This election is not yet over, says Trump Campaign
Washington: As Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden took the lead in two key battleground states of Georgia and Pennsylvania on Friday, that will put him way ahead of the magical figure of 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House, the Trump Campaign refused to concede, asserting that the game is not over yet.
Even as the election was yet to be called in Pennsylvania and Georgia where Biden has taken over Trump in terms of the vote count, albeit by a thin margin, the window for Trump was fast closing down.
As of now, Biden has 264 electoral college votes. Pennsylvania accounts for 20 and Georgia 16 electoral college votes respectively. Biden is also leading in Arizona that has 11 electoral college votes and Nevada that has six electoral college votes.
A win in any of these states would make him the winner of the November 3 presidential election.
The Trump campaign has not given yet.
This election is not over. The false projection of Joe Biden as the winner is based on results in four states that are far from final. Georgia is headed for a recount, where we are confident we will find ballots improperly harvested, and where President Trump will ultimately prevail, said Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 campaign general counsel.
A Biden campaign spokesperson, in response to questions from reporters, indicated that Trump might be escorted out of the White House.
"The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House," said the spokesperson.
A senior White House advisor said that there will be a peaceful transition of power.
"I think there will be a peaceful transfer of power," White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow told CNBC news channel.
"This is the greatest democracy in the world, and we abide by the rule of law. And so will this president. There are some things to clean up here. And, again, it's not my area of expertise. I'll leave that discussion to the campaign," Kudlow said.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters at a news conference that there will be recounting of votes.
With fewer than 5,500 ballots left to be counted in a handful of counties and 8,890 military ballots outstanding, the race for president in Georgia remained too close to call, he said.
In a statement, the Trump Campaign legal counsel alleged that there were many irregularities in Pennsylvania, including having election officials prevent their volunteer legal observers from having meaningful access to vote-counting locations.
We prevailed in court on our challenge, but were deprived of valuable time and denied the transparency we are entitled to under state law. In Nevada, there appear to be thousands of individuals who improperly cast mail ballots, he said.
Finally, the president is on course to win Arizona outright, despite the irresponsible and erroneous calling' of the state for Biden by Fox News and the Associated Press. Biden is relying on these states for his phony claim on the White House, but once the election is final, President Trump will be re-elected, Morgan said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee rises 6 paise to 89.92 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee witnessed range-bound trade in the morning session on Friday, appreciating by 6 paise to 89.92 against the US dollar as thin liquidity conditions accentuated everyday demand-supply imbalances, keeping the rupee tilted toward weakness.
Forex traders said the USD/INR pair is expected to trade in a narrow range as the 90 level is being protected by the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, the support from positive domestic equities was offset by sustained foreign fund outflows.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 89.95 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.92, rising by six paise from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 10 paise to close at 89.98 against the US dollar.
"Unless RBI comes and sells dollars heavily, the movement is going to be in small ranges as seen in the last three sessions. The pair is seen in a holding pattern between 89.80 and 90, considering the narrow range," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
Bhansali further noted that corporate demand, FPI demand, and government demand have been the salient features of the rupee over the past year, during which it fell by more than 5 per cent and became the worst-performing Asian currency, though partly protected by the RBI.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally down by 0.15 per cent at 98.17.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.38 per cent higher at USD 61.08 per barrel in futures trade.
"With early-year liquidity still thin and domestic fundamentals offering a mixed but stable backdrop, the rupee appears set to remain range-bound in the near term. As long as USD/INR stays below the 90 handle, the balance of risks tilts mildly in favour of the rupee," CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said, adding that against this backdrop, USD/INR is expected to trade in a 89.30–90.20 range.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 158.19 points to 85,346.79 in early trade, while the Nifty was up 55.8 points to 26,202.35.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,268.60 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic macroeconomic front, gross GST collections rose 6.1 per cent to over Rs 1.74 lakh crore in December 2025, on slow growth in revenues from domestic sales following the sweeping tax cuts, according to government data released on Thursday.
Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in December 2024 was over Rs 1.64 lakh crore.
