Obama says voter fraud claims by Trump undermining Democracy
Obama about to launch his new book "A Promised Land"
Former President Barack Obama has blamed senior Republicans are undermining democracy by toeing the line of Trump and his baseless voter fraud claims. In an interview with CBS News airing on Sunday, Obama said President-elect Joe Biden had clearly sealed the White House win. The projected result issued by US media outlets last weekend declared Biden a clear victor. While President Trump has levelled unsubstantiated allegations of ballot tampering and launched a host of legal challenges. Trump camp has yet to come up with the evidence to prove their claims.
Trump’s predecessor who was a White House occupant for 8-years said the allegations were evident of the fact that “the president doesn’t like to lose”.
“I’m more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials, who clearly know better, are going along with this,” he added. “It’s one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally, and that’s a dangerous path.”
Obama was speaking ahead of the release of his new memoir, A Promised Land which throws light on his rise to the Senate and first term as a president. Releasing on Nov 17 this year, it is the first of two books by African-American president charting his time in WH as a president.
In his memoir Obama said Trump ascended to power echelons by igniting fear about a Black man leading the US, according to excerpts provided by CNN.
“It was as if my very presence in the White House had triggered a deep-seated panic, a sense that the natural order had been disrupted,” he reportedly wrote.
“For millions of Americans spooked by a Black man in the White House, [Trump] promised an elixir for their racial anxiety.”
What about transition?
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Republicans to deal with the reality after Biden’s resounding win. A small number of GOP leaders have congratulated Biden or have supported the calls for Biden to be given daily intelligence briefs. However most in party are still backing Trump as a victor and have failed to acknowledge the Biden’s triumph.
Meanwhile a group of senior US officials liable for the transparency of Presidential polls has called last week’s election “the most secure in American history,” adding that they had found no hint the integrity of the elections was compromised.
“We can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too,” the group said in a statement.
