MITCH BACKS TRUMP
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says Trump is ‘100% within his rights’ to challenge Biden vote totals
THE PRESIDENT has Mitch McConnell's blessing to question the election results, with the Senate Majority Leader saying Trump is "100 percent within his rights" to challenge Biden's election win.
The Kentucky senator followed suit with other top Republicans who have been telling the president to avoid conceding until all other legal options have been exhausted, saying the Constitution creates a process for questioning election results.
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"In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted," McConnell told reporters Monday. "The process must be transparent or observable by all sides, and the courts are here to work through concerns."
"Our institutions are actually built for this," McConnell continued. "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."
McConnell's remarks are his first public comments since Joe Biden won the election Saturday, and come as the leader and other top GOP officials continue to make baseless accusations of a rigged election despite no evidence of voter fraud.
The leader vowed the process will reach its conclusion. However, many politicos fear legal proceedings will draw out Trump's concession for weeks.
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McConnell's comments also come at a time when Republicans privately admit they fear crossing the president and his strong supporter base.
And it comes with public action as well. The head of the General Services Administration under Trump - which initiates the transition between presidential administrations - has formally held off talks with Biden.
Trump and members of his administration have held off on conceding the presidency to Biden, and instead is leading several legal battles in a number of states, but there has been no indication of voter fraud in the election.
Republicans like McConnell are publicly avoiding crossing Trump or his supporters as they risk their hold on the Senate majority.
For example, in Georgia where Trump is waging a legal battle after he lost the state, Republican Senate candidates David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have called their state's election system an embarrassment as they head into a January 5 runoff that will determine party control.
Should Trump refuse to accept the election results for an elongated amount of time, election disputes could drag on for weeks and push into mid-December when the Electoral College is to vote.
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In private, Republicans have also pointed to a December decision, referring to the amount of time the 2000 election was determined after Al Gore conceded to George W. Bush.
Still, the battle between Republicans and Trump has remained apparent as many are siding with the president as he advocates media companies cannot determine the result of an election.
"And notably, the Constitution gives no role in this process to wealthy media corporations," McConnell finished Monday. "The projections and commentary of the press do not get veto power over the legal rights of any citizen, including the president."
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