Six weeks after the 2020 November elections, and a day after the vote of the Electoral College, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday finally publicly acknowledged the victory of President-Elect Joe Biden, as GOP Senators began to pull themselves away from President Donald Trump’s insistence that he had actually won re-election.
“The Electoral College has spoken,” McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. “So, today I want to congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden.”
“The President-Elect is no stranger to the Senate,” McConnell said of his former Senate colleague. “He’s devoted himself to public service for many years.”
GOP lawmakers in Congress had stubbornly resisted saying the words “President-Elect” for weeks, standing aside while President Trump has made repeated claims of election fraud, only to see those charges rejected in court after court around the nation, as judges noted a distinct lack of supporting evidence.
Tuesday’s Senate session began with a heavenly acknowledgment as well, as the Senate Chaplain invoked Biden’s victory.
“We respect the conclusions of the Electoral College,” Dr. Barry Black said in his opening prayer.
“I think we need to respect this process the Founding Fathers established, and we must respect the will of the voters,” said Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), as he acknowledged Biden’s win on Monday.
But down at the White House, it was a much different story, as President Trump was again tweeting out unfounded claims of voter fraud, taking aim again at top Republican officials in Georgia.
“Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!” the President tweeted a few minutes after McConnell’s Senate floor statement, again spreading disinformation about the actual election situation.
While the President keeps making claims about fraud, the record in court of the Trump Campaign and GOP allies continues to be abysmal, with just one minor legal victory in Pennsylvania, and 59 losses.