US elections 2020: Transfer of power will happen on time

Washington, Nov 18: The transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden's administration would be "orderly" and happen "right on time," according to a top Republican leader and Senator Mitch McConnell.

Last week, the mainstream media declared Biden as the winner of the presidential election after the 77-year-old former vice president crossed the mandatory 270 electoral votes out of the 538-member Electoral College.

Trump, 74, however, has refused to concede the election, asserting that he has won.

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has said that there would be a smooth transition of power to the next administration.

We are going to have an orderly transfer from this administration to the next one, he told reporters at the US Capitol when asked about the fact that the incumbent Republican President Trump has refused to concede the election to President-elect Biden and has filed multiple lawsuits challenging the results of the election.

What we all say about it is frankly irrelevant. All of this will happen right on time, and we will swear in the next administration on January 20, McConnell said.

In all the presidential elections the country goes through this process, he said, adding that there's a way to deal with disputes, it's called the courts.

And the courts in the various states are dealing with whatever disputes there are, whatever evidence may be provided, he said.

Of late, several Republican lawmakers have been directly or indirectly acknowledging that Biden has won the elections. During a vote on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening, several Republican senators congratulate Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, on her electoral victory, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's most outspoken supporters, gave Harris a fist-bump, the daily said, adding that Senator Tim Scott also gave her a fist-bump. Senator Mike Rounds gave her an elbow-bump.

The elections are not settled...You can spin it however you want to but if someone walks right up to you, you say, Hello, congratulations,'" Senator James Lankford said.

Senators Marco Rubio and John Cornyn on Monday described Biden as President-elect.

"I have every confidence that come January the 20th, we're going to inaugurate a new president. And I think it will probably be Joe Biden," Cornyn said.

Well, that'll be the president-elect's decision obviously," Rubio said, responding to a question on the next director of National Intelligence.

Ultimately that's what the results, the preliminary results, seem to indicate. You certainly have to anticipate if that's the highest likelihood at this point," Rubio said when asked to clarify his use of the term president-elect for Biden.

"But obviously the president has legal claims in court and he'll continue to pursue those, and if that changes, obviously, it'll be something we'll have to deal with," he said.

Senator Mitt Romney was the first Republican senator to congratulate Biden and Harris on their electoral victory.