Biden tells Trump ‘get a life’ over hurricane misinformation

(LONDON) — World leaders and top officials reacted to the unfolding results of the 2024 presidential election as the contest drew to a conclusion.

With former President Donald Trump significantly ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris in the race for the White House and claiming victory, French President Emmanuel Macron offered his congratulations to Trump in post to X.

“Ready to work together as we have done for four years,” Macron said, referring to Trump’s first term. “With your convictions and with mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated both Trump and his wife, Melania. “Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback,” Netanyahu wrote on X. “Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.”

“This is a huge victory,” Netanyahu added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, newly-appointed Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also all offered their congratulations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, also congratulated Trump and wished him success in a statement, saying: “We will remain steadfast in our commitment to peace, and we are confident that the United States will support, under your leadership, the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people.”

Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said during a press conference that his country is “not too worried about Trump being elected” because “there was not much difference between” the two candidates.

“From our point of view, it does not make any difference and the budget that has been considered and the measures that were foreseen for the economic security of the country, the necessary forecasts have been made and there is no reason to worry,” Mohajerani added. “Sanctions have greatly strengthened our internal strength and we have the ability to deal with them.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban — a longtime conservative ally of Trump — posted to X early Wednesday celebrating what he called “the biggest comeback in U.S. political history.” Orban congratulated Trump on “his enormous win,” which he described as a “much needed victory for the world.”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto wrote on Facebook of his hope that “Hungarian-American political cooperation will return to its peak form, because we have similar thoughts about peace, illegal immigration and protection of families.”

“And there is a better chance than ever before that there will be peace in Ukraine after almost a thousand days,” Szijjarto added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lauded what he called Trump’s “impressive election victory.” He wrote in a post on X that leaders in Kyiv “look forward to an era of a strong United States of America under President Trump’s decisive leadership. We rely on continued strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States.”

“I appreciate President Trump’s commitment to the ‘peace through strength’ approach in global affairs,” Zelenskyy added. “This is exactly the principle that can practically bring just peace in Ukraine closer. I am hopeful that we will put it into action together.”

When asked about the election results on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters he was “not aware of the president’s plans to congratulate Trump.” Peskov added: “Let’s not forget that we are talking about the unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, meanwhile, posted to X with a video of Harris reciting a psalm during the campaign. “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning,” Harris said in the video. Zakharova wrote, “Hallelujah, I’ll add on my own.”

In a later post, Zakharova said, “Those who live by love for their country, and not by hatred for others, win.”

The Foreign Ministry issued a standalone statement Wednesday saying the country “will work with the new administration when it ‘settles’ in the White House, firmly defending Russia’s national interests and focusing on achieving all the goals of the special military operation. Our conditions are unchanged and well known in Washington.”

Former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram that Trump “has one quality that is useful for us: as a businessman to the core, he mortally dislikes spending money on various hangers-on” and “idiotic allies,” suggesting his election may be a curb on American aid to Ukraine.

“The question is how much will Trump be forced to give for the war,” Medvedev — who is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council — wrote. “He is stubborn, but the system is stronger.”

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko — one of Russia’s closest allies — said during a press conference that Trump is “an ardent capitalist who won the U.S. elections” while “all of Europe,” including Belarus, “is oriented toward socialism.”

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Trump’s leadership “will again be key to keeping our alliance strong.” He added, “I look forward to working with him again to advance peace through strength through NATO.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, wrote on social media, “I warmly congratulate Donald J. Trump.”

“The EU and the U.S. are more than just allies,” she added. “We are bound by a true partnership between our people, uniting 800 million citizens. So let’s work together on a strong transatlantic agenda that keeps delivering for them.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a statement congratulated Trump on a “historic election victory.” He added: “I look forward to working with you in the years ahead. As the closest of allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder in defense of our shared values of freedom, democracy and enterprise.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on X, “Good work Mr. President.”

“Italy and the United States are ‘sister’ nations, linked by an unshakable alliance, common values and a historic friendship,” she wrote. “It is a strategic bond, which I am sure we will now strengthen even further.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described Trump as a “friend” in his congratulatory post to X.

“I hope that Turkey-U.S. relations will strengthen, that regional and global crises and wars, especially the Palestinian issue and the Russia-Ukraine war, will come to an end,” Erdogan said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda posted on X to Trump: “You made it happen!”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic posted a photograph of himself standing with Trump in the Oval Office, writing alongside it: “Together we face the serious challenges ahead. Serbia is committed to cooperation with the USA on stability, prosperity and peace.”

The leaders of both India and Pakistan were quick to offer their best wishes. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote: “As you build on the successes of your previous term, I look forward to renewing our collaboration to further strengthen the India-U.S. Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership. Together, let’s work for the betterment of our people and to promote global peace, stability and prosperity.”

Across the border in Pakistan, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said he is looking “forward to working closely with the incoming administration to further strengthen and broaden the Pakistan-U.S. partnership.”

South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol also tweeted a congratulatory message. “Under your strong leadership, the future of the [Republic of Korea]-U.S. alliance and America will shine brighter,” he said. “Look forward to working closely with you.”

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te congratulated Trump and also thanked President Joe Biden and Harris “for their firm support for Taiwan during their term in office,” according to a statement from the Taiwanese Presidential Office.

“No matter which political party has been in power, Taiwan-U.S. relations have not only become stronger but also continued to progress and deepen,” the office added. “Building on the existing foundation, we will work hand in hand with the new U.S. administration and Congress to create a new situation in Taiwan-U.S. relations.”

ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Bruno Nota, Morgan Winsor, Habibullah Khan and Joohee Cho contributed to this article.

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(WASHINGTON) — Politicos in Washoe County, Nevada, proudly refer to their home as “the swingiest county in the swingiest state,” where voters in the sprawling and sparsely populated swath of desert might very well tilt the scales of a deadlocked presidential election in November.

But Washoe has also carved out a reputation as the epicenter of a troubling nationwide trend: County officials refusing, for one reason or another, to certify election results.

Despite a legal requirement to accept the vote tally and pass the results along to state election officials, county supervisors in at least eight states have bucked this ministerial duty in recent election cycles, according to one watchdog group, prompting concern among democracy experts that it could upend voters’ faith in the election process.

“What was a sort of wild and desperate idea in 2020 has caught on with certifying officials in the last couple of elections,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, a voting rights expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonprofit think tank. “It won’t be a successful tactic to overturn the outcome of our election, or to stop certification. But it will cause chaos and distrust in the meantime.”

In Washoe County, two members of the county board of commissioners have emerged as symbols of the broader dispute over vote certification: Alexis Hill, the Democratic chair of the board, and Michael Clark, a Republican commissioner. During board meetings, the two sit less than ten feet from each other on the dais. But when it comes to just about everything else — including the role of the commission in certifying election results — they are miles apart.

Hill, 41, lives just blocks from downtown Reno, the county’s most populous city, with her husband and 3-year-old daughter. Most days, she commutes to the county offices on her e-bike. Clark, 73, decamps each day to his ranch near Washoe Lake, where he tends to his horses, mules and dogs. On weekends, he rides his Harley.

‘A dark afternoon’

In the commissioners’ chambers, Hill and Clark regularly tangle over budgets and policy. But no issue fires them up more than election integrity. And in July, Clark and two Republican colleagues made national headlines when they refused to certify the outcome of two local races — prompting fears of what might come to pass in November.

“It was a dark afternoon,” Hill told ABC News’ Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran. “Decisions like that, they break institutions … they make people believe that we don’t have a fair and free election.”

Clark relented a week later under “extreme duress,” he explained at a commission meeting in July. The state’s attorney general had threatened him with felony prosecution for failing to execute a duty of his office.

In an interview with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Clark said he is not an election denier, but believes county election officials have failed to properly maintain the voter rolls. Clark pointed to thousands of mail-in ballots that were sent out to registered voters but returned to the county as undeliverable, which he characterized as evidence of poor recordkeeping by the registrar of voters.

“I believe that the people that are running the registrar of voters office can’t keep accurate records,” Clark said in the interview. “When I see sloppy bookkeeping, I don’t trust it.”

Washoe County Manager Eric Brown has acknowledged that the returned ballots might represent voters who had moved, thereby complicating their ability to vote — but he said at a recent meeting that the county had upgraded its voter registration system, which he said “has enhanced tracking and certification capabilities.”

“Moving forward, keeping track of voter records is going to be — we’ll be able to do that much more accurately,” Brown said.

Clark also said his vote to not certify results in July — which was the third time in his two-year tenure on the commission that he did so — was precipitated by what election experts have called erroneous legal advice from a county attorney who told commissioners to vote their conscience.

Clark’s vote “shocked” the state’s elections chief, Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar.

“It is a ministerial duty to certify the election,” Aguilar, a Democratic, told ABC News’ Terry Moran. “If there are concerns and questions about the election — about the election process, about the election administration — [the commission has] the power to schedule an agenda item to have a conversation about how elections work.”

‘That’s just not their job’

All fifty states make election-certification by county officials a mandatory duty of their job to prevent local partisan politicians from meddling in election results. Election disputes, which frequently arise, are typically resolved through audits, recounts, and the courts.

“It may seem odd to people that [the county officials] who are certifying the election aren’t necessarily the ones that investigate all the things that happened in the election,” Morales-Doyle said. “But that’s just not their job.”

But in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, when former President Donald Trump sought to challenge the outcome of the vote, some county officials have refused to certify results.

It began in Wayne County, Michigan, where Trump reportedly pressured two county officials to not certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, according to the Detroit News. In the intervening election seasons, more than two dozen officials in eight states, including key swing states like North Carolina and Pennsylvania, have followed suit, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

In Arizona, two Republican supervisors in Cochise County were charged with felonies for delaying certification of the 2022 midterm election until a court ordered them to do so. Both have pleaded not guilty and are scheduled to go to trial next year. Both also remain in their seats on the county board.

And in Georgia, a state judge this week issued a directive that county officials cannot block the certification of votes due to allegations of fraud or error, ruling that officials “have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results.”

‘How you undermine democracy’

Back in Nevada, election officials say they are preparing for any possible challenge to the upcoming election results.

“So is this a contagion?” Moran asked Aguilar. “Do you see this happening in other counties this time around?”

“It may, but I think we are prepared, and we have been preparing for the last 18 months to address any issue that comes up. This was one of them,” Aguilar said. “I’ve been working extremely hard with the attorney general to anticipate some of these situations.”

“We have pre-drafted legal filings — kind of like a Mad Libs, right?” Aguilar said. “You know the county, you fill in the county name, you fill in the date, you fill in the facts. And you file that thing as soon as you can before the Nevada Supreme Court.”

Experts say the failure of county officials to certify results is unlikely to succeed in delaying or altering the outcome of the presidential election. But that does not mean it should not alarm American voters.

“Every time this has been tried before, courts have put a quick end to it. And they will again this year,” Morales-Doyle said. “But what it might do is undermine the public’s faith in our process. And that’s really damaging in and of itself.”

“That’s really harmful,” he said. “Democracy works because people have faith in the outcome of their elections. If you undermine that enough, that’s how you undermine democracy.”

In Washoe County, Hill said she would “absolutely” certify the results, regardless of the outcome in the presidential race or in her own reelection race for commissioner.

“I feel like we are ready to go for this general election. And I have no concerns,” she said. “I do believe that there are really good people who are trying to hold the house together.”

Clark, for his part, offered a more reserved commitment.

“Are you going to certify an election in November?” Moran asked him.

“Well, I guess I’m going to have to,” Clark said. “I don’t want to have an argument with the attorney general. The attorney general and the state of Nevada have much deeper pockets than I have.”

ABC News’ Hannah Prince contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — After making a surprise appearance at her husband’s Madison Square Garden rally on Sunday, Melania Trump spoke out on “Fox and Friends” on Tuesday, fiercely defending him against reported comments that he had expressed admiration for Hitler.

“He is not Hitler and his supporters stand behind him because they want to see the country successful. We see what kind of support he has,” she said of the former president.

Donald Trump has falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris called him Hitler (she cited reports that Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly said he had praised Hitler for doing some “good things” and wanted generals like Hitler’s).

Melania Trump called the criticism “terrible.”

The former first lady also said her husband was well aware of her position supporting abortion rights before her views were published in her new book.

Earlier this month, Melania Trump broke from the Republican Party by declaring those views in what some suggested was an eleventh hour move to court women before the election. She said on Tuesday that her husband knew about her stance long before the book came out.

“My husband knew my position, my belief, since the day we met. It was not a big surprise for him. I guess other people, the world did not know where my stances are,” she said. “He was not surprised, he knew about it.”

Discussing her Election Day plans, she indicated that she would vote on Tuesday. Donald Trump had floated voting early in a sign of unity with his party’s newer message of support on that subject — but he has continued to criticize the idea.

“We will be in Palm Beach and in the morning, we will go to vote, me and my husband, and then it will be a waiting time, period of waiting and we’ll see and I hope it is a success and a party in the evening,” Melania said, indicating that she hopes to know the results that same evening.

“I hope the election will be fair and everything will be selected as we say on Tuesday night,” she said.

“I feel good. We are feeling good. We are working hard. My husband, he’s all over the country, traveling, and as we saw, Sunday evening,” she said.

“I’m not anxious, this time is different. I have more experience and knowledge,” she said, discussing a potential Trump victory next week. “I was in the White House before. When you go in, you know what to expect. You know what kind of people you need to get, people on your team that have the same vision as me.”

Melania Trump again spoke in tandem with her husband, pointing to the economy and immigration as issues she hopes can be improved if he wins.

“Well, I would like to see country to be safe and prosperous, better economy and peace in the world. That is very important,” she said.

Commenting on her husband’s indictments, she said “it is part of it, part of the politics.”

“When he came to the White House for the first time when he was elected, I knew it would not be easy and I knew they would go after him. They did,” she said.

In her new book, Melania discussed feeling betrayed. Referring to what she called “misinformation” and “mistruths,” Melania highlighted tapes recorded by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former friend and senior adviser who wrote in “Melania and Me” that the former first lady showed frustration over criticism on the administration’s family separation policy.

“It is betrayal. They show the world who they are and they know what they did,” Melania Trump said. “To tape the first lady of the United States on phone calls and release to the public and edit phone calls, it is disgrace and should never happen to anybody.”

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