Trump projected to win Arizona in sweep of battleground states; GOP on brink of taking House
CBC
Donald Trump is projected to win the presidential election in Arizona, completing a sweep of all seven battleground states and locking in a decisive Electoral College victory over Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris.
His win was projected on Saturday by several American media outlets, including The Associated Press, and Edison Research — which provides data and projections to a media consortium that includes NBC, CNN, ABC and CBS.
Trump, who had secured the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House by early Wednesday, now has what is expected to be a final total of 312 votes to Harris' 226.
Republicans were also close on Saturday to clinching control of the U.S. House of Representatives, a critical element for Trump to advance his agenda when he returns to the White House in January.
With votes still being counted from the Nov. 5 general election, Republicans have won 213 seats in the 435-member House, according to Edison Research.
Republicans need to win five more seats to keep control of the House and they already have enough victories to wrest control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats.
Edison Research says Democrats have won 205 House seats so far, but would need to win 13 of the remaining 17 seats to take control.
Also on Saturday, President-elect Trump said former Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo will not be asked to join his administration.
"I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump administration, which is currently in formation," Trump posted on social media.
"I very much enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously, and would like to thank them for their service to our country."
Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, endorsed Trump for president despite having criticized him harshly when she ran against him in the party primaries.
Pompeo, who also served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Trump, had been mentioned in some media reports as a possible defense secretary.
In May, after numerous failed attempts, it appeared U.S. negotiators had reached a deal on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. U.S. President Joe Biden himself announced that Israel had come forward with a plan.
Displacement has affected the majority of Palestinians in Gaza living through the year-long war between Israel and Hamas. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, an international non-governmental organization, set the number of internally displaced people (IDP) at 1.9 million in the Gaza Strip.