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WASHINGTON (AFP) – Leading Republicans and Democrats on Thursday (September 24) strongly rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he might not accept defeat in the November elections, warning that the United States was not “North Korea.” .
A day after the American leader refused to clearly guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, Republican Senate President Mitch McConnell found it necessary to assure American voters that the winner of the November 3 election will take office as he was. planned in January.
Meanwhile, the FBI implicitly rejected Trump’s suggestion that massive fraud was being worked on with the increase in mailed ballots, while warning of misinformation on the matter.
Trump sparked outrage Wednesday by suggesting that he might not honor election results or treat mail-in ballots as legitimate.
When asked at a press conference at the White House if he is committed to the peaceful handover of power if he is defeated, Trump responded, “Well, we are going to have to see what happens.”
“You know I have complained a lot about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster,” he said.
Trump reiterated his claim that mailed ballots cannot be trusted in a radio interview early Thursday.
Pressured by his comments, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters: “The president will accept the results of a free and fair election.”
‘IT’S NOT NORTH KOREA’
Trump’s comments calling into question the transfer of power came as he significantly follows his Democratic rival Joe Biden in most national polls on the presidential election.
McConnell, who wields significant power as the top Republican in Congress, felt the need to issue a statement seen as a veiled warning to Trump.
“The winner of the November 3 election will be inaugurated on January 20,” McConnell tweeted.
“There will be an orderly transition as there has been every four years since 1792.”
Other political leaders were more blunt.
“Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney tweeted.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, said Trump needed to be reminded: “He’s not in North Korea, he’s not in Turkey, he’s not in Russia, Mr. President.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, whom Trump has attacked as an anti-American far-left leftist, criticized Trump in a speech to the Senate.
“Under Donald Trump, we have a president who has little respect for our constitution or the rule of law,” said Sanders, who earlier this year failed in his bid to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
Trump, he said, is “the first president in the history of this country to refuse to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election.”
“What you’re saying is that if you win the election, that’s great. But if you lose, it’s rigged, because the only way, the only way you can lose is if it’s rigged.”
VOTE-BY-MAIL CONCERNS
Along the way of the campaign, Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated allegations that Democrats could rig the election by taking advantage of an increase in voting by mail due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, he stated that all votes sent by mail will be suspiciously cast for Biden and should not be counted.
“The ballots are out of control,” he said.
“Get rid of the ballots and you will have a very peaceful one; there will be no transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,” he said.
Election officials have real concerns that there will be no clear winner the day after the election, as millions of mailed ballots take time to be delivered to local election offices and tabulated.
The FBI and US intelligence have warned that instigators, national and foreign, could take advantage of this period to spread false news about fraud, raising questions about the electoral process.
However, on Thursday, FBI Director Chris Wray told a Senate hearing that they had seen no coordinated effort to manipulate the election results, “whether by mail or otherwise.”
EARLY COURT BATTLES
Both parties and Trump are focused on the possibility that state and local vote counts will end up being challenged in court, possibly in many cases, and that those fights will end in the Supreme Court, which decided the closed November 2000 election for the Republican candidate. , George W. Bush.
Trump said this week that’s one of the reasons he’s rushing to nominate a conservative to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the progressive justice who died last week.
If Trump can push his nominee, the Conservatives would occupy six of the nine high court seats.
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