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Rudy Giuliani takes election battle to Gettysburg; China’s Xi congratulates Biden

ASSOCIATED PRESS
                                Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, speaks during a news conference on legal challenges to vote counting in Pennsylvania on Nov. 4 in Philadelphia. At left is Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of President Trump.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for President Donald Trump, speaks during a news conference on legal challenges to vote counting in Pennsylvania on Nov. 4 in Philadelphia. At left is Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of President Trump.

WASHINGTON >> President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani is headed to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to continue his fight to overturn the results of the election and secure Trump a second term.

Pennsylvania has already certified its results and awarded its 20 electors to Democrat Joe Biden, who was declared the winner of the Nov. 3 election.

Giuliani is leading legal challenges to the balloting in Pennsylvania and other states as the Republican president seeks to maintain his base of supporters and keep his options open for opportunities post-presidency.

Giuliani claimed in a Wednesday interview with New York radio station AM 970 that illegal votes were cast, especially in Philadelphia, that he wants to see disqualified. But a broad coalition of top government and industry officials says the Nov. 3 election was “the most secure in American history.”

In Pennsylvania on Saturday, a conservative Republican judge shot down the Trump campaign’s biggest legal effort in the state with a scathing ruling that questioned why he was supposed to disenfranchise 7 million voters with no evidence to back its claims and an inept legal argument at best.

Also today, Chinese President Xi Jinping has congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and expressed hope for “win-win cooperation” amid conflicts over trade, technology and security.

China today became one of the last major governments to congratulate Biden. There was no explanation for the delay, but some commentators suggest Beijing might want to avoid straining relations with President Donald Trump, who hasn’t conceded.

A statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency says Xi told Biden “healthy and stable” relations are “the common expectation of the international community.”

The statement says: “We hope the two sides will uphold the spirit of non-conflict and non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, will focus on cooperation, control differences and promote healthy and stable development of Chinese-U.S. relations.”

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