Amid U.S President Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters in Kentucky on Friday that there would be a peaceful transfer of power if the Republican loses reelection, The Hill reported.
“Of course,” he said when pressed on the issue in a press conference.
“We’ve had a peaceful transfer of power going back to 1792, every four years, we’ve moved on to a new administration.”
McConnell was also pressed on Trump’s rhetoric, which has faced criticism from some Republicans, who believe he is attacking the institutions that form the foundation of the United States’ democracy. The 78-year-old politician pointed to a Twitter statement in which he called for a legitimate vote-counting process and appeared to echo Trump’s recent comments that Joe Biden is leading due to the counting of illegal ballots.
“Every legal vote should be counted. Any illegally-submitted ballots must not. All sides must get to observe the process. And the courts are here to apply the laws & resolve disputes. That’s how Americans’ votes decide the result,” McConnell tweeted.
McConnell refused to answer questions about a scenario where Trump does not accept the result of the election and also claimed he has adequately addressed the subject of possible fraud.
“I’ve already covered the subject, I told you, I sent out a tweet this morning which covers my view of where we are.”
Trump has hinted that he would not leave the White House peacefully on many occasions. In one instance, McConnell — as in the Friday press conference — acted as a buffer for the president’s controversial comments and assured the public that a peaceful transfer would take place regardless of the winner of the election.
The president is currently involved in lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia and has claimed that foul play is at work at vote-counting stations. As The Inquisitr reported, journalist Charles Hurt argued that the president should focus on contesting every aspect of the election to ensure that any irregularities do not affect his chances of winning. The writer claimed that federal officials could not be trusted given their purported bias against Trump.
As of Friday evening, Biden has 264 electoral votes, and Trump has 214. The Democrat is ahead in the remaining states of Georgia, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, while Trump is ahead in North Carolina. Trump is planning to contest the results in Wisconsin and demand a recount, and he will likely have the opportunity to do the same in Georgia.
