poll's likely GOP voters would like a familiar face to lead the party, while 15% remain unsure.

Among all likely voters:

• 40% say the GOP should be like Trump.
• 45% say the GOP should be like the average congressional Republican.
• 14% were undecided.

Among Democrat likely voters, 62% say the GOP should be like the average congressional Republican over Trump.

Rasmussen's poll was conducted Dec. 21-22 among 1,000 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

 

Rep.-elect Bob Good, 'biblical conservative' who ousted GOP incumbent, slams Dem 'extremism' on social issues

Rep.-elect Bob Good, R-Va., in an interview with Fox News, slammed Democrats over their opposition to recent bills Republicans have introduced that would have limited abortion. (Bob Good)

Rep.-elect Bob Good, who previously worked as an associate athletic director for Liberty University, plans to put social issues at the forefront during his time in Congress, slamming Democrats as extreme for their stance on abortion and saying his religion "is the most important thing in my life."

Good, R-Va., is a former county supervisor and also worked in the lending division of CitiGroup. To win his seat in Virginia's Fifth District, Good beat Rep. Denver Riggleman in a primary, after Riggleman ran into controversy for officiating a same-sex marriage for two of his former campaign volunteers. 

Good's relationship with Liberty has spanned back to his time as a wrestler at the Christian school. The congressman-elect said in an interview with Fox News that he'll be guided by those "Judeo-Christian principles" in office and blasted Democrats for working to stall a handful of GOP-backed bills to restrict abortion. 

Those efforts were signs of "the extremism that has encapsulated the Democrat Party where we're even winning seats in places like California and New York, along with statehouses across the country," Good said. "Here in Virginia, we've got two senators who claim to be moderates, neither of which could bring themselves to vote in favor of the Born Alive [Abortion Survivors Protection] Act. And, we also did not pass the Pain-Capable [Unborn Child Protection] Act."

Good continued: "Let's at least ban abortion when we know the baby in the womb can feel pain just like you and I, and our two senators from Virginia and the Democrat Party could not bring themselves to vote for that."

Among his top priorities in Congress: passing "sanctity of life legislation" and standing up for "religious liberties and protection in courts of faith and family, which I think is under assault by the radical agenda of the left."

A self-declared "broad-based conservative," Good also said he'll support school choice and will serve as a "deficit hawk."

"There's a reckoning that's coming," the 55-year-old said. "We'll be the first generation to leave a legacy of debt to the next generation. Previous generations felt a responsibility to retire that... not to leave that burden to the next generation. Our generation has failed — those my age and older."

"We continue to add to it. The pandemic – I'm sorry the crisis, the corona crisis – has exacerbated that," Good continued, foreshadowing comments he would make a few days later at the "Women for America First" rally in Washington, D.C., supporting President Trump's post-election legal efforts.

"I can't tell you how great it is to look out there and see your faces," Good said at the rally. "This looks like a group of people that gets that this is a phony pandemic. It's a serious virus but it's a virus. It's not a pandemic. It's great to see your faces. You get it, you stand up against tyranny. Thank you for being here today. Thank you for saying no to the insanity."

The coronavirus has killed more than 300,000 Americans, according to Johns Hopkins University findings. 

His comments went viral with critics panning them as a caricature of coronavirus denialism. But, just moments later, Good made other comments that will put him in the center of another controversy shortly after the new year. Good said he will join a small group of House members planning to challenge the Electoral College slates from a handful of states that President-elect Joe Biden won. That's expected to happen on Jan. 6, when Congress meets in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes. 

"We're going to keep fighting. I'm going to fight with Mo Brooks from Alabama," Good said, referring to the congressman leading the charge on challenging the election results. "I'm going to fight with the others in Congress who are going to challenge this. We're going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted and only legal votes are counted." 

The effort is unlikely to succeed.

Such a challenge would require the backing of a senator, and it's not clear that any individual senator will support the challenges yet. Further, once a challenge is made by at least one senator and one House member, it will go to a vote in each chamber. Between the several GOP senators who already have congratulated Biden on his win and the Democrats' majority in the House, it is nearly certain that Congress will not vote to reject any state's electoral votes.

Good, also at the "Women for America First" rally, called Trump "the greatest president of my lifetime and your lifetime."

While challenging the election results will be the first thing Good does in Congress, it will just be one thing. The new congressman said he would be happy with an assignment on either the Financial Services Committee or the Education Committee in the House, due to his background working in both the lending industry and at a university.

But, no matter what, Good said his social conservativism will be central to how he approaches every issue as he embarks on his upcoming term.

"I'm proud to tell you that I'm a born-again Christian, it's the most important thing in my life," Good said in his rally address. "The media hates it when I say this, that I'm a constitutional conservative and I'm a biblical conservative."

 

Marco Rubio backs $2,000 stimulus checks, calls for Congress to 'quickly pass legislation'

Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio on Monday voiced support for $2,000 stimulus checks, diverging from some of his Republican Senate colleagues.

The House on Monday passed a measure in the $900 billion COVID-19 relief package that President Trump signed on Sunday night to give Americans making up to $75,000 direct payments of $2,000 – rather than an initial proposal of $600 – but it is unclear whether the Senate will vote to do the same.

"I agree with the [p]resident that millions of working-class families are in dire need of additional relief, which is why I support $2,000 in direct payments to Americans struggling due to the pandemic," Rubio said in a Monday statement.

Rubio went on to blame Democrats for rejecting Republican attempts to "pass additional relief for workers, families, and small businesses...at every turn."

"Remember, months ago Speaker Pelosi and Democrats rejected the Administration’s previous offer of $1,200 per adult and $1,000 per child. Thankfully, she’s finally stopped holding working families hostage," Rubio said.

He continued: "I share many of my colleagues’ concern about the long-term effects of additional spending, but we cannot ignore the fact that millions of working-class families across the nation are still in dire need of relief. Congress should quickly pass legislation to increase direct payments to Americans to $2,000."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., arrives for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in Washington, May 5, 2020. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS)

It is now up to the Senate to vote on the measure that Trump has been pushing for since last week, though Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has not publicly stated how he plans to address the issue.

Rubio will also introduce legislation to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act so that it continues to protect small businesses and companies that promote free speech on the Internet but takes away "immunity" for certain Big Tech platforms that moderate certain content, according to a press release.

Section 230 offers liability protections to websites that allow third-party users to post content on their platforms.

"I also stand ready to work with my colleagues to make much-needed changes to Section 230 and take steps to ensure the American people can once again have confidence in our elections," Rubio said.

President Trump last week vetoed the $740 billion National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 after warning he would do so if it didn’t repeal Section 230. The House on Monday voted to override the veto.