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(CNN) – US President-elect Joe Biden said Thursday that US President Donald Trump “will go down in history as one of the most irresponsible presidents” as Trump takes extraordinary measures to try to subvert the outcome of the 2020 elections.
At a press conference after meeting with Republican and Democratic governors, part of Biden’s effort to avoid the Trump administration’s refusal to allow its transition team access to federal agencies, including those coordinating the coronavirus response, Biden he lashed out at Trump’s actions and said that Americans are “witnessing incredible irresponsibility.” The result, he said, is an “incredibly damaging message being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy works.”
“It’s hard to understand how this man thinks. It’s hard to understand,” Biden said. “What he is doing is outrageous.”
His comments came after Trump invited Republican Michigan state lawmakers to the White House on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter, and he and his legal team mounted a multi-state effort to overturn the election results in court or in key states. Republican legislatures. Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, and other members of the president’s legal team held a savage press conference Thursday, making a series of unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud without offering evidence.
Biden said he is making progress in building his administration and has chosen a candidate for Secretary of the Treasury that he intends to announce just before or after Thanksgiving.
“You will find that he is someone who will be accepted by all elements of the Democratic Party, from the progressive and moderate coalitions,” Biden told reporters in Delaware.
Biden’s election to the Treasury could be the first candidate for cabinet secretary announced by the president-elect. His transition team has so far focused on developing its top White House staff, led by Chief of Staff Ron Klain. Klain told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday that Biden’s team will announce more White House staff selections on Friday, and will continue to interview cabinet prospects and make decisions.
Biden’s comments came after a virtual meeting with Republican and Democratic governors, where he discussed a national mask mandate, plans to distribute a coronavirus vaccine and the need to help cash-strapped states.
The meeting showed how Biden is working around Trump, dealing directly with the states as the outgoing Trump administration continues to deny Biden’s transition team access to federal agencies and their plans, including one to eventually distribute a vaccine.
Speaking of their meeting Thursday, Biden told reporters that governors had expressed concern about the time it took to make coronavirus tests widely available and hoped to avoid similar delays once a vaccine is ready for distribution.
“This is not a one-time meeting,” Biden said. “We agreed that we will continue to meet with governors on a regular basis; we will continue to seek their input.”
Biden, U.S. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and a group of medical experts that Biden met as a coronavirus advisory board held a virtual meeting Thursday with 10 members of the executive committee of the National Association of Governors.
The list of participants included Republicans Charlie Baker from Massachusetts, Gary Herbert from Utah, Larry Hogan from Maryland, Asa Hutchinson from Arkansas and Kay Ivey from Alabama; the Democrats were Andrew Cuomo from New York, Michelle Lujan Grisham from New Mexico, Jared Polis from Colorado, Gretchen Whitmer from Michigan and John Carney from Delaware.
The meeting showed that some Republican governors are acknowledging the reality that Biden won the election and will be sworn in on January 20, as the pandemic continues.
Hogan, the governor of Maryland, tweeted photos of the conversation and thanked Biden, Harris and other governors “for taking the time today to discuss the ongoing fight against COVID-19.”
That’s a break with the Trump administration, which has so far refused to begin the transition process. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a briefing this week that until the Trump-appointed General Services Administration administrator takes the necessary legal steps to begin the transition process, the department will not work with the Biden’s team, who has searched for information. about plans to distribute a coronavirus vaccine, which the Trump administration has dubbed “Operation Warp Speed.”
Biden acknowledged Thursday that the delay has paralyzed his transition team and said that without the approval of the GSA administrator, “we don’t have access to all the information that we need to get from all the agencies.”
However, among governors, Biden told reporters that there was broad consensus on some issues, including the need for a national mask mandate. Wearing a mask, Biden said, “is not a political statement, it is a patriotic duty.”
He also asked Congress to pass legislation that sends money to states, local governments, and tribal communities to help pay for vital services and fund their National Guards.
“States and communities shouldn’t have to lay off teachers, police, firefighters, cut off vital services for families and businesses,” Biden said.
Governors were alarmed by the time it took to distribute the coronavirus tests, Biden said, underscoring the need for a plan to quickly distribute a vaccine once it is available.
He said he does not see any scenario in which he seeks some kind of national economic shutdown.
“I’m not going to shut down the economy, period. I’m going to shut down the virus. That’s what I’m going to shut down,” Biden said.
“There is no national closure, because each region, each area, each community can be different. So there is no circumstance that you can see that requires a total national closure,” he said. “I think that would be counterproductive.”
CNN’s Sarah Mucha and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
This story was first published on CNN.com “Biden says Trump ‘will go down in history as one of the most irresponsible presidents'”
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