After Biden named the winner, Mitch McConnell backs Trump’s legal challenges to election result
McConnell #McConnell
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday threw his support behind President Trump’s legal challenges in the wake of his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, saying that the president is “100 percent within his rights” to pursue recounts and litigation, though Trump has produced no evidence of widespread voting fraud.
“This process will reach its resolution. Our system will resolve any recounts or litigation. In January, the winner of this election will place his hand on a Bible, just like it’s happened every four years since 1793,” McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor.
Trump and his campaign have offered no evidence to back up their baseless claims, and state and local officials from both parties have rejected the accusations from the president and his supporters. McConnell, later pressed by reporters, declined to answer when asked to produce evidence of fraud that would overturn the election results.
McConnell heralded Republican wins in Senate and House races, results that have been called by media organizations but have not been certified by state election officials. Among those results was McConnell winning a seventh term.
But the GOP leader dismissed concerns about the president’s actions as Trump has refused to concede while making unfounded claims. McConnell argued that “a few legal inquiries” from Trump “do not exactly spell the end of the republic” and that the president should not “immediately, cheerfully accept preliminary election results.”
McConnell, speaking for the first time since Biden was projected as the winner Saturday, did not congratulate the president-elect, though four members of the Senate Republican conference have done so in recent days.
[Top congressional Republicans silent on Biden win as Trump allies remain defiant]
McConnell’s remarks came shortly after he met with Attorney General William P. Barr on Monday afternoon. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the meeting.
“Our institutions are built for this,” McConnell said. “We have the system in place to consider concerns. And President Trump is 100 percent within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) took to the floor shortly after McConnell spoke. He pushed back against the Kentucky Republican’s remarks and called for GOP lawmakers to follow the lead of former president George W. Bush, who congratulated Biden in a statement Sunday.
Schumer called the unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud “extremely dangerous” and “extremely poisonous to our democracy.”
“As in any campaign, the president has a right to bring legal challenges or request recounts where state law allows,” Schumer said. “However, there is no legal right to file frivolous claims. Lawsuits must have basis in facts and evidence. And make no mistake: There has been no evidence of any significant or widespread voter fraud. Joe Biden won this election fair and square.”
Matt Zapotosky contributed to this report.
