\n\n“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and top Republican lawmakers on Monday refused to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect, defending President Donald Trump as he continues to launch unsubstantiated allegations about widespread voter fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McConnell,like many other Senate Republicans,neither repeated Trump\u2019s false claims that Democrats are trying to \u201crig\u201d and \u201csteal\u201d the election, nor publicly pressured the president to concede. Their reluctance to recognize Biden\u2019s victorytwo days after he secured enough Electoral College voteshighlights the grip that Trump still holds on the GOP, even as he will likely soon be leaving the White House. For now, they\u2019re sticking with the president”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Trump has continued to assert that there were widespread irregularities in several states but has so far provided no evidence. He falsely claimed on Twitter that he won the election, even as Biden on Saturday secured the necessary 270 electoral votes to win the White House, according to numerous media projections. The president has even suggested the election was \u201cstolen\u201d from him, but his campaign has lost several court fights already.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Senate Republicans said they expect the disputes to be resolved sooner rather than later. One GOP senator, speaking on condition of anonymity to candidly describe the party\u2019s thinking, said \u201cmost people recognize where this is headed and that clearly Biden is leading in enough states to win, but let’s not rush the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So far, only four Republican senators \u2014 Mitt Romney of Utah, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Susan Collins of Maine \u2014 have acknowledged Biden\u2019s victory and referred to him as the president-elect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But like McConnell, most Senate Republicans have refused to publicly acknowledge that Biden will become the next president, even though they admit that\u2019s going to happen in private. While Biden is already aggressively planning his transition to power, GOP senators are deferring to the Trump campaign\u2019s pending legal challenges to the election results in various battleground states.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Even as Biden\u2019s team is preparing for the transfer of power, a top political appointee in the Trump administration is thus far refusing to officially certify Biden as the president-elect. Such a declaration is necessary in order to kick-start the presidential transition process; specifically, it would unlock resources for Biden\u2019s team, including federal funding and access to the federal agencies that will need staffing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republicans largely declined to weigh in on whether the appointee, General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy, should certify Biden as the winner, though Collins went as far as to say that Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris \u201cshould be given every opportunity to ensure that they are ready to govern\u201d when they take office on Jan. 20.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n