Republican senators forced to defend elections after Trump refused to commit to peaceful transition

Republicans asserted Thursday that if Joe Biden is elected president in November there will be an ‘orderly transition’ after Donald Trump refused to commit to ‘peacefully’ leaving office if he loses.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell assured Thursday: ‘The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th.’

‘There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,’ he continued in his tweet.

GOP lawmakers were forced to speak out in defense of U.S. election integrity after the president would not directly answer a question on if he intends to peacefully transition power in January should he be elected out of office after his first term. 

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida said Thursday that ‘we will peacefully swear in the President’ as per the usual timeline for swearing in a new president after an election year.

‘As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate & fair election,’ the Republican senator tweeted the morning after Trump made the questionable comments.

‘It may take longer than usual to know the outcome,but it will be a valid one,’ he continued, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots holding up the outcome. ‘And at noon on Jan 20,2021 we will peacefully swear in the President.’ 

Mitt Romney also lashed out on Twitter Wednesday evening.

‘Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,’ the Utah Republican said in reference to the European country experiencing mass protests as its president sought a sixth term and was secretly sworn in despite the opposition candidate claiming they received 60-70 per cent of the votes.

‘Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,’ Romney continued in his tweet. 

President Trump was asked during a press briefing Wednesday evening if he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the November election – and declined to do so.

‘Well, we’ll have to see what happens,’ said Trump, when pressed on the matter at the White House.

It was a similar comment to those he made in 2016 when asked similar questions.

Romney’s comments about the refusal came just days after he said he would agree to vote to confirm whomever Trump nomination to take the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of waiting until after the election.

Many worried Romney’s criticism of the president – and the fact that he was the only Republican to indict the president on one article of impeachment – would lead him to defect from the rank and file of the Party. 

After refusing to go along with a pledge to vacate the Oval Office if he loses the election, the president attacked Democrats Wednesday and delivered swipes that appeared to be directed at mail-in voting, the subject of his frequent attacks at the White House and at campaign rallies.

‘Win lose or draw in this election will you commit here today for a peaceful transferal of power after the election?’ Trump was asked at the top of his press briefing. 

‘Well, we’ll have to see what happens,’ Trump replied – entertaining the question, but also refusing to commit. 

His questioner pointed to ‘rioting’ in U.S. cities, and asked if Trump would commit to making sure there is a peaceful transfer of power after the election. 

‘You know that. I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots. And the ballots are a disaster,’ he said, in a likely reference to mail-in ballots. Trump regularly says they are rife with fraud, although a handful of states use them for elections.    

‘Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful – there won’t be a transfer frankly, there’ll be a continuation,’ Trump said.

He continued: ‘The ballots are out of control. You know if. And you know who knows it better than anybody else, the Democrats,’ he said. 

Trump’s refusal for a straight answer came the same day The Atlantic published an article titled ‘The Election that Could Break America,’ which played out scenarios where Trump would refuse to accept results amid court cases and recounts, and rejects the outcome even if rival Joe Biden appears to have won or be within sight of prevailing in the Electoral College. 

Biden was at a loss for words when asked how he felt about the president’s comments.

‘What country are we in?’ the former vice president queried to reporters.

‘I’m being facetious,’ he clarified. ‘I said, what country are we in? Look, he says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say.’

The president made the comment as some of his fiercest critics have accused him of making moves toward authoritarianism. Biden said this summer trump will ‘try to steal’ but said he is convinced the military ‘will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.’

The president faces the backdrop of ongoing investigations by prosecutors in New York that could implicate the president if he were to leave office. 

On Wednesday, a New York judge ruled that Eric Trump must comply with a subpoena in a probe that extends to Trump Organization statements when obtaining financing for projects. 

Trump concluded the briefing saying he had to take an ’emergency phone call’ and turned the podium over to coronavirus advisor Dr. Scott Atlas.