Mitch McConnell privately urges fellow Republican lawmakers not to fight US election results
- The Senate majority leader also publicly congratulated President-elect Joe Biden, ending weeks of silence over Trump’s defeat
- McConnell’s remarks come a day after the Electoral College officially confirmed Biden’s election win
US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and his top deputies pressed other Senate Republicans on Tuesday not to join in with any House Republicans who may object to the presidential election results when Congress meets on January 6 to ratify the decision, a source familiar with the remarks said.
The conversation, which took place during a private conference all, was first reported by The New York Times.
News of the remarks broke after McConnell congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory during a speech on the Senate floor on Tuesday, a day after the Electoral College formalised their November 3 win.
“Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” he said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20. The Electoral College has spoken.”
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The Senate majority leader was among many congressional Republicans who had refused to acknowledge Biden’s defeat of President Donald Trump, who has continued to make unfounded claims of election fraud and refused to concede.
Biden said on Tuesday he had spoken with McConnell and that the two agreed to meet soon. The president-elect then headed to Georgia, where he will campaign later in the day for two Democratic US Senate candidates whose January 5 run-off elections could make or break his domestic policy agenda.
“While we disagree on a lot of things, there are things we can work together on,” Biden told reporters. “We agreed to get together sooner [rather] than later.”
McConnell’s congratulations follow a groundswell of leading Republicans who said on Monday for the first time that Biden is the winner of the presidential election, essentially abandoning Trump’s assault on the outcome after the Electoral College certified the vote.
For his part, Trump continued to push his baseless claims of “voter fraud” in a new tweet on Tuesday.
With states affirming the results, the Republicans faced a pivotal choice – to declare Biden the president-elect, as the tally showed, or keep standing silently by as Trump waged a potentially damaging campaign to overturn the election.
“At some point you have to face the music,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No 2 Republican leader. “Once the Electoral College settles the issue today, it’s time for everybody to move on.”
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Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, the chairman of the inaugural committee, said the panel will now “deal with Vice-President Biden as the president-elect”.
Just last week, the Republicans on the inauguration committee had declined to publicly do so. He said Monday’s Electoral College vote “was significant”.
The turnaround comes nearly six weeks after Election Day. Many Republicans rode out the time in silence, enabling Trump to wage an unprecedented challenge to the nation’s cherished system of voting.
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Some Republican lawmakers have vowed to carry the fight to January 6 when Congress votes to accept or reject the Electoral College results. Others have said Trump’s legal battles should continue toward resolution by inauguration day, January 20.
“It’s a very, very narrow path for the president,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally. “But having said that, I think we’ll let those legal challenges play out.”
Historians and election officials have warned that Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud threaten to erode Americans’ faith in the election system, and that lawmakers have a responsibility under the oath of office to defend the Constitution.
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“The campaign to overturn the outcome is a dangerous thing,” said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public policy at Princeton.
“This is a Republican operation, not a presidential operation,” Zelizer said. “Without their silence, he couldn’t do what he is doing.”
Trump is trying to throw out the ballots of thousands of Americans, particularly those who voted by mail, in dozens of lawsuits that have mostly failed.
His legal team is claiming irregularities, even though Attorney General William Barr, who abruptly resigned on Monday, has said there is no evidence of widespread fraud that would alter the election results. State election officials, including Republicans, have said the election was fair and valid.
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In a decisive blow to Trump’s legal efforts, the Supreme Court last week declined to take up two of his cases challenging the election process in key states. Some 120 House Republicans signed on to that failed Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to take up the case seeking to throw out election results in the swing-states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who volunteered to argue the case before the Supreme Court, was holding a telephone town hall on Monday urging “participation in the fight to defend the integrity” of the election.
One House Republican, congressman Mo Brooks of Alabama, has vowed to challenge the Electoral College results on January 6, when Congress convenes a joint session to receive the outcome.
At that time, any challenge in Congress would need to be raised by at least one member of the House and Senate. It is unclear if any Republican senator will join in making the case. It appears highly unlikely there is enough congressional support to overturn the election.
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Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that it is as if Biden has to win “again and again and again” before Republicans will accept it.
Congressman Alex Mooney introduced a resolution in Congress last week suggesting no one be declared president-elect until all investigations are completed. He proposed it after constituents confronted him last month demanding he do more to support Trump.
Overhanging their calculations is the Georgia run-off elections January 5 that will decide control of the Senate. Incumbent Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler need Trump’s support to defend their seats against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Rafael Warnock.
Reuters and Associated Press
