As Biden marches forward with cabinet... Trumps hopes fade

U.S. President Donald Trump’s increasingly tenuous efforts to reverse his election loss to President-elect Joe Biden could be dealt a lethal blow on Monday, as Biden turns to the task of building his cabinet.    Michigan is set to certify its results Monday, and Pennsylvania is likely to move a step closer to doing so.   

 Trump, a Republican, lost both battleground states in the Nov. 3 election, but he has refused to concede defeat and has, instead, launched a legal battle to overturn the results there and in other close races across the country. 

 
 Trump’s hopes of preventing the Democrat Biden from taking office on Jan. 20 likely will be doomed if Michigan and Pennsylvania certify their results, confirming Biden as the winner of a combined 36 electoral votes. Biden won 306 electoral votes, 36 over the 270 threshold needed to win the White House.    It remains unclear whether the process in Michigan will work as state law dictates. Michigan’s canvassing board, which is evenly split between two Democrats and two Republicans, will meet on Monday to decide whether to certify the results.   

 A deadlock on moving ahead with certification would likely force the matter into state appeals courts, where an order would be sought to compel the board to perform its function. If the members refused, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, has the authority to replace them. 
WASHINGTON REUTERS Nov 23