US President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday said President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede and efforts to overturn the election are sending a “damaging” message to the rest of the world about American democracy. Biden also said that Trump should grant Biden access to government intelligence and by not doing so, he is putting lives at risk during a pandemic.
Speaking from near his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said there was “no excuse” for the Trump administration to continue to deny him access to government officials and intelligence briefings, as is customary in a transition process.
On Thursday, CNN reported that former and current officials from the Trump administration got in touch with Biden’s team to offer them help with the transition. In the meantime, the Trump administration on Thursday revised its Pennsylvania lawsuit and contended that the state legislature is given authority to assign the state’s 20 Electoral College votes.
Asked about the president’s efforts to overturn the election result, Biden said, “I think we’re witnessing something that is incredibly irresponsible.” He went on to say, “Incredibly damaging messages being sent to the rest of the world about how democratic functions… I don’t know his motives, but it’s totally irresponsible.”
“There is no excuse not to share the data and let us begin to plan because on day one it will take us time if we don’t have access to this data, it will put us behind by a month or more,” Biden added. “And that’s lives. How many would be lost as a consequence of that, I can’t tell you.”
“We’re not able to deal with everything from testing to guidance, to vaccine distribution, and even more importantly, vaccination plans to actually get vaccinations,” he continued.
Biden and vice president-elect Kamala Harris on Thursday met with non-partisan state governors. Biden added that Trump will be remembered as “one of the most irresponsible presidents in American history”.
Biden said while he hasn’t taken the option to sue the GSA (General Services Administration) to ascertain his victory, he said the process would “take a lot of time” and ultimately may not speed up the transition process.
At least nine lawsuits have been filed by the Trump campaign, challenging the results of the election and several of them have been dismissed as weak by legal experts. Biden, in the meantime, also said that he was not in favour of a national shutdown, but will make wearing masks mandatory.
