United States Federal election officials rejecting Trump’s voter fraud claims have confirmed the 2020 White House Presidential election vote was the “most secure in American history”.
“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” the committee announced.
The response came after Trump making an unfounded claim said that 2.7mn votes for him were “deleted” in last week’s election. The Republican has yet to concede to the President-elect in last week’s election.
The Election officials
A joint statement issued by the Department of Homeland security and Cybersecurity and infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa) said: “While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too.
“When you have questions, turn to elections officials as trusted voices as they administer elections.”
The head of Cisa, Christopher Krebs told Reuters news agency that he expects his dismissal at the hands of Trump administration. It reported that Krebs had invited the displeasure of the current WH occupant over a Cisa website named Rumor Control which dumps elections misinformation.
On Thursday, Krebs shared a post by an election law expert that said: “Please don’t retweet wild and baseless claims about voting machines, even if they’re made by the president.”
Cisa assistant director Bryan Ware resigned form his post on Thursday after the WH asked him to step down earlier this week.
How are Republicans responding?
A small but growing minority of Republicans is supporting calls for President-elect Joe Biden to be given access to daily intel briefs. Lindsey Graham, a notable Trump supporter, was among the fellow GOP members suggesting the next occupant of White House should get the secret presidential memo as is usual with other Presidents. However, a big part of Republicans in Congress is still rooting for the party fellow and have so far refused to validate Biden as a President-elect. The projected winner was declared by US news outlets last week with some ballots still to be tallied.
Trump meanwhile has launched a number of petitions challenging the projected results in battleground states and levelled unverified charges of systemic electoral rigging. The Republican on Tuesday tweeted that voting software in 28 states had deleted millions of votes for him without any valid proof to back up his claim.
Democrat’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the “absurd circus” meant the COVID-19 pandemic was being neglected and urged GOP leaders to accept reality. Around 10-20 Republicans in Congress have either acknowledged the Biden as President-elect or called for the moves towards a well-oiled transition. However, most have yet to accept him as a legitimate President-elect.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons said some Republicans have contracted him to congratulate the Democrat on their behalf as they couldn’t do publicly for now.
Why are Republicans silent?
Senator Graham was among the group backing the calls for Biden to be provided with the top-secret daily document the president is given. The other leaders suggesting the same included John Cornyn, John Thune and Chuck Grassley however, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said the Democrat was “not president right now” and should wait.
Democratic senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said they were “deliberately casting doubt on our elections for no other reason but fear of Donald Trump”.
With all that is happening, Republicans are becoming conspicuous in not alienating the Trump base as the Party bigwigs fear they will get the same outcome in two Senate run-off elections in January in Georgia without Trump’s camp and fanbase. Biden who is way ahead of Trump with 5.2mn votes has enough electoral college numbers to take the White House.
A little less legitimate Trump has become a lot less asserting and has so far kept a low profile since the election. He has reportedly disclosed to those in his closer circle that he wants to establish a digital media company to take on the conservative network Fox News. While according to CBS network Trump is eying a potential 2024 campaign to retake his throne.
Meanwhile Biden on Thursday spoke with Pope Francis who congratulated him on his success and offered blessings. Biden who is currently huddling with his transition team in Wilmington, Delaware will be only second Roman Catholic president of United States. The President-elect picked up veteran Democratic aide Ron Klain as his White House chief of staff on Wednesday.
