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US Senate Republican Leader Acknowledges Biden Victory

Ken Bredemeier

   WASHINGTON - Six weeks after the U.S. presidential election, Republican
   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Tuesday that
   Democrat Joe Biden is the country's president-elect.

   McConnell congratulated Biden as President Donald Trump continued his
   unfounded claims that voter fraud cheated him out of reelection.

   McConnell, who had refrained from declaring Biden the winner, said in a
   Senate speech that Biden's 306-232 victory Monday in the Electoral
   College made his claim to a four-year term in the White House a
   reality.

   "As of this morning, our country has officially a president-elect and a
   vice president-elect," McConnell said. "Many millions of us had hoped
   the presidential election would yield a different result. But our
   system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on
   January 20. The Electoral College has spoken."

   "So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden," McConnell
   said. "The president-elect is no stranger to the Senate. He's devoted
   himself to public service for many years. I also want to congratulate
   the vice president-elect, our colleague from California, Sen. [Kamala]
   Harris. All Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice
   president-elect for the very first time."

   Trump did not immediately respond to McConnell's acknowledgment that
   Biden would become the country's 46th president.

   Instead, he said on Twitter, "Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter
   fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!"

   Twitter tagged Trump's tweet, saying, "This claim about election fraud
   is disputed."

   Later, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany deflected questions
   about the McConnell statement. She said Trump was "still involved in
   litigation" over the outcome of the election although he and his allies
   have lost more than 50 lawsuits claiming vote and vote-counting
   irregularities. Trump has refused to concede his defeat to Biden.

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