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US President Donald Trump responded to Republican Mitch McConnell’s decision to recognize Joe Biden as the next US president, in a sign of deepening tensions between the president and the Republican establishment.
After weeks of silence, McConnell congratulated Biden in a Senate speech Tuesday, a day after the electoral college reaffirmed the Democratic candidate’s victory in the Nov. 3 election.
But on Twitter, Trump berated the senior Republican, saying it was “too early to give up.”
“Mitch, 75,000,000 VOTES, a record for a sitting president (by far),” he tweeted early Wednesday, referring to the 75 million votes he received. “Too early to give up. The Republican Party must finally learn to fight. People are angry! “
He later retweeted a headline that read: “Trump Allies Criticize Mitch McConnell For Congratulating Biden.”
In a push for Trump, the Republican-controlled Senate government affairs and national security committee held a hearing on “electoral irregularities” on Wednesday. Among those who testified were several figures who led efforts to overturn election results in the swing states, who were allowed to air unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud. However, Christopher Krebs, the former head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency who was fired by Trump last month after defending the security of the nation’s electoral system, told the committee that he supported his earlier statements.
“I haven’t seen anything from a security perspective yet … that will change my mind on that,” he said, adding, “I think we are past the point where we need to have conversations about the outcome of this election. “
As the president continued to question the validity of the election he lost through several tweets on Wednesday, President-elect Joe Biden went ahead with his nominations for cabinet and administration officials. He unveiled Pete Buttigieg, his formal rival for the Democratic nomination, as his nominee for Secretary of Transportation.
Introducing Mr. Buttigieg, Mr. Biden described the 38-year-old as “one of the smartest people I have ever met, and one of the humblest,” a “policy expert with a big heart.”
Buttigieg, a war veteran and former Rhodes scholar, will be the first openly gay cabinet member in US history if approved by the Senate. Speaking in Delaware, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, addressed the historic nature of his appointment. He recalled seeing a story on the news when he was 17 about a Clinton-appointed candidate for ambassador who was denied a vote in the Senate because he was gay.
“I saw that story and learned about some of the limits that exist in this country when it comes to who is allowed to belong,” he said. “Two decades later, I can’t help but think of a 17-year-old who might be watching right now; someone wondering if they belong and where they belong in the world, or even their own family, and I’m thinking about the message that today’s announcement is sending them. “
Relief package
Separately, Capitol lawmakers appeared to be close to agreeing on a new coronavirus aid package before the current round of government funding runs out on Friday. The $ 900 billion (€ 738 billion) deal comes out of the $ 2.2 trillion package agreed in March. While Democrats are now prepared to accept a much lower price than they bargained for, a new round of direct payments to Americans has been included in the new package. Keeping the total cost below $ 1 trillion also guarantees Republican support.
The new impetus to secure a stimulus deal comes amid disappointing retail figures on Wednesday that found retail sales falling 1.1 percent in November, a steeper drop than most analysts expected.
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