As President Donald Trump continues blocking government officials from cooperating with President-elect Joe Biden’s team, he is also reportedly forming a political action committee after he leaves office.
Some Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, rallied behind Trump’s efforts to fight the election results, and at least one leading GOP senator is urging Trump to run again in 2024.
During a Monday interview with Fox News Radio, Sen. Lindsey Graham said, “I would encourage President Trump ... to not let this movement die, to consider running again.”
Graham also said if the GOP maintains control of the Senate, "we need to do a joint committee in the Senate to analyze mail-in balloting and how it worked in 2020.”
The New York Times is reporting Trump will form a political action committee after he leaves office.
Attorney General William Barr is authorizing the Justice Department to probe allegations of voter fraud. On Monday, Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to probe “substantial” allegations of voter irregularities and election fraud.
Biden campaign lawyer Bob Bauer said Barr’s memorandum authorizing investigations “will only fuel the ‘specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims’ he professes to guard against.”
Biden pressed forward with plans to build out his administration, assembling a team of experts to face the surging pandemic. But the federal agency that needs to greenlight the beginnings of the transition of power held off on taking that step.
The Electoral College is slated to formally confirm Biden’s victory Dec. 14, and the Democrat will be sworn into office in late January.
“Our institutions are actually built for this,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate on Monday. “We have the system in place to consider concerns, and President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options.”
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer countered the Republicans' refusal to accept the election results was “extremely dangerous, extremely poisonous to our democracy.”
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska offered congratulations to Biden, and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine noted the Democrat’s “apparent victory.” But many Republican lawmakers were reluctant to speak up about the election, seeing little political incentive to take a firm stance on Trump’s transition from the White House.
Adding to the sense of uncertainty, the General Services Administration held off on formally beginning the transition, preventing Biden’s teams from gaining access to federal agencies. An agency spokesperson said late Monday an “ascertainment” on the winner of the election had not yet been made. Citing what the agency did during the extended 2000 electoral recount, it signaled that it may not do so until Trump concedes or the Electoral College meets next month.
That Florida recount involved a margin of 537 votes in the one state that would have determined which candidate reached 270 electoral votes. Biden’s leads across Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, which pushed him over the threshold to win the White House, are far more substantial — and greater than Trump’s leads in the same states in 2016.
On a call Monday night with reporters, a transition official said the Biden team believes it is time for the GSA administrator to ascertain that Biden is president-elect. The official, who spoke only on anonymity as a ground rule for the call, said legal action is “certainly a possibility” if that doesn’t happen, though there are other options being considered.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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