1/ Attorney General William Barr authorized federal prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of voter fraud – if they exist – before the results of the election are certified, despite no evidence of widespread fraud. In a reversal of long-standing Justice Department policy, Barr wrote that investigations “may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.” In Barr’s directive, he said he had already approved probes related to the 2020 election “in specific instances,” but did not elaborate on the circumstances or whether they remained open. (New York Times / Associated Press / Politico / Washington Post)

2/ The Justice Department’s top election crimes prosecutor resigned in protest after Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to probe alleged elections fraud. Richard Pilger told colleagues in an email that Barr’s memorandum breaks with the Justice Department’s policy on avoiding interference with elections that has stood for 40 years. A Justice Department official confirmed that the department is “looking into” allegations of ineligible voters in Nevada and mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. (NPR / NBC News / CNN / Axios / The Guardian)

3/ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ignored Biden’s victory and claimed there will be a “smooth transition” to a second Trump term. “We must count every legal vote,” Pompeo said. “We must make sure that any vote that was not lawful ought not be counted, that dilutes your vote if it’s done improperly, gotta get that right. When we get it right, we’ll get it right.” When asked whether the State Department was prepared to engage with Biden’s transition team, Pompeo replied: “There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.” (CNBC /

1/ More than 10 million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the United States, which is about one-fifth of the 50 million infections worldwide. At least 105,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Sunday, down slightly from the daily record set a day earlier. All but one state had more cases last week than the week before. (NPR / ABC News / USA Today / CNN / Bloomberg)

Today in one sentence: Biden is on the verge of winning the presidency after taking the lead in the vote count in Pennsylvania and Georgia; Trump – citing no evidence – continued to question the integrity of the election and promised legal action; and the U.S. recorded at least 121,000 new coronavirus cases a day after hitting 100,000 for the first time since the pandemic began.

1/ Biden is on the verge of winning the presidency after taking the lead in the vote count in Pennsylvania and Georgia. While a recount is expected in Georgia due to the narrow margin, Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes alone would put Biden over the 270 threshold needed to win the presidency. In the past 50 years, few recounts have led to changes in the winners. In Nevada, Biden’s lead doubled to about 22,000 votes by Friday morning, while his lead in Arizona shrank to about 43,800 votes with more than 200,000 ballots left to be counted. Trump needs to win at least four of the five outstanding states — Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania – all of which are too close to call. Biden and Harris, meanwhile, are expected to address the nation in a primetime speech Friday evening. In July, Trump declined to say whether he would accept the results of the election if he lost, saying “I’m not a good loser. I don’t like to lose.” (Washington Post / New York Times / Politico / NPR / USA Today / The Guardian / NBC News)

Latest Results: Decision Desk HQ / New York Times / ABC News

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Today in one sentence: There was no conclusion to the U.S. presidential election (so far); Biden currently leads in several undecided states but votes continue to be counted in Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona; Biden remains six electoral votes away from 270; Trump’s campaign pushed officials in Arizona to ensure all ballots were counted but sued in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia to stop the counts; Biden urged Americans “to stay calm” and reiterated that “every vote must be counted,” while Trump, after a 14-hour Twitter silence, tweeted that states must “STOP THE COUNT!” and at a press conference later in the day repeated his false declaration that he won the election and falsely claimed that “they” are trying “to steal the election”; and, oh by the way, the U.S. reported more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time.

1/ Trump demanded that vote counting be stopped in states where he’s leading and demanded that the tallies continue where he’s losing. In a pair of all-caps tweets, Trump made multiple false claims about the remaining ballots left to be counted and contradicted his campaign’s own strategy. “STOP THE COUNT!” Trump tweeted, followed by “ANY VOTE THAT CAME IN AFTER ELECTION DAY WILL NOT BE COUNTED!” A number of states, including Pennsylvania, allow ballots to arrive for days after the election as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. Ballots often take longer to arrive from service members deployed overseas and election officials have pledged to count every valid vote.

2/ In Arizona, the Trump campaign sent a team to ensure that the remaining mail-in ballots are counted. Campaign manager Bill Stepien said the team believes the ballots will favor Trump and flip the state back to his column. The Associated Press and Fox News both called Arizona for Biden, who currently leads by about 60,000 votes. The state will release another round of counts around 9 p.m. Eastern.

3/ Trump’s campaign filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia to stop counting or disqualify ballots, and said it would demand a “recount” in Wisconsin. A judge in Georgia, however, denied Trump’s effort to disqualify ballots that a Republican poll watcher claimed had arrived after the deadline on Election Day. In court, the poll watcher offered no evidence that the ballots had arrived late, and county election officials testified that they had arrived on time. In Michigan, a judge denied the Trump campaign’s request to stop the counting of votes, saying the request made little sense since counting had essentially finished and Biden was ahead by about 150,000 votes. Trump’s lead in Georgia, meanwhile, has slipped to about 3,600 votes with roughly 42,000 ballots left to be counted. In Pennsylvania, Trump’s lead dropped to under 65,000 and is expected to shrink as more ballots are counted. Pennsylvania Secretary of State said it was possible they’d know the state’s presidential winner tonight.

4/ In Nevada, the Trump campaign said it was filing a federal lawsuit seeking to block alleged “illegal votes” from thousands of people, including those who became non-residents during the coronavirus pandemic and “dead voters.” At a news conference at the Clark County elections department headquarters, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt and other Trump campaign surrogates, including former administration official Richard Grenell, claimed without evidence that ballots belonging to deceased people had been counted, and that “thousands” of people had voted despite moving out of the county. When pressed for evidence of those alleged illegal ballots, Grenell refused to answer questions and chided reporters for asking questions, saying, “Listen you’re getting information […] do your job, it’s pretty easy.” Biden is currently leading Trump by about 11,438 votes with 190,0...

Today in one sentence: Biden holds a 253 to 213 Electoral College advantage over Trump after narrowly winning both Wisconsin and Michigan; the Trump campaign, however, said it would request a recount; Biden holds a lead in Arizona and Nevada, while Trump is up in Alaska, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia; Democrats are still projected to win the House but in the Senate, Democrats have only gained one seat, with five races yet to be called; Biden is currently winning the popular vote by nearly 3 million; and Trump falsely claimed he won the presidential election and vowed to take legal action to stop “all voting.”

1/ With millions of votes yet to be counted, Trump falsely asserted there was election fraud, demanded that “all voting must stop,” threatened to have the Supreme Court intervene in the election process, and declared himself the winner of the election, which will take days – if not weeks – to resolve. In a 2:30 a.m. address from the White House and surrounded by about 150 mask-less guests, Trump peddled multiple baseless claims that the normal process of counting ballots – which has been slowed by the impact of COVID-19 pandemic – is an “embarrassment” and a “fraud on the American public.” Trump also claimed victory in several states where millions of mail-in ballots are still being counted, describing the situation as a “major fraud in our nation,” and without offering any explanation, said “we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop.” Voting did stop when polls closed Tuesday night, but in several states counting of mail-in ballots couldn’t begin until Election Day, which are expected to take several days to complete. And, earlier in the night, Trump baselessly tweeted that “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed.” Twitter flagged the tweet as disputed and possibly misleading. There is no evidence to support any of Trump’s claims. On Wednesday, Biden said it was “clear” that he would reach 270 electoral votes and win the presidency, but stopped short of claiming victory. “Here, the people rule,” Biden said. “Power can’t be taken or asserted. It flows from the people. And it’s their will that determines who will be the president of the United States, and their will alone,” adding: “every vote must be counted. No one’s going to take our democracy away from us. Not now, not ever.” (The Guardian / New York Times / CNN / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / New York Times / BuzzFeed News)

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1/ Trump told associates he intends to declare premature victory on Election Night in order to cast doubt on the integrity of the election and undermine the validity of uncounted mail-in ballots in the days after. Many states, however, won’t be done counting mail ballots by Tuesday night and it’s common for some states to take several days to finalize vote counts. Trump, nevertheless, told confidants he’ll declare victory on election night if it looks like he’s “ahead.” Speaking to reporters later, Trump first denied that he would declare victory prematurely, before confirming that he would try to shut down tabulating votes after polls close. “I think it’s a terrible thing when ballots can be collected after an election […] when states are allowed to tabulate ballots for a long period of time after the election is over […] that we can’t know the results of an election the night of the election. As soon as that election’s over, we’re going in with our lawyers.” (Axios / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg / New York Times)