Politico | ‘Acknowledge the reality’ that Joe Biden is US president-elect, John Bolton tells Republicans
- Former national security adviser says Republicans ‘may not like’ recognising Biden as election winner, but country deserves to give him the preparation he needs
- He described the Trump campaign’s claims of widespread voter fraud as entirely baseless
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Quint Forgey on politico.com on November 13, 2020.
In an interview with NPR that aired on Friday, Bolton said Republicans “may not like” recognising Biden as the winner of the White House race, “but the country deserves to give him the preparation he needs. A gracious president who kept the country’s interests first would acknowledge that.”
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“The arguments that Trump and his campaign are making on the conspiracy to deny him re-election is this conspiracy is so vast and so successful, that apparently there’s no evidence of it,” he said.
Recent days have shown signs of some fissures in Trump’s support among Republicans, with a group of top Republican Party senators pushing for Biden to begin receiving high-level intelligence briefings – seemingly going against the White House’s efforts to slow the presidential transition process.
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Bolton agreed that Biden and key members of the president-elect’s team “should have full access to intelligence briefings”.
The “individual transition teams” at the State Department, the defence department and national security agencies should be allowed to “begin their work”, as well, Bolton said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made similar comments in a CNBC interview on Tuesday, when asked whether the White House coronavirus task force was communicating with Biden’s team.
“We’re ready for that, if and when there’s a determination that there will be a transition,” he said.