Our live coverage of the morning after election day has concluded – for now. But the news hasn’t stopped. President Trump just fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and we’re covering it here. Stay with CNN.
Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison won his bid to be Minnesota’s next attorney general despite facing accusations of abuse.
With 100% of precincts reporting, Ellison captured about 49% of the vote to best his Republican rival Doug Wardlow, who raked in 45% of the vote, according to Minnesota’s Secretary of State’s Office.
Ellison announced in June that he would withdraw his bid for re-election to Congress and instead campaign for Minnesota’s attorney general.
Some background: In August, the son of Ellison’s former girlfriend Karen Monahan detailed allegations of physical abuse by the congressman in a Facebook post, saying that he discovered a video on his mother’s computer in 2017 that allegedly showed Ellison attempting to drag Monahan off a bed while cursing at her.
Ellison denied the allegation and claimed that a video of the incident “does not exist because I never behaved in this way.”
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she was confident she would be elected speaker, despite a number of incumbents and incoming freshmen saying they would oppose her.
Asked what her argument will be to these Democrats, Pelosi said: “I’ve answered this question.”
Pelosi added: “I think I’m the best person. And I’m not going to answer any more questions on that subject.”
After she boasted about the number of women who were elected, she was reminded that some of those women have said they won’t support her.
“What I say to those women: Congratulations on your election,” she said. “Welcome.”
In addition to speaking to President Trump Tuesday night and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said today in her press conference that she also spoke to House Speaker Paul Ryan.
During her call with Ryan, she quipped that they discussed “how it is to win and how it is not to win.”
Pelosi, as she has said before, said she also sees bipartisan potential in lowering drug prices and investing in infrastructure.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking at a news conference moments after Trump’s, laid out the Democrats’ goals and plans for their House takeover.
“Democrats pledge again a new majority, our ‘for the people’ agenda,” she said, that will focus on:
The American people, she said, voted for change and will get it.
“Voters delivered a resounding verdict against congressional Republicans’ attacks on Medicare and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act and people with pre-existing conditions in districts everywhere in America,” she said.
Pelosi added: “They went in a new direction… a House that will work to make progress in the lives of America’s families and seniors.”
She did not, notably, criticize President Trump.
In an expected announcement, Rep. Steny Hoyer said he will make a bid for House majority leader.
Hoyer, a Democrat from Maryland who currently serves as his party’s whip, announced his intent in a statement:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is holding a news conference, a day after Democrats’ regained control of the House of Representatives.
Speaking at his White House press conference, President Trump accused Yamiche Alcindor, a black reporter with PBS NewsHour, of asking a “racist question” after she asked him what he made of some who say the Republican party supports white nationalists.
Here’s the exchange:
Reporter: Some say the Republican party is seen as supporting white nationalists.
Trump: I don’t believe it.
Reporter: What do you make of it.
Trump: I just – I don’t know. Why do I have my highest poll numbers ever with African-Americans? Why do I have among the highest poll numbers with African-Americans? Why do I have my highest poll numbers? That’s such a racist question. Honestly, I know you have it written down, that’s a racist question.
Watch the moment:
Later in the presser, Trump was asked about recent comments from his former lawyer Michael Cohen that he had made racist remarks in the past – something he strongly pushed back against.
“That’s false,” Trump said as the reporter began his question.
He went on the offense: “I would never do that and I don’t use racist remarks.” If he did, he told the crowd of reporters in the East Room, “You would’ve known about it.”
Trump says he “never” worries about any record of racist remarks because “I have never used racist remarks.”
Reporting from CNN’s Betsy Klein
Democrat Janet Mills will win the Maine governor’s race, a Democratic pickup, CNN projects.
Mills, the state attorney general, will succeed Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester will win re-election in Montana, defeating Republican Matt Rosendale, CNN projects.
Tester, a third-generation farmer well-known to friends and foe alike, has managed to win two Senate terms as a Democrat in a deep-red Republican state.
President Trump repeatedly attacked Tester for raising questions that ultimately led to the embarrassing withdrawal of Dr. Ronny Jackson, Trump’s personal physician, as the nominee for secretary of veterans affairs.
President Trump said Wednesday that he would consider disclosing his tax returns if he wasn’t under audit.
This comes as Democrats in the House, who are now the majority party, are expected to pursue his tax returns as part of Congressional investigations.
Asked if he’ll try to block Democrats from obtaining his tax returns, Trump said in the East Room:
He continued: “Now I did do a filing of over 100 pages, I believe, which is in the offices, and when people went in and they saw the magnitude of it, they were very disappointed. And they saw the detail … you get far more from that than you could ever get from a tax return. But when you’re under audit, and I’m under very continuous audit because there are so many companies and it is a very big company, far more than you would even understand … but if I were finished with the audit I would have an open mind, I would say that. But I don’t want to do it during the audit.”
President Trump and CNN’s Jim Acosta just had a tense exchange during the President’s morning-after midterms press conference.
Acosta, a frequent target of Trump’s attacks on the media, questioned if the President thinks he demonized immigrants when he called the migrant caravan an “invasion.”
When a White House staffer tried to end Acosta’s questions, Trump called Acosta a “rude, terrible person” – then called an NBC News reporter “fake news” when he came to Acosta’s defense.
Here’s a portion of their exchange:
Acosta: Do you think you demonized immigrants to try to keep…
Trump: No, I want them to come into the country. But they have to come in legally. Through a process. I want it to be a process. And I want people to come in. And we need the people. Wait, wait. You know why we need the people? Because we have hundreds of companies move in. We need to people.
Acosta: Your campaign had an ad showing migrants climbing over walls and so on…
Trump: That’s true. They were not actors. It is true. Do you think that they were actors? They did not come from Hollywood. These were people, this was an actual – it happened a few days ago and…
Acosta: They are hundreds of miles away. That is not an invasion.
Trump: Honestly I think that you should let me run the country. You run CNN. And if you did it well, your ratings will be much higher.
Acosta: If I may ask one other question.
Trump: That’s enough.
Acosta: The other folks asked, pardon me, ma’am…
An unidentified woman attempted to reach f the mic from Acosta.
Trump: That’s enough.
Acosta: If I can ask on the Russian investigation. Are you concerned that you may have…
Trump: I am not concerned about anything with the Russian investigation because it is a hoax. That is enough, put down the mic.
Acosta: Mr. President.
Trump: I tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of themselves having you working for them. You are rude, terrible person. You should not be working for CNN. Go ahead. You are a very rude person, the way that you treat Sarah Huckabee Sanders is horrible. The way that you treat other people is horrible. You should not treat people that way.
Trump then called on another reporter, Peter Alexander
Alexander: In Jim’s defense I’ve traveled with him and watched him, he is a diligent reporter who busts his butt…
Trump: I’m not a big fan of yours either, to be honest … You are not the best … Just sit down, please. When you report fake news — no. When you report fake news, which CNN does a lot, you’re the enemy of the people.
Watch the full exchange:
This post has been updated.
President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence appear to be renewing their vows for 2020.
“Mike, will you be my running mate?” Trump said, asking the Vice President, seated in the front row, to stand up.
The Vice President obliged.
“Will you?” Trump asked as Pence nodded and laughed.
Pence took his seat, laughing as press secretary Sarah Sanders patted him on the back.
President Donald Trump warned Democrats on Wednesday about the consequences of spending their time investigating his administration.
Trump cautioned that if Democrats make that decision, he will sic the GOP Senate to investigate Democrats, pointing to “leaks” and “many other things” that he accused Democrats of engaging in.
“All you’re going to do is end up in back and forth and back and forth and two years are going to go up” and we won’t have gotten a thing done, Trump said.
“We can look at them, they can look at us and then we can look at them and then it’ll go back and forth.”
But the President predicted he will benefit politically if Democrats focus on investigating his administration, saying, “I think I’m better at that game than they are.”
President Trump, speaking at a news conference, praised lawmakers who embraced his policies and won Tuesday night and criticized others for turning their back on him.
He went after Rep. Mia Love, a Republican from Utah, for pulling away from him during her race, claiming that led to her loss on Tuesday night. (CNN has not projected a win in Love’s race.)
The President also mentioned Rep. Barbara Comstock, who lost her re-election bid to Democrat Jennifer Wexton.
“And Barbara Comstock was another one, I mean I think she could have won that race, but she didn’t want to have any embrace. For that I don’t blame her, but she lost substantially lost,” he said.
Watch the moment:
President Trump on Wednesday was full of praise for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, preemptively calling her “Speaker Nancy Pelosi.”
While Democrats took the House, it’s unclear if Pelosi will remain the party’s leader. However, despite some pushback from within her own party, Pelosi has no challenger for speaker and she’s considered the heavy favorite.
“I gave her a lot of credit, she works very hard and she’s worked long and hard. I give her a great deal of credit for how she’s worked and what she’s accomplished,” he said.
He said he looked forward to working across the aisle with the Democratic-controlled House, citing drug prices, infrastructure and trade as areas where compromise can be reached.
He later referenced Pelosi’s use of the words “united” and “bipartisanship.”
He added: “It really could be a beautiful bipartisan type of situation.”
President Trump said Democrats’ loss in securing a majority in the Senate was partly due to the way they handled the Senate confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh:
President Donald Trump ticked down a list of historical statistics in an attempt to broadly characterize the midterm election results as a victory for him and his party.
The President ticked off several more stats — that CNN will fact check after this news conference — that seemed quite narrowly tailored to portray the GOP Senate gains as historic.
Unmentioned was that these Senate gains all occurred in states Trump won in 2016.
Trump also favorably compared the midterm results to those President Barack Obama’s Democratic party faced in 2010, pointing to his loss of Senate and House seats.
The President also blamed losses in the House on retirements and rules limiting the years GOP members could serve as chairmen of committees.
He said Republicans faced “the most House Republican retirements in 88 years” and said “in many cases” these were committee chairmen.”
“You’re a chairman of a committee and you become a big deal,” Trump said, noting those chairmen would not want to go back to being backbenchers.
President Trump, speaking at a post-midterm election news conference, mentioned the Democratic candidates and their supporters who “worked very, very hard.”
“Like Oprah Winfrey,” Trump said, referring to the media mogul’s work campaigning for Georgia governor candidate Stacey Abrams.
“Who I like, I don’t know if she likes me anymore but that’s okay,” he added. “She used to. But she worked very hard in Georgia, very, very hard.”
Watch more:
President Trump kicked off his post-election press conference touting his party’s success and his hand in last night’s Republican victories.
“Last night the Republican party defied history to expand our Republican majority,” he said, adding that the Republican Party “(beat) expectations in the House.”
Republicans, he said, “dramatically outperformed historical precedence,” despite what he called a “very dramatic fundraising disadvantage” and “very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly.”
Referencing his multitude of rallies ahead of Tuesday’s contests, Trump boasted, “Of the 11 candidates we campaigned with during the last week, nine won last night.”
He then rattled off a list of historical midterm statistics and specific races.
(Trump is claiming victories in races CNN hasn’t called yet — some are still too close to call.)
Watch more:
