Republicans acknowledge Biden win
More than a month after the election, top Republicans finally acknowledged Joe Biden as the next U.S. president on Tuesday, a collapse in GOP resistance to the millions of voters who decisively chose the Democrat.
Speaking from the floor of the U. S. Senate where Biden spent 36 years of his career, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated his former colleague as president-elect. The two men spoke later in the day.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, was to meet with his likely successor in the new administration, Antony Blinken. And GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies, said he’d spoken with some of Biden’s Cabinet picks.
A similar shift unfolded in capitals across the world, where leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Mexico’s Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador acknowledged Biden’s win.
The moves come a day after electors nationwide formally cast votes affirming Biden’s victory in last month’s presidential election. And while that clears a more stable path for Biden to assume the presidency, it does little to stop Trump from continuing to try to undermine confidence in the results with baseless allegations that have been rejected by judges across political spectrum.
As Republicans began discussing a Biden presidency more openly on Tuesday, Trump still pledged to press forward with almost nonexistent legal options.
“Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud.
There has never been anything like this in our Country!” Trump tweeted just as members of his party were publicly recognizing Biden’s victory.
The growing acknowledgement of reality in Washington was triggered by the Electoral College formally voting on Monday to seal Biden’s win with 306 votes to Trump’s 232, the same margin that Trump pulled together four years ago. The normally humdrum political ceremony didn’t change the facts of the election, but was nonetheless used as political cover by leading Republicans.
“Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” McConnell said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”