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The Senate Majority Leader congratulated Joe Biden on becoming president-elect of the United States, in a significant blow to Donald Trump.
Senior Republican Mitch McConnell said the Electoral College, a group of people who voted to formally confirm the outcome of last month’s election, “had spoken.”
“Many of us expected that the presidential elections would yield a different result,” he admitted Tuesday.
Joe Biden to be sworn in on January 20
“But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20.”
McConnell described Democrat Biden, who was Barack Obama’s vice president and also a former senator, as someone “who has been in public service for many years.”
Kamala Harris will be the first female vice president of the United States.
He also congratulated Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, saying that “all Americans can be proud that our nation has a Vice President-elect for the first time.”
Before those comments, he praised Trump’s “endless” accomplishments over the past four years.
Donald Trump still refuses to accept that he lost the election
The admission marks a crucial abandonment by one of the most important figures in the Republican Party from the office of incumbent president, which is to refuse to accept the outcome of the election.
Trump has claimed, without evidence to withstand legal scrutiny, that the vote was rigged against him.
Republican Senator Roy Blunt, chair of the inaugural committee, also said Tuesday that the panel “will deal with” Biden “as president-elect.”
Last week, Republicans on the same committee declined to do so publicly.
Trump will become the first president of a term since 1992, when he leaves the Oval Office next month.
He will be replaced by Mr. Biden, after the Democratic challenger managed to turn key red states, such as Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, into blue.
His Pennsylvania win four days after the polls closed gave him enough Electoral College votes to put him beyond the middle line, and he ultimately got 306 of Trump’s 232.
Biden’s inauguration ceremony will be very different from the usual ceremonies used to bring new presidents into office, given the coronavirus pandemic.
The committee that organized it said they wanted to ensure that it “honors and resembles sacred American traditions while keeping Americans safe and preventing the spread of COVID-19.”
“Rigorous health and safety protocols” will be followed and “the footprint of the ceremony will be extremely limited, and the parade that follows will be reimagined,” they clarified.
American residents are also urged not to travel to attend the ceremony at the Capitol in Washington DC and instead watch from home.
