Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

White House under assumption of ‘second Trump term’, says top trade adviser

White House under assumption of ‘second Trump term’, says top trade adviser

The comments by Peter Navarro marked the second time this week that an administration official has falsely projected four more years for Trump.

The Trump administration on Friday doubled down on its refusal to acknowledge the results of the presidential election, with top trade adviser Peter Navarro asserting falsely that US President Donald Trump “won the election” and claiming that he was on track for another four years in office.

“We are moving forward here at the White House under the assumption that there will be a second Trump term,” Navarro said in an interview with Fox Business.

The comments marked the second time this week that a senior administration official has falsely projected a second Trump term. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday vowed a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration”.

Pressed later on Friday about whether Trump would attend President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said on Fox Business: “The president will attend his own inauguration. He would have to be there, in fact.”

The statements run counter to the reality of Biden’s increasingly resilient victory in both the critical Electoral College and the popular vote. On Friday afternoon, US media outlets including CNN, The New York Times and NBC projected that Biden will win Georgia, taking his final electoral vote tally to 306 versus Trump’s 232.

Trump won by the same margin in 2016 – a “massive landslide victory”, in his own words after that year’s election.

The refusal to acknowledge Biden’s win comes amid unsubstantiated claims by Trump allies that his losses were the result of widespread voter fraud committed by Democrats, allegations that have been dismissed by state election officials and thrown out by judges. Top national security officials recently called the November 3 election the “most secure” in American history.

“If you look statistically at what happened, clearly the president won this election, was leading on Election Day,” Navarro said on Friday. “And then, after Election Day, somehow in these key battleground states, they got just enough votes to catch up to the president.”

The vote count narrowed in the days after November 3 in a number of key states largely because absentee ballots, which tend to favour Democrats, were processed after in-person ballots cast on Election Day.

Lawsuits launched by the Trump campaign and the Republican Party alleging improper handling of votes have largely failed to stand up in court. Many of the claims centre around anecdotal, isolated incidents that, even if proven true, would be nowhere near significant enough to alter the result of the race.

“The cases that have been filed thus far provide no evidence to support their claims,” Michigan attorney general Dana Nessel said on Friday.

Michigan, one of the battleground states in which Biden erased Trump’s early lead, has seen a number of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign, including a dismissed claim that Republican observers were denied access to vote counting locations.


White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany (left), chairwoman of the Republican National Committee Ronna McDaniel and Trump campaign general counsel Matt Morgan speak at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington on November 9.


“Those who continue to push a false narrative claiming our elections were not conducted in a fair, free and transparent manner, or that there is widespread voter fraud, are only trying to erode public confidence in our election system, undermine our democracy and steal the election away from the people of Michigan,” said Nessel.

The campaign’s efforts to thwart Biden’s triumph in other critical states suffered further setbacks on Friday. In Arizona, the Trump team dropped a legal challenge regarding the handling of ballots in vote-rich Maricopa County, acknowledging in a court filing that Biden’s statewide lead effectively rendered the case moot.

In another blow to the Trump campaign, Pennsylvania secretary of state Kathy Boockvar said on Friday that she would not authorise a statewide recount of the vote, given that the margin separating the two candidates did not fall within the 0.5 per cent threshold.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×