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Mitch McConnell distances from Trump's voter 'fraud' claim, calls for counting of every legal ballot

The support for Trump's stand is wavering as many in the GOP have slammed the president for making unfounded claims
PUBLISHED NOV 7, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

With neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden achieving 270 electoral votes days after November 3, the world awaits results of the 2020 presidential with bated breath. Even as counting takes place in crucial states, Trump, his family and supporters are making several claims -- from voter fraud and burning down of ballots to unfounded polling issues and a series of lawsuits -- as the president trails Biden in many states. In a White House address on Thursday, Trump said that his adversaries were trying to "steal" the election from him and vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court. 

Amidst this, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell chose to ignore these wild claims of election fraud by Trump. On Friday morning, he tweeted, "Here's how this must work in our great country: Every legal vote should be counted. Any illegally-submitted ballots must not. All sides must get to observe the process. And the courts are here to apply the laws & resolve disputes. That's how Americans' votes decide the result."

The Kentucky Republican's tweet goes against Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election is rigged and that Democrats are involved in a widespread fraud to facilitate Biden's victory to the White House.

Speaking a day before Trump's White House speech, McConnell said that while, "it's not unusual for people to claim they've won the election … claiming you win the election is different from finishing the counting. And what we're going to see here in the next few days, both in the Senate races and in the presidential race, is each state will ultimately get to a final outcome".

When he was asked if he thinks it is appropriate for the courts to stop counting votes, he said, "My personal view is it's none of the federal government's business how states decide to conduct their election. I mean, I think that has been, for 230 years, a state decision, and we have to adapt to how states choose to do it. Perfectly OK to complain about a particular system if you don't like it. But, ultimately, if there's a dispute over it, it's going to be resolved in court."

Trump in his 17-minute speech said that he would "easily win" if "legal votes" were counted. "This is a case where they're trying to steal an election, they're trying to rig an election, and we can't let that happen... If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us, if you count the votes that came in late," he said. Even as the mail-in ballots were being tallied, he took to Twitter to write, "STOP THE COUNT".

McConnell isn't the only one distancing himself from Trump and his wild statements. On Friday, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey on his appearance on 'Today' show said that the president's claims hold no water. "I saw the president's speech last night and it was very hard to watch. The president's allegations of large-scale fraud and theft of the election are just not substantiated. I'm not aware of any significant wrongdoing here."

He made a similar statement on CBS 'This Morning'. "The president's speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very very serious allegations without any evidence to support it."

The support for Trump is wavering as even Illinois GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger called Trump's claims "insane". "We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote (of course). But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court. STOP Spreading debunked misinformation… This is getting insane," he said. 

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