WASHINGTON / WILMINGTON, Del .: On Sunday, President Donald Trump briefly acknowledged the loss of the US election in a morning Twitter post, but then backed off, saying he concedes “nothing” and vowing to wage a judicial fight that according to the electoral law experts, it is unlikely to occur. succeed.
President-elect Joe Biden focused on the coronavirus
pandemic, setting up meetings with vaccine developers as the crisis intensifies. The number of coronavirus cases in the US surpassed 11 million on Sunday, a million new cases more than a week ago and the fastest rise since the pandemic began.
Biden defeated Trump in the Nov. 3 election by the same 306-232 margin in the Electoral College state-by-state that Trump proclaimed a “landslide” when he won it in 2016. The former Democratic vice president also won the national popular vote. by at least 5.5 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points, and some ballots are still counted.
Trump, who is pursuing risky litigation to challenge election results in multiple states, made conflicting comments on Twitter. He initially seemed to first publicly admit that Biden won, then changed course. Trump also repeated unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud.
“He won because the election was rigged,” Trump wrote, without referring to Biden by name, adding a list of complaints about the vote count. About 90 minutes later, Trump wrote: “He only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I grant NOTHING! “
After playing golf at a club he owns in Virginia, Trump said on Twitter that he would soon file “big cases showing the 2020 election unconstitutional.” The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits seeking to revoke the results in several states, to no avail.
Legal experts have said that Trump’s litigation has little chance of altering the election outcome, and election officials from both parties have said there is no evidence of major wrongdoing.
“Donald Trump’s Twitter feed does not make Joe Biden president or not president. The American people did that, “said Ron Klain, chosen by Biden as White House chief of staff, on NBC’s” Meet the Press. “
More than a week after Biden was declared the winner by major news organizations based on state-by-state vote counts, the General Services Administration has yet to recognize him as president-elect, preventing his team from gaining access to the space. of government offices and funding. normally awarded to an incoming administration to ensure a smooth transition.
Without explicitly mentioning the transition, Trump praised the GSA administrator he named, Emily Murphy, writing on Twitter: “Good job Emily!”
Klain said Murphy’s agency must formally recognize Biden and said ensuring the president-elect receives intelligence reports before taking office and facilitating coordination with the White House is critical. coronavirus workgroup. Klain urged Congress to pass bipartisan coronavirus relief legislation before the end of the year. Talks about such legislation have stalled.
Some Republicans in Congress and former members of the Trump administration have also asked the White House to allow Biden’s transition team access to more information to prepare to govern.
THE VACCINE CHALLENGE The health crisis will be a primary concern for Biden, who will take office on January 20. Klain said Biden’s scientific advisers would meet with Pfizer Inc and other drug makers starting this week to prepare for the “giant logistics project” of widespread vaccination against a virus that has killed more than 245,000 Americans and left without I work millions more.
Pfizer said last week that its vaccine candidate proved more than 90% effective in initial trials, raising hope that widespread vaccination in the coming months could help control the pandemic.
Other companies are also in advanced stages of developing promising vaccines.
“It’s great to have a vaccine, but vaccines don’t save lives. Vaccines save lives, ”Klain said. “And that means you have to put that vaccine in the arms of people across the country.”
Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert and a member of the White House task force, underscored the importance of a smooth transition in efforts to control of the pandemic.
“It would be better if we could start working with them,” Fauci said of the coordination between the existing task force and the Biden team.
Biden’s campaign said it had raised $ 10.5 million of its $ 30 million goal for a “Biden Fight Fund” earmarked for election defense efforts, according to a fundraising petition sent Sunday.
A laborious manual recount is underway in Georgia, where Biden has been projected as the winner and has a lead of more than 14,000 votes. Patrick Moore, a legal advisor to Biden’s campaign, said the tally so far had shifted vote totals “almost imperceptibly” and in favor of Biden, and that there was no evidence of widespread wrongdoing.
Control of the United States Senate will be decided in two January runoff elections in Georgia, which will be important to the fate of Biden’s ambitious legislative agenda. Klain said that Biden could campaign in Georgia before the second round.
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