[ad_1]
- President-elect Joe Biden said nothing would stop the transfer of power in the United States government, even as President Donald Trump claims the election was marred by fraud.
- Biden said in a speech in Delaware that his team was moving forward in forming a new administration to take office on Inauguration Day.
- Justices have thrown out election lawsuits in Michigan and Georgia, and experts say Trump’s legal efforts have little chance of changing the outcome.
President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that nothing would stop the transfer of power in the US government, even as President Donald Trump says without evidence that the election was marred by fraud and some of his Republican allies back the investigations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Trump’s right to launch a legal challenge to Biden’s victory in several battling states like Pennsylvania. Some high-ranking Republicans tried to cast doubt on the outcome.
Biden secured the more than 270 Electoral College votes he needs to take the presidency by winning Pennsylvania on Saturday after four tense days of counting, which was delayed by an increase in mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden said in a speech in Delaware that his team was moving forward in forming a new administration to take over on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021, no matter what.
“We are going to keep moving forward, moving forward consistently, putting together our administration, the White House and reviewing who we are going to elect to Cabinet positions, and nothing is going to stop that,” he said. . Biden said it was a “shame” that Trump did not grant the election.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo predicted a “second Trump administration,” in remarks contrary to congratulatory phone calls between Biden and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Ireland.
“The entire Republican Party has been put in a position with some notable exceptions of being mildly intimidated by the incumbent president, but there is only one president at a time,” said Biden, who chuckled when asked about the comments. from Pompeo.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a conservative whose stormy style is often compared to Trump’s, said he spoke with Biden on Tuesday by phone about working together.
“I look forward to strengthening the partnership between our countries and working with him on our shared priorities, from addressing climate change to promoting democracy and building back better after the pandemic,” Johnson tweeted.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also congratulated Biden, a former vice president who will now take over the White House after nearly five decades in politics.
Biden answers questions
Answering media questions for the first time since his victory, Biden was asked what he would say if Trump were watching. He said, “Mr. President, I look forward to speaking with you.”
Justices have thrown out election lawsuits in Michigan and Georgia, and experts say Trump’s legal efforts have little chance of changing the outcome.
The Trump campaign and Republicans have sued primarily over claims of procedural problems with the vote count and have presented no evidence of fraud in their lawsuits.
Attorney General William Barr, Trump’s appointee who heads the Justice Department, told federal prosecutors on Monday to “pursue substantial allegations” of voting and counting irregularities.
It was a break with the department’s previous policy of not conducting open investigations into alleged voter fraud until the recounts have been completed and the results certified.
Richard Pilger, director of the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Section, said he was resigning after learning of “the new policy and its ramifications.”
Biden’s campaign said Barr was fueling Trump’s unlikely fraud allegations.
“Those are the kinds of claims that the president and his attorneys make unsuccessfully every day, as their claims are mocked in court after court,” said Bob Bauer, senior adviser to Biden.
A Trump appointee who heads the federal office tasked with acknowledging the election results has yet to do so, preventing Biden’s transition team from moving into federal government office space or accessing funding to hire staff. .
Pennsylvania Fight
In Pennsylvania, one of the most contested states in a deeply divided nation, Republican state legislators urged an audit of the election results there.
State Representative Dawn Keefer called for a bipartisan investigation with subpoena powers to see if the “election was conducted fairly and legally.” When asked about any evidence of fraud, Keefer told reporters: “We just got a lot of allegations,” adding that “they’re too much in the bush” for you to know more without investigating.
The alleged Pennsylvania voter wrongdoing being investigated by the Department of Justice is related to a report from a whistleblower who has claimed that illegally dated postmarks may have been added to some late mail ballots. Democrats voted more by mail than Republicans in much of the country after Trump repeatedly and without evidence called voting by mail unreliable.
McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, carefully backed Trump Monday, saying he was “100% within his right to investigate allegations of wrongdoing.”
But some high-level Republican advisers in Congress said Trump must soon present significant evidence or leave the stage.
“I think the goal here is to give the president and his campaign team some space to show that there is real evidence to support any claim of voter fraud. If there is, then they will be litigated quickly. If not, we will all move,” he said a senior Republican aide to the Senate.
A second such aide, while noting that the majority of Republican senators support Trump’s right to refuse to budge, added that if there are no surprise fraud disclosures, “at some point this has to give. And I give it to him. a week or two. “
(Additional reporting from Steve Holland, Humeyra Pamuk, Sarah N. Lynch, Michael Martina, Richard Cowan, and Doina Chiacu in Washington, written by Alistair Bell; edited by Scott Malone and Howard Goller)
Do you want to know more about this topic? Sign up to receive one of 33 News24 newsletters to receive the information you want in your inbox. Special newsletters are available to subscribers.
