A senior member of the United States President Donald Trump’s Republican Party, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has congratulated Joe Biden on his victory in last month’s presidential election.
Senator McConnell was speaking after the electoral college officially confirmed Mr Biden’s victory over Mr Trump.
Democrats won 306 college votes in Mr. Trump’s 232 vote.
President Trump is still refusing to admit it, making unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud.
Relations with the Senate, currently controlled by Republicans, will be crucial to Mr. Biden’s office.
He is visiting Atlanta, Georgia, to campaign for Democrats in next month’s first Senate election. The two seats will be decided on January 5 and may decide whether his party is in control or not. Democrats already control the House of Representatives.
Putin Congratulated Joe Biden
Following Monday’s confirmation of Mr Biden’s victory, three world leaders’ refusal to congratulate the president-elect was made public on Tuesday: Vladimir Putin of Russia, Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico.
Putin gives Biden late congratulations on the poll victory
McConnell Congratulatory Remarks
Speaking at a Senate hearing, Mr McConnell said he had hoped to get “different results” in the November 3 election but the electoral college had spoken. “So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” he said.
He also congratulated Mr Biden’s candidate, Kamala Harris, adding: “All Americans can be proud that our country has a female vice president for the first time.”
Mr Biden said later he had phoned Mr McConnell to thank him for the congratulations and the two had agreed to “get together sooner than later”.
In an interview with ABC News, Ms Harris said she welcomed Mr McConnell’s comments. “It would have been better if it had been there before but it has happened, and that is the most important thing. Let’s move on. And where we can find a purpose we agree on and what we agree on, let’s do that.”
Democratic Alliance Senate leader Chuck Schumer has urged Mr Trump to “end his time with a degree of kindness and dignity”.
“For the sake of our democracy, with the aim of transforming power peacefully, he must stop shenanigans, stop slander and acknowledge that Joe Biden will be our next president,” he said.
President Trump does not seem to be changing his mind. Writing on Twitter on Tuesday, he said in addition to providing evidence that “substantial evidence” of voter fraud was “deeply entrenched”.
When asked if Mr. Trump accepted Mr. Biden as President-elect, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany simply said the president was still involved in the ongoing election-related courts.
Trump Still Refuses To Concede
It took more than a month, but Mitch McConnell now embraces the obvious – that Joe Biden will be the next US president.
With the departure of Donald Trump from the White House, the leader of the Senate majority will be the highest official in the US Republican office, so his congratulations to the Democratic Alliance-elected president are reasonable.
They will introduce other members of Congress who may have been holding their tongues in order not to provoke Donald Trump’s wrath. It would allow the process of presidential change to register in a normal way – at least when it comes to the relationship between Congress and incumbents.
Now that Mr. McConnell has accepted Joe Biden’s victory, President Trump’s last game – to challenge his defeat in the January 6 general election – is also meaningless. It will not be blocked only by the Democrat-led House of Representatives, it seems unlikely that any trend will be found in the Senate.
Now waiting for Trump’s response begins. Will you contradict Mr. McConnell’s words or put him on a growing list of enemies in his party that must be dealt with and discarded? The following President’s words and actions could reveal the depth of the political turmoil facing the party in the coming days.
Georgia Scenario
When Mr Biden takes over the White House on January 20, he will be seeking the support of both parties in Congress to deliver on his election promises. The Republicans have 52 out of 100 Senate seats. But this could change after two separate initiatives in Georgia.
In both races, the Republican nominee faces a new Democratic Alliance candidate: Senator David Perdue, 70, will face Jon Ossoff, 33, a filmmaker, and Senator Kelly Loeffler, 50, will face Rev. Raphael Warnock, 51, a senior pastor in Atlanta church. Baptist.
Speaking at a rally in Atlanta, Mr Biden thanked voters for their faith and “stood firm”, saying: “Your voice has been heard, your votes have been counted, counted and counted again. I am beginning to feel like you have won Georgia three times.”
But he emphasised that to get things done, he needed two Democratic senators, “not two senators who are just going to get in the way”.
“Send me these two men to run the Senate and to change the lives of the Georgian people,” Mr Biden said, adding that the Senate should have approved the Covid package “months ago” but did nothing. “
A recent vote suggests Mr Warnock is pushing ahead with Ms Loeffler, and the Perdue-Ossoff race is a dead end.
If the Democrats win both seats, the Senate will be divided equally – but it will still be a success for Democrats. U.S. vice presidents have voting power in the Senate, meaning that if Harris is elected President, Democrats will be able to control both chambers.
Georgia begins voting in the most important senate battle
Trump’s campaigns in the most important battlefield in the Senate
Meanwhile, Mr Biden has appointed Pete Buttigieg as his transport secretary. If successful, Mr. Buttigieg will be the first gay member to appear in the U.S. cabinet. The 38-year-old was the president of the 2020 Democratic Party until he left the race to support Mr Biden.
U.S. news correspondent Mr Biden will nominate former Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm to replace Energy Secretary Gina McCarthy with a new climate policy adviser. Mrs. McCarthy was the head of the Environmental Protection Agency under the Obama administration.
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