(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) –US: President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday called President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede his election loss an “embarrassment” but dismissed the standoff as unimportant.
“I just think it’s an embarrassment, quite frankly,” Biden said when asked what he thinks about Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat in the November 3 election.
“How can I say this tactfully? I think it will not help the President’s legacy,” Biden told reporters in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware.
A week after the US election, Trump remained shut up in the White House, pushing an alternate reality that he is about to win and filing lawsuits alleging voter fraud that so far have been backed up by only the flimsiest evidence. Biden, meanwhile, mostly ignored Trump.
“The fact that they’re not willing to acknowledge we won at this point is not of much consequence in our planning,” Biden said.
Biden, who won with a record number of votes but acknowledges that nearly half the electorate nevertheless backed Trump, is avoiding a fight.
He said Tuesday that he did not favour taking legal action to force Trump into complying and said with a smile: “Mr President, I look forward to speaking with you.”
Exactly four years ago Tuesday, Trump had just scored his surprise victory against Hillary Clinton and toured the White House for the first time as a guest of Barack Obama.
That courtesy to a President-elect is an old tradition, highlighting the nation’s near sacred respect for the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump has not only failed to invite Biden for a chat in the Oval Office, he is blocking the Democrat from access to facilities, funding and expertise that usually come in a ready made package to help the incoming leader.
Release of this transition aid is controlled by the General Services Administration head Emily Murphy, who was appointed by Trump.- AFP
