United States President-elect Joe Biden has accused President Donald Trump of an unprecedented assault on the country’s democracy during an address to the nation after the Electoral College confirmed his projected electoral win and formalized his five weeks old victory.
Speaking from his transition headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, this was as forceful a rebuke from the Democrat since efforts undertaken by Trump and his allies to overturn the election results through multiple court efforts and political pressure failed to produce evidence of fraud and vote-rigging.
Biden called for Americans to come together and focus on the urgent work of controlling the coronavirus pandemic and the much-need economic recovery.
In this video below, US President elect Joe Biden delivers forceful rebuke of Trump:
After Electoral College members across the nation gathered in state legislatures to affirm Biden’s win despite efforts from Trump and his allies to undermine the process.
The President-elect delivered as forceful a repudiation of those efforts since winning the election on November 8th.
Joes Biden says: “It’s a position so extreme we’ve never seen it before, a position that refused to respect the will of the people, refuse to respect the rule of law and refuse to honor our Constitution. Thankfully, a unanimous Supreme Court immediately and completely rejected this effort. The court sent a clear signal to President Trump that they would be no part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy.”
Monday’s vote, which is typically a mere formality, assumed outsized significance in light of Trump’s extraordinary effort to subvert the process due to what he has falsely alleged was widespread voter fraud without providing credible proof.
Of the 60 court challenges to date, Trump and allies have lost 59.
“Together, the vice president-elect, Harris and I earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory. Three hundred and six electoral votes is the same number of electoral votes that Donald Trump and Vice President Pence received when they won in 2016. At the time President Trump called the Electoral College tally a landslide. By his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then, and I respectfully suggest they do so now.”
Biden has consistently tried to strike a different tone to the incumbent, avoiding provocative statements in the early days after his win, recognizing a country wracked with division – whether on the pandemic or politics – as he embraces a more unifying tone.
Joe Biden says: “You know, in this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed. We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And now it’s time to turn the page, as we’ve done throughout our history, to unite and to heal. As I said in this campaign, I will be president for all Americans, I work just as hard for those of you who didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did.”
And amid attacks on electoral officials who have stood firm against an onslaught of attacks based on viral misinformation, a nod to their efforts for a job well done.
Of particular concern to the President-elect was that 17 Republican State Attorneys General and 126 Republican members of the United States Congress who signed on to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the election result in four swing states that Biden won.
And while legal experts had been clear that there was no case to be made for the High Court’s intervention, Republican fealty to the President and his dubious efforts speaks volumes of the influence this lame-duck President is expected to wield in the party even after his departure from the White House on January 20th.
