A top member of US President Donald Trump’s Republican Party, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has congratulated Joe Biden on winning the presidential election last month.
Senator McConnell spoke after the electoral college formally confirmed Mr. Biden’s victory over Mr. Trump. The Democrat won 306 electoral college votes to Mr. Trump’s 232. President Trump still refuses to concede, making unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell said he had hoped for a “different result” from the 3 November election but the electoral college had spoken. “So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” he said.
Also congratulating Mr. Biden’s running-mate, Kamala Harris, he added: “All Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very 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 to ABC News, Ms. Harris said she welcomed Mr. McConnell’s comments. “It would have been better if it were earlier but it happened, and that’s what’s most important. Let’s move forward. And where we can find common purpose and common ground, let’s do that.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged Mr. Trump to “end his term with a modicum of grace and dignity”.
“For the sake of our democracy, for the sake of peaceful transition of power, he should stop the shenanigans, stop the misrepresentations and acknowledge that Joe Biden will be our next president,” he said.
President Trump does not appear to be changing his stance. Tweeting on Tuesday, he said without offering evidence that tremendous evidence of voter fraud was “pouring in”.
When asked if Mr. Trump recognized Mr. Biden as president-elect, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany merely said the president was still involved in ongoing litigation related to the election.
It took more than a month, but Mitch McConnell is now acknowledging the obvious – that Joe Biden will be the next US president.
Upon Donald Trump’s departure from the White House, the Senate majority leader will become the senior-most Republican officeholder in the US, so his congratulations to the Democratic president-elect are meaningful.
They will give cover to other members of Congress who may have been holding their tongues lest they draw Donald Trump’s ire. It may allow the presidential transition process to unroll in a more traditional manner – at least where relations between Congress and the incoming administration are concerned.
With Mr. McConnell now accepting Joe Biden’s victory, President Trump’s final play – challenging his election loss in Congress on 6 January – also becomes more pointless. Not only will it be blocked by the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, it seems unlikely to find any traction in the Senate.
Now the waiting for the Trump response begins. Will he shrug off Mr. McConnell’s words or add him to the growing list of enemies within his own party that must be confronted and condemned? The president’s next words and actions could reveal the depth of the political turmoil facing the party in the days ahead.