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China’s Expanding Maritime Military Presence Alarms Taiwan and Japan 
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Australia Progresses AUKUS Review as U.S. Affirms Strong Support 
IMF Deputy Dan Katz Visits China as Key Economic Review Nears 
Outgoing president Donald Trump has long been known to flout CDC guidelines to slow the spread of COVID-19 even after contracting the virus himself. With the White House hosting Christmas parties, Trump dismissed the backlash that was received towards their gatherings.
The White House has 20 events occurring this month, including holiday parties, which are being held indoors despite CDC guidelines stating to avoid large gatherings and events, especially indoors. The events ranged from tours to cocktail receptions in time for the Congressional Ball. Speaking to the press, Trump dismissed the criticism towards the White House events, with the presidential residence having already been the cause of several staff members contracting coronavirus. Trump cited that the celebrations at the White House proceed as planned as attendees were supposedly wearing face masks.
“They are Christmas parties. We reduced the number and I see a lot of people wearing masks. That’s a good thing,” said Trump.
However, photos shared on social media by the guests, including Trump’s own children, showed that only a handful was wearing face masks even as they are spending their last Christmas at the White House. Trump’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle were seen at a White House reception sans masks. Both of them tested positive for COVID-19 at different points this year. Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner were also seen without masks at the event. Both of Trump’s attorneys handling the contesting of election results; Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, also recently tested positive for COVID-19.
Trump continues to push his widely-refuted claims of election fraud in a desperate attempt to overturn the results in his favor. His lawsuits contesting the results in battleground states were unsuccessful, but regardless of the dismissals, Trump has persisted with the contention. Even as Trump continues to blast the election results, the battleground states he has filed lawsuits in have already certified their results for Biden. The safe-harbor deadline for states to finalize the certification of votes has also come to a close this week, further dwindling Trump’s chances to overturn the election while securing Biden’s win.
The votes will then be sent to the Capitol by January 6, which is a formality following the safe-harbor period that prevents Congress from manipulating the electoral votes.
