Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

Attorney General Bill Barr’s memorandum authorising federal election fraud investigations is yet another example of the attorney general’s skill at pleasing his boss, the president, while dancing on the edge of propriety within the Justice Department he runs.

The document gives Donald Trump what he wants – proof that the government is looking into unproven claims of widespread electoral illegalities in multiple states he narrowly lost. The attorney general, however, couches the memo with conditions and cautions that prosecutors only focus on specific “irregularities” and avoid pursuing “specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims”.

Despite all the caveats, the memo will provide fodder to Trump and his supporters, who insist that the election was stolen from them (never mind that other Republican candidates had fairly successful results).

As the protest resignation of the head of the Justice Department’s election crimes department suggests, this is the equivalent of pulling the pin from a political hand grenade. It may not go off immediately, but the device is one step closer to exploding – whether its throw on purpose or accidentally dropped.

There are safeguards in place to prevent political meddling in criminal investigations, particularly regarding elections. Some of those safeguards have now been removed.

The US election was one week ago, but legal challenges, slow vote counts and political sparring over the results continue. So what's the state of play?

Pennsylvania

The Trump campaign has been filing lawsuits in Pennsylvania. The latest is one alleging a violation of the equal voter protection clause, citing a "lack of meaningful observation and transparency" and "disparate treatment" between Republican and Democratic voters - though this claim is heavily disputed.

Biden's lead remains just over 45,000 votes - which means any one case filed by Trump is unlikely to change the overall result.

Georgia

Biden continues to lead Georgia as more votes are still being counted. Right now his margin is over 12,000 votes. We're still waiting on certified results from about half the counties.

Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the state have called on the Republican secretary of state to step down due to alleged "mismanagement and lack of transparency" in this year's election.

State congressman Doug Collins (who lost his bid against Loeffler to become the Republican Senate nominee) was tapped by the Trump team to demand recounts in the Peach State.

Arizona

Biden is also maintaining his lead of over 14,000 votes in Arizona, though Trump has also been winning some of the ballots as they are counted. The state still has around 61,000 ballots left to verify, local media report, but as these are votes that needed verification, it's likely not all of them will eventually count.

Trump's campaign, joined by state Republicans, has also filed a lawsuit here, alleging some in-person ballots were incorrectly rejected, depriving the president of "potentially thousands" of votes.

But on Monday, the deputy attorney of the state's largest county told a judge only about 180 ballots would be potentially affected, AZ Central reported, external.

North Carolina

President Trump is leading in this state, but it has yet to be called as there are thousands of votes yet to be tallied.

State officials are still working through mail ballots. They have until 12 November to count ballots postmarked by 3 November.

Alistair Coleman
BBC Anti-Disinformation Unit

The CEO of drug giant Pfizer has denied that yesterday’s vaccine trial announcement was timed to deny US President Donald Trump an election boost.

Speaking to CNN, external, Albert Bourla said that he had only learnt of the results - which showed the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine can prevent more than 90% of people from getting Covid-19 - on Sunday.

That’s not stopped Trump, his son Don Jr, and other conservative commentators from claiming that there was a plot to hit the president at the ballot box.

Trump claimed in a tweet that the US Food and Drug Administration and the Democratic party delayed the result announcement, but in reality, neither had any control over the timing.

According to Bourla, the trial results were held by an independent committee which disclosed them on Sunday morning.

Further claims that Pfizer and BioNTech knew about encouraging results in October have also been made without evidence.

Pfizer say that they were allowed “interim looks” at the trial data last month, but were unable to draw meaningful conclusions from them.

Pfizer and BioNTech say they will have enough safety data by the end of the month to take their vaccine to regulators.

Image source, Reuters

With a new leader in the White House, the US and the EU must work to forge a "new transatlantic agenda", covering issues such as climate change and the digital economy, the European Commission president says.

"It cannot be that commercial giants benefit enormously from our single market but fail to pay taxes where they should," Ursula von der Leyen told EU ambassadors in a videolink conference, while congratulating President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their projected victory.

However, she also warned: "Some shifts in priorities and perceptions run much deeper than one politician or administration. And they will not disappear because of one election.

"We cannot turn the clock back, and we cannot go back to the exact same agenda we had five years ago."

Tech giants, such as Facebook, have been accused of not paying their fair share of tax in countries where they operate.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Three days after the result was projected, the US presidential election is receiving mixed coverage around the world.

China's main media outlets remain low-key in their reporting, focusing mainly on hard facts without comment.

However, an editorial in the state-run Global Times newspaper said Trump's "trick to use China as a scapegoat" for his own "inept" handling of the pandemic had failed, and voiced hope for a more "pragmatic attitude" from an incoming Biden administration.

Iranian media remain transfixed by the election aftermath, despite the country's leaders' contention that they have little interest in who runs America.

Today, TV channels focus on Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell's statement that Donald Trump is within his rights to dispute the result.

Iranian state radio said the US should brace for more chaos, and referred to reports that the purchase of guns and ammunition had increased just prior to the election.

By contrast, the subject has fallen well down the agenda in Russia, where the top news today is the peace deal struck between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Kremlin said on Monday that President Vladimir Putin would wait for "official confirmation" before congratulating Biden.

In Turkey, where Biden has largely been treated with suspicion by pro-government outlets, there's been a shift towards discussion of how Ankara can work with the new administration.

As one pro-government pundit put it: "We have to learn to live with Biden."

Like his Russian counterpart, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is yet to congratulate the president-elect on his victory.

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News, Paris

Image source, Reuters

President-elect Joe Biden has a plan to tackle climate - and it has been described as the most ambitious of any mainstream US presidential candidate yet.

Much will be made about Biden's pledge to re-join the Paris climate agreement, the international pact designed to avoid dangerous warming of the Earth. The US officially withdrew from it last week - the first nation to do so.

But Biden is also proposing to make US energy production carbon-free by 2035 and to have the country achieve net zero emissions by the middle of the century.

He wants to spend $2 trillion over four years to drive down emissions by upgrading four million buildings to make them more energy efficient.

He also wants to spend heavily on public transport, to invest in electric vehicle manufacturing and charging points and give consumers financial incentives to trade up to cleaner cars.

• Read more on this here

A few senior Republicans have publicly acknowleged Joe Biden's victory. Many of them have a history of criticising Republican President Trump.

Among them are:

• Susan Collins, the centrist Maine senator, wished Biden "every success" in a statement at the weekend. "First, I would offer my congratulations to President-elect Biden on his apparent victory - he loves this country," she said
• Utah Senator Mitt Romney tweeted: "Ann [his wife] and I extend our congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. We know both of them as people of good will and admirable character"
• Ben Sasse, the Nebraska senator who has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump, said he was praying for "both President Trump and President-elect Biden, that both would be wise in the execution of their respective duties during this important time in our nation"
• Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also congratulated both Biden as the "projected winner of this close and hard-fought presidential race". "While we may not always agree, I will work with [Biden and Harris] to do what is right for Alaska."
• Separately, former Republican President George W Bush said he had congratulated Biden in a phone call on Sunday. "Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country," he said.

Facebook has been accused of “shredding the fabric” of US democracy by one of Joe Biden’s top aides.

In a series of tweets, Bill Russo, deputy communications director for Biden’s campaign press team, highlighted a series of incidents in which he said the social media giant failed to take action against “disinformation”.

One of his complaints was about a video by Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon, “calling for the beheading of FBI Director [Christopher] Wray and Dr Fauci…". "It was live on Facebook for 10 hours before it was removed after a journalist inquired about [it],” said Russo.

He said thousands of calls for violence on election day were “left up for hours, if not days”, conspiracy theorists were allowed to grow multiple "Stop the Steal" groups with very little intervention, and “Donald Trump vote fraud and election victory lies” were being actively promoted in feeds.

“We knew this would happen. We pleaded with Facebook for over a year to be serious about these problems. They have not. Our democracy is on the line. We need answers,” he ends his thread by saying.

We are not aware that Facebook has responded to Russo's accusations, but ahead of the election the platform said it would ban any ads that delegitimised people's right to vote or the result of the race.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien spoke to some of Donald Trump’s supporters about their thoughts on the election result.

One of those she spoke to said she was "very concerned about fraud".

President Trump has alleged irregularities in counting, but has not presented any evidence of election fraud.

Chelsea Bailey
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Democrats in Georgia have almost universal praise for Stacey Abrams, who used her defeat in the 2018 state governor race to launch an operation aimed at countering the voter purges she believed cost her the election.

Republican incumbent Governor Brian Kemp, during his six years in office, had cancelled voter registrations for more than a million Georgia residents due to “inactivity” or error.

But what his office saw as maintaining voting records others like Abrams decried as disenfranchisement.

Since 2018, Abrams and a network of organisations have registered more than 800,000 voters in Georgia alone – a move that is believed to have helped the Democrats to a narrow lead in the state’s presidential contest for the first time in two decades.

"She could have just sat back and been like, 'Man, I lost,'" 27-year-old Kristin Hunt tells me. "But she turned it into a W [a win] and she went into it, pushing forward and trying to do better for herself and our community."

You can read more of Chelsea’s story here.

Image source, Reuters

Joe Biden is due to speak later today in his home state of Delaware about the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare - the healthcare reform law that extended access for millions.

His speech will come just moments ahead of a case at the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in favour of the health act, but that could also see it overturned.

The court ruled eight years ago to leave much of the act intact, but since Donald Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court last month, the top US judicial body is now controlled by a 6-3 conservative majority.

The Trump administration has previously asked the US Supreme Court to invalidate Obamacare.

Healthcare is one of Biden's top priorities, and he has pledged to build on the Affordable Care Act. On Monday, he urged Americans to put aside their political differences and wear masks to protect themselves and their neighbours from the coronavirus.

"We could save tens of thousands of lives if everyone would just wear a mask for the next few months. Not Democratic or Republican lives, American lives," he said, adding: "Please, I implore you, wear a mask."

We reported earlier that a US justice department official - who would have been responsible for overseeing any investigations into alleged voting irregularities - has quit.

Richard Pilger reportedly handed in his resignation moments after Attorney General William Barr said prosecutors could go ahead with inquiries into the allegations - while stating that this was no indication that any wrongdoing had taken place.

"Having familiarised myself with the new policy and its ramifications... I must regretfully resign from my role," Pilger wrote in an email to colleagues.

Barr wrote in a memo that prosecutors should probe alleged irregularities in the presidential election. He said they should look into "substantial allegations" of irregularities, but that "specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims" should be ignored.

Pilger is still expected to remain as an attorney within the justice department's criminal division.

The Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, says President Trump is "100% within his rights to look into election irregularities".

In his first comments since Joe Biden was announced the projected winner, McConnell on Monday said the US political system "will resolve any recounts or litigation".

Trump is refusing to admit losing the presidential election, while making repeated unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud.

"The core principal here is not complicated, in the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted, and illegal ballots must not," said McConnell, adding: "The courts are here to work through concerns."

McConnell made the comments, while congratulating his Republican colleagues for their wins in the House and Senate races - which were voted for in the same election, last Tuesday.

Prior to the election, McConnell appeared to be distancing himself from Trump, proclaiming that he had not been a frequent visitor to the White House in recent times.

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump was last seen returning to the White House over the weekend after spending some time at his golf course - Trump National - in Sterling, Virginia.

It was while golfing that he was informed of Joe Biden's projected win on Saturday.

Since then, he has made no public appearances - and has no public events scheduled in his diary for today.

He does, however, appear to have been working in the White House's Oval Office in recent days. Marine guards have been spotted outside the door, indicating his presence.

• Read more: What happens now?

During a press conference on Monday, Fox News cut away from White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany when she mentioned "illegal votes", without providing any evidence.

"Unless she has more details to back that up… I can't continue showing this," news anchor Neil Cavuto said, adding: "That's an explosive charge to make."

Even before she took the role as Trump's spokesperson in April, McEnany was a seasoned defender of the president.

Image source, Reuters

As President Trump continues to dispute the projected result of the US election, false or misleading claims have been circulating about the vote.

Some have been amplified by President Trump and his team, who accused the Democrats of trying to "steal" election, without providing evidence.

Here are a few of the most recent - and false - claims.

• Increased postal voting will lead to more fraud: Numerous national and state-level studies have shown that although there have been isolated cases, electoral fraud is very rare.The rate of fraud is less than 0.0009%, according to a 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, external
• "Dumped ballots" in California: In September, pictures of ballot envelopes were shared on Facebook, along with unsubstantiated claims of "vote rigging". But Sonoma County officials have said , externalballots for this year's election had not been sent when the picture was shared
• Michigan voting map: A map has been retweeted by President Trump which wrongly shows an increase of over 138,000 votes for Joe Biden in the battleground state of Michigan. The screenshot was real - but it contained a data entry error. Decision Desk, the election data company which posted the map said Michigan authorities noticed the error and have since produced an updated count.

Read our fact-checker about five vote fraud claims which have gone viral.

Image source, Reuters

US Attorney General William Barr sent a memo on Monday in which he wrote that since voting had concluded, it was now "imperative that the American people can trust" that "the outcomes accurately reflect the will of the voters".

Barr wrote that federal prosecutors could investigate , externalalleged irregularities in the presidential election "if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State".

Mr Barr said prosecutors should only look into "substantial allegations" of irregularities, and that "specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims" should be ignored.

The attorney general acknowledged that individual states had the primary responsibility for the conduct of elections, but said the justice department had "an obligation to ensure that federal elections are conducted in such a way that the American people can have full confidence in their electoral process and their government".

However, critics have said launching the investigation is undermining the system, as there has been no evidence of widespread wrongdoing.

• Read more on this story here

Here is a recap of some of the latest developments:

• Senior members of the Republican party are backing Donald Trump in his refusal to concede to Democrat rival Joe Biden, who is the projected president-elect

• Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell has said Mr Trump is within his rights to file to prevent state officials from certifying Biden's victory in several states
• The president continues to cite unsubstantiated fraud claims
• The US justice department has given federal prosecutors the go-ahead to investigate alleged vote irregularities. Such investigations are normally the remit of individual states, but Attorney General William Barr said this was not a hard and fast rule

• The justice department official who would have overseen such investigations, Richard Pilger, has quit in response to the move
• White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel have cited allegations of electoral corruption and are urging reporters to help investigate the unverified claims
• Meanwhile, Biden's transition team says it's considering legal action over a federal agency's delay in recognising his victory

Image source, Reuters

Good morning, it's a week since election day in the US and yet here we are… now with all manner of legal battles under way and a president in the White House refusing to accept defeat.

Democrat Joe Biden was projected as the winner of the election on Saturday, after the usual teams of analysts and experts agreed he had an unassailable lead.

Yet Republican President Trump is still refusing to concede, even after congratulations messages for his rival have flooded in from multiple world leaders.

And now Republicans – even those who at first kept quiet – are coming out to back Trump as he digs his heels in.

What next? Who knows?

We will bring you all the latest updates throughout the day.