The Senate Majority Leader has broken his silence over the results of the 2020 presidential election, making it clear he is in Donald Trump’s corner. Mitch McConnell spoke from the floor of the Senate today (watch above) saying “President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations into irregularities and weigh his legal options.”
“The core principle here is not complicated. In the United States of America, all legal ballots must be counted. Any illegal ballots must not be counted. The process must be transparent or observable by all sides, and the courts are here to work through concerns.”
He also gave the media jab over projecting Joe Biden as the winner.
“And notably, the Constitution gives no role in this process to wealthy media corporations. The projections and commentary of the press do not get veto power over the legal rights of any citizen, including the president.”
But as Poynter writes, “The AP has been leading this charge and “counting the vote” since 1848.”
In addition, McConnell made a false comparison to Al Gore’s fight in 2000. In reality, that was over a razor-thin margin in one state. This race is completely different. If the results end where things stand now, Biden could beat Donald Trump by 77 electoral votes. Trump is looking at legal battles in several states, whereas Gore just contested Florida.
I wouldn't worry about McConnel's speech. They're not going to try anything. They have no path here.
All McConnell is doing is trying to show the base that they’re fighting for Trump. They know this is the party of Trump now. It was a "keep Trumpism alive" speech.
— Ahmed Baba (@AhmedBaba_) November 9, 2020
Notably, the Senate Majority Leader made no mention whatsoever of the president-elect.
AXIOS writes, “As of Monday afternoon, only four Republican senators — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Ala.), Mitt Romney (Utah), Susan Collins (Maine) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) — had congratulated Biden on his projected victory.”