Mitch McConnell says Trump has right to challenge Biden win
November 10, 2020
The Senate majority leader said Donald Trump is "100% within his rights" to challenge the results of the election. Attorney General William Barr later authorized prosecutors to pursue "substantial allegations."
Image: AFP/C. Somodevilla
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that US President Donald Trump is "within his rights" to challenge the election results, declaring Joe Biden the winner, through the courts.
"President Trump is 100% within his rights to look at the allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options," McConnell said on the Senate floor.
"I believe the president may have legal challenges under way in at least five states," he added.
The remarks were his first public comments since Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election. Trump's allies have been reluctant to congratulate Biden or call on the current president to accept the outcome.
Trump has declined to concede the presidential race and has launched legal fights, but there has been no evidence of voter irregularities or far-reaching fraud in the election.
"Our institutions are actually built for this," said McConnell. "We have the system in place to consider concerns."
Echoing Trump's rhetoric, McConnell said that "all legal ballots must be counted, any illegal ballots must not be counted." He spoke after four Senate Republicans, including a prominent Trump critic, acknowledged Biden's victory. Before addressing the Senate, he met privately with Attorney General William Barr.
Barr later authorized federal prosecutors across the US to pursue "substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities," while urging them not to chase "fanciful or far-fetched" claims. The letter to prosecutors marked the first time Barr addressed Trump's repeated claims of voter fraud.
"Let's not have any lectures," McConnell said. "No lectures about how the president should immediately, cheerfully accept the preliminary election results from the same characters who just spent four years refusing to accept the validity of the last one."
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Biden cleared the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency on Saturday after four days of ballot-counting, and is currently ahead by more than 4.4 million ballots in the popular vote. Most Republican senators have avoided public comment on the outcome of the election. Some, such as Senator Lindsey Graham, have urged Trump to continue fighting.
Meanwhile, House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy told Fox News on Sunday that "every legal challenge should be heard" before Americans can decide "who won the race."
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, however, said the Republicans' refusal to stand by the election results is "extremely dangerous, extremely poisonous to our democracy."
He added that the lawsuits must be based in evidence and facts. "Joe Biden won the election fair and square," Schumer said.
US election: Celebrations and despair on Biden's victory day — in pictures
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' election victory was met with joyful celebration across the United States, while Trump supporters continued to protest, claiming foul play. The win has also been celebrated around the world.
Image: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Biden gives victory speech
Democrat Joe Biden was declared the president-elect on Saturday, four days after election day. The Associated Press and other media outlets finally called the election after it became clear that Biden had won the 20 electoral votes from Pennsylvania. Trump had originally led the race there, but as absentee votes were counted, Biden eventually overtook the president.
Image: Andrew Harnik/AP Photo/picture alliance
First female vice president
Kamala Harris has become the first-ever women vice president in the history of the United States. The daughter of Indian and Jamaican immigrant parents, the former California senator is also the first person of color to take the role of vice president. She dedicated her win to the civil rights movement.
Image: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
'You're fired!'
Jubilant crowds gathered at Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington D.C., in front of the White House. Democrat supporters took to the streets from New York to LA, with many ecstatic about the end of Donald Trump's presidency. "You're fired!" — a phrase famously used by Trump in his TV series The Apprentice — was a common sight among the crowds.
Image: picture alliance/Kyodo
Unbelievable loss
Many Trump supporters have expressed disbelief at the fact that their preferred candidate lost the election. Across the country, people protested what they claimed to be a stolen election, as seen here in Beverly Hills, California. Supporters have repeated claims made by the president that ballots counted after Election Day are "illegal", although no evidence has yet been given.
Image: helenhhww/REUTERS
Giuliani claims foul play from parking lot
To much ridicule, Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, led a press conference from the parking lot of a Philadelphia gardening center called Four Seasons after the campaign failed to successfully book the luxury hotel by the same name. Giuliani and Trump alike have refused to concede the election, pinning their hopes on a series of legal actions against what they claim is electoral fraud.
Image: Eduardo Munoz/REUTERS
Harris: A new role model
Younger voters were overwhelmingly in favor of the Biden-Harris ticket. The president and vice president-elect both expressed their gratitude to minorities, especially the Africa American community, for coming out in their millions to vote and help them win.
Image: Mark Makela/REUTERS
Tight race concluded
Joe Biden was elected with the largest number of votes in US history. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, many of those votes were sent in by mail, posing a challenge for electoral workers who had to count the unprecedented number of ballots. The delay in counting led to the early appearance of victory for Trump in several key states that Biden eventually won, such as Pennsylvania.
Image: Brandon Bell/REUTERS
International celebration
Locals from the Indian village of Painganadu in Tamil Nadu state celebrated the election of Kamala Harris as vice president. Harris' maternal grandfather was born in the neighboring village of Thulasendrapuram, south of Chennai. Biden and Harris have also been congratulated by an increasing number of politicians and heads of state from across the world.
Image: Aijaz Rahi/picture alliance/AP Photo
Relief in Berlin
Marianne Hoenow, an American woman from Connecticut, celebrated the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in front of the Brandenburg Gate, next to the US embassy in Berlin. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also congratulated the election winners, calling the relationship between Berlin and Washington "indispensable."
