Trump News Live: Latest updates as the Supreme Court lawsuit aims to nullify the election

Washington’s top envoy to North Korea said on Thursday that Pyongyang missed an opportunity to fundamentally rebuild its relationship with the United States during Donald Trump’s presidency.

Speaking to a think tank in Seoul during a visit to a meeting with South Korean security officials, Deputy Foreign Minister Stephen Pigeon admitted that he was disappointed that the denuclearization negotiations had stalled and that no further progress had been made during his leadership of those efforts.

He said, according to his prepared statements, “Unfortunately, our North Korean counterparts have missed many opportunities during the past two years, who have often devoted themselves to looking for obstacles to negotiations rather than seizing opportunities for participation.”

Pigeon said he would urge the incoming Biden administration to pursue diplomatic efforts.

China’s state news agency slammed the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing it of “digging a hole” for the upcoming Joe Biden team.

In a statement, Xinhua said that steps such as restricting visas for the 92 million ruling Communist Party members and their families “once again revealed the evil intentions of the anti-China extremist forces in Washington to hijack the Sino-US relations for political gain.” Editorial.

Washington has also imposed sanctions on a number of Chinese officials and companies in recent days, due to Beijing’s crackdown on freedoms in Hong Kong, and the alleged involvement in North Korean coal smuggling.

While Biden has indicated that he intends to keep the pressure on China, he is also expected to seek a return to a more traditional, less confrontational style of diplomacy.

“By relentlessly challenging the bottom line in Sino-US relations on issues related to China’s core interests, the anti-China politicians are not only digging a hole for the next administration’s relationship with China, but also looking forward to their own personal political gain,” the Xinhua editorial said.

With less than a month left in office, outgoing Massachusetts representative Joe Kennedy III used his farewell speech from the House of Representatives on Wednesday to criticize the “greatest lie of our time” – that American resources are “limited” and so scarce I go around.

In his nearly five-minute speech, Kennedy said the country’s real problem is “scarcity,” [but] Greed”, Writes Namita Singh.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Coordinator at the White House, hopes to join the Biden administration in a similar role to help distribute vaccines and fight Covid-19 as it continues to spread across the United States.

However, although she has worked under every president since Ronald Reagan, her future in the next administration is uncertain.

Dr Birx has been criticized by public health experts and Democrats for failing to publicly challenge Donald Trump’s denial of the coronavirus.

In everything from Trump’s aversion to masks to his dangerous suggestion that consuming bleach might prevent the spread of the virus, critics and supporters say she has been cautiously trying to preserve her influence and thus steer the president on a more rational path.

“The president’s departure from reality has become so severe that she put her and the others on the staff in an untenable position,” said Michael Weinstein, who heads the Aids Healthcare Foundation and knows Dr. Birx professionally after her appointment as Global AIDS Coordinator in 2014.

“History must judge whether they empowered the president by giving him credibility based on their experience or whether she and the others did more to help prevent further harm than madness,” he said.

Dr. Birx explained to Joe Biden’s team that she envisions herself in a shrinking role.

Additional reports from the AP

Hunter Biden is undergoing a federal investigation into his tax affairs, according to a press release from the Biden Harris transition team.

“Yesterday, for the first time, I learned that the US Attorney’s Office in Delaware advised my legal counsel, also yesterday, that they investigate my tax affairs,” President-elect’s son Joe Biden said in a statement.

He continues: “I take this matter very seriously, but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will prove that I have dealt with my affairs legally and appropriately, including the benefit of professional tax advisors.”

Texas joined 17 other red states in a long-running lawsuit that it filed in the Supreme Court to try to overturn Donald Trump’s election defeat, Writes Graeme Massey.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which Joe Biden won when the White House claimed.

The 17 states, all of which had supported the outgoing president, offered a friendly note in support of the cause to shake off Biden’s victories in those four states.