After a long silence from the Kremlin, the first message to Biden

“In a telegram, Putin wished the president-elect much success and expressed his conviction that Russia and the United States, which have a special responsibility for global security and stability, could make a real contribution to addressing many of the world’s current challenges. “, said. in a distributed report.

Putin noted that cooperation between Russia and the United States, based on the principles of equality and mutual respect, would benefit the people of both countries and the international community as a whole.

“I myself am ready to interact and contact you,” Putin said, citing the Kremlin press service.

The Electoral College formally confirmed Biden as the new president of the United States on Monday and secured his victory over Donald Trump, essentially eliminating any chance of the outgoing president contesting the election results.

The voter who cast his ballot gave Biden more than the 270 required votes and paved the way for him to begin his term as president of the United States on January 20.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Monday criticized President Donald Trump for endangering fundamental democratic principles, but told Americans that his country’s democratic system had finally “defeated.”

Speaking from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, on the same day that the Electoral College confirmed his victory in the presidential election, Biden had been directly criticized by Trump, for the first time since the November 3 general vote, for his unsubstantiated allegations that the election was stolen. . Such arguments by the president have been firmly rejected by judges of various political opinions, including members of the Supreme Court.

According to Biden, American democracy has been “pushed, tested, threatened” this year. However, he noted that the country’s system proved to be “resilient, well-functioning and strong.”

“The flame of democracy in this country has long been lit,” Biden said. “And we know that no one, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power, can put out these flames.”

Biden and his team hope for a formal Voter College victory, as well as a record universal suffrage, during which more than 81 million people supported the former Democratic Vice President, the results will help the country unite and accept his presidency. But the difficulties facing Biden were evident as many Congressional Republicans, including some of the party’s top leaders, refused to formally recognize the winners as Biden.

At the time, Trump seemed unwilling to give up his line.

The president-elect drew attention to the irony of fate he won by getting exactly the same number of voter votes (306) as Trump four years earlier. At the time, D. Trump called his victory “crushing.”

“By their own standards, these numbers represent a clear victory and I respectfully mention that they now show the same,” Biden said.

For a candidate to win an election, he must obtain at least 270 votes from the voters.

The very fact that Biden had to deliver such a speech immediately after the College of Voters vote, which is usually a formality and does not get much attention, shows how unusual this post-election period was when Trump tried to obstruct his election. opponent at every step.

Be that as it may, Biden, 78, emphasized the same things in his speech as he did during his presidential campaign. He promised to be “the president of all Americans” and “to work just as diligently for those of you who didn’t vote for me as you did for those who did.”

“Now is the time to open a new page, as we have done throughout our history,” he stressed. “Unite, recover”.

The president-elect stressed that this is the only way the country has to overcome the worst health crisis in more than a century. According to Biden, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, “we have to work together, empower each other and reduce [debatų] temperature ‘.

It is not yet clear if this message from him will have any effect. High-ranking Republicans continued to support Trump and his unsubstantiated accusations that the election was rigged. It is doubtful that they will continue the tradition of not criticizing the president’s work in the early days of his term after Biden takes office.

Biden recalled that one of his duties as vice president four years ago was the official recognition of Trump’s victory in the Senate. He expressed his hope that the process will play out in the same way this year and also praised a handful of Republican senators who had already recognized the Democratic victory.

After losing dozens of cases at the state and federal level, Trump is likely to continue his efforts this week to challenge the election results. Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, said he expected five more lawsuits to be filed at the state level.

Even after taking over the White House, Biden will have to work with the Senate, where the forces of both parties are evenly distributed. The second round of elections in Georgia next month will determine which party will control the upper house of Congress. Furthermore, the majority of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives also weakened as Republicans won more seats.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who was representing Wisconsin at the time, plans to hold a meeting on election “irregularities” on Wednesday. Johnson raises the question why Congress was not informed that a federal investigation into the charges of Biden’s son Hunter was underway during Trump’s impeachment process last year.

The president was ultimately acquitted in a Senate court, the key issue of which was Trump’s relationship with the Ukrainian president and whether he abused his position by pushing for Biden to be investigated. Hunter Biden served on the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company.

In a statement issued last week, Biden said he had recently learned that an investigation into his work had been launched. The president-elect’s son also said he had not committed any crime.

Biden’s deputy managing director, Jen O’Malley Dillon, did not rule out the possibility that this investigation could hamper the president’s implementation of his program.

“The president-elect himself has said that his family or Donald Trump’s family is not the most important thing,” he stressed. – Most importantly: American families. And I think we should focus on the problems that affect their daily life. “

Disinformation

The Electoral College vote confirming the Democratic victory puts an end to this election. Biden’s victory, which made Trump one of the few American presidents to serve a single term, capped off his campaign, during which a veteran politician vowed to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, end political divisions and return to traditional American diplomacy.

So far, the majority of Republicans in Congress have either expressed support for Trump’s speeches on fraudulent elections or have not commented on the issue. However, many of them refused to call Biden president-elect.

Disinformation diligently spread by the president and popular Fox News broadcasters, as well as various conspiracy theories like Newsmax, has undermined many Americans’ trust in their state institutions.

Thousands of Trump supporters, including many members of far-right groups, held a rally in Washington over the weekend to confront counter-protesters. At the time, activists armed in Georgia camouflage clothing were marching near the state Capitol in Atlanta, expressing support for Trump’s speeches on rigged elections.

Public opinion polls show that only one in four Republican voters acknowledge the election results.

On Monday, Trump re-tweeted a series of threats and unfounded accusations of “massive fraud” during the election and announced that confirmation of the election results would be “severe punishment.”

However, the Electoral College’s statutory decision deprived Trump of any opportunity to challenge his defeat.

An important formality remained before Biden’s inauguration: On January 6, during a joint meeting of the two Houses of Congress, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, the envelopes would be opened and the votes of the members of the Congress would be officially counted. College of Electors.

Even the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, which diligently supported Trump, told the outgoing president that his term was up.

“President Trump’s Legal Options [užginčyti rezultatus] Exhausted. He and the remaining members of the Republican Party can help the country and themselves by acknowledging the results and moving forward, ”he said.