President Donald Trump claimed he will prove fraud in a series of states that tipped the election to his rival, President-elect Joe Biden, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave the president cover in a floor speech Monday afternoon.
Directly before McConnell addressed the Senate, the president went on a tweeting rampage saying, 'Wisconsin is looking very good. Needs a little time statutorily. Will happen soon!'
Trump said Georgia 'will be a big presidential win, as it was the night of the Election!'
'Pennsylvania prevented us from watching much of the Ballot count. Unthinkable and illegal in this country,' Trump also wrote. 'Nevada is turning out to be a cesspool of Fake Votes.'
Later, the president retweeted a conspiracy theory shared by One America News' Chanel Rion, a right-wing network. Rion recently got tricked by the actress who played Borat's daughter into giving her a tour of the White House press briefing room.
'#Developing The #DominionVotingSystems that "glitched" in favor of Joe Biden (and was used in 29 states), partnered up with Clinton Global Initiative and had on staff former employees of both Clinton Growth Initiative and Clinton Cash Cow TENEO,' Rion tweeted. 'Full report on @OANN.'
Teneo, a corporate advisory firm, has employed people connected to Clinton, but also individuals linked to Trump, including his senior campaign adviser Jason Miller.
None of the president's claims have, so far, been backed up by compelling evidence - including at a late afternoon press conference at the Republican National Committee with White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, attending in her personal capacity, and RNC Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel.
McConnell has yet to call Biden the victor and instead allowed other Republicans to follow suit.
President Donald Trump has refused to concede the presidential election to President-elect Joe Biden and instead tweeting conspiracies about voter fraud
He retweeted a tweet from One America News' Chanel Rion who alleged that a 'glitch' in the voting system tipped the election to Biden - and the voting system that experienced the 'glitch' was connected to the Clintons and Teneo, a company that has hired former Clinton aides and also Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller
Trump claimed that he will prove fraud in a number of key swing states that handed the election to President-elect Joe Biden. Trump has refused to concede the election to Biden, who networks called the election for on Saturday
Trump tweeted Monday afternoon that Georgia would slide back into his column. Currently Biden has a lead in the traditionally red state
Trump also tried calling into questions results in Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania, all states that look like Biden won
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump was '100 per cent within his rights' to mount a legal challenge against the results of the 2020 presidential election, which was won by his rival, President-elect Joe Biden
'Obviously, no states have yet certified their election results. We have at least one or two states that are already on track for a recount. And I believe the president may have legal challenges underway in at least five states,' he said.
'The core principle here is not complicated. In the United States of America must be counted, any illegal ballots must not be counted,' he continued. 'The process should be transparent or observable by all sides and the courts are here to work through concerns.'
He said U.S. institutions are 'actually built' for the ongoing scenario.
'And President Trump is 100 per cent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,' McConnell said.
McConnell then sassed at Democratic leaders who have called on Trump to concede.
'Let's have any lectures, no lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last election,' the Kentucky Republican said.
'And who insinuated that this one would be illegitimate, too, if they lost again,' McConnell said. 'Only if they lost.'
He pointed to comments made by Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
'Suffice it to say, a few legal inquiries from the president do not exactly spell the end of the republic,' McConnell said.
Additionally, Vice President Mike Pence broadcast Monday that he is up for President Donald Trump's fight to remain in office despite Democrat Joe Biden having seized the lead in the electoral college and won the presidency in a race called by the TV networks.
'It ain’t over til it’s over.. and this AIN’T over,' Vice President Mike Pence says he told his team
'Told @VP Team Today, “it ain’t over til it’s over.. and this AIN’T over!' Pence tweeted Monday afternoon. 'President @RealDonaldTrump has never stopped fighting for us and we’re gonna Keep Fighting until every LEGAL vote is counted!
His tweet rallying the troops came as Biden expanded his lead in battleground states, a trickle of elected Republicans congratulated Biden, and world leaders placed calls to their next counterpart.
Trump's campaign effort continues to raise funds for its legal ballot, although as of Monday afternoon lawyers had yet to file a suit promised by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani in Pennsylvania. The effort encountered a setback Monday when the first witness Giuliani brought out at a Saturday press conference was identified as a convicted child sex offender.
Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, congratulated Biden on his 'apparent victory' in a statement where she refers to him as 'president-elect' about the same time as Pence issued his battle cry.
'I would offer my congratulations to President-elect Biden on his apparent victory – he loves this country, and I wish him every success,' Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins said in a statement that referenced the transition
'This election is over,' President-elect Joe Biden said Monday, calling for unity and naming a coronavirus advisory group
'We are still in this fight,' Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told campaign staff Monday, NBC reported
It all came on a day when President-elect Joe Biden, announcing his new coronavirus task force advisory panel, declared: 'This election is over.'
The Trump-nominated official who heads the General Services Agency, however, has yet to assess that Biden won, freezing in place transition efforts.
Collins' carefully parsed statement, issued in her trademark difference-splitting fashion, makes her the third elected GOP senator to publicly acknowledge Biden's win, after TV networks called him as the winner in the Electoral College.
She stands in the currently lonely group that includes Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, who was the first to congratulate Biden on his victory, and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Trump regularly attacks Romney, the party's 2012 presidential nominee, as a 'RINO,' a 'Republican in Name Only.'
Other top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have either backed Trump or issued vague statements acknowledging his right to contest the election – which the president is doing with threats of lawsuits and an unfounded declaration that he 'won.'
'First, I would offer my congratulations to President-elect Biden on his apparent victory – he loves this country, and I wish him every success,' Collins said in a statement.
'Presidential transitions are important, and the President-elect and Vice-President-elect should be given every opportunity to ensure that they are ready to govern on January 20th,' she added.
That second statement could be a comment on the Trump administration's refusal so far to assess Biden as the winner, which would trigger actions and coordination under the Presidential Transitions Act.
She continued: 'I understand the President and others have questions about the results in certain states. There is a process in place to challenge those results and, consistent with that process, the President should be afforded the opportunity to do so.
'I know that many are eager to have certainty right now. While we have a clear direction, we should continue to respect that process. I urge people to be patient. The process has not failed our country in more than 200 years, and it is not going to fail our country this year,' Collins wrote.
Collins was leading in the vote count based on results coming out of her home state and has been declared the winner by TV networks – although she technically didn't win her own race, since Maine has yet to certify the results.
Absent pushback from his own party, Trump remains on a war footing to contest the election, although his lawyers have yet to put forward evidence to back up their charges of systemic fraud.
Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien told Trump's campaign staff in a meeting at their Virginia headquarters that 'We are still in this fight, NBC News reported.
Campaign official Justin Clark added: 'Don’t mistake lack of motion for lack of progress.'
The diverging statements come as Trump 'terminated' Defense Secretary Mark Esper in what is expected to be a post-election purge, even though his term expires January 20th.
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