U.S. Republicans hint at limited time for Trump to make his
post-election case
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[November 11, 2020]
By Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republicans in
the U.S. Congress for now are supporting President Donald Trump's
attempt to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory, but some
senior aides said Trump must soon produce significant evidence or exit
the stage.
A handful of Republican senators have said they recognize Biden as last
week's winner. Many more have not but are suggesting limits to their
patience in giving Trump the benefit of the doubt.
Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, a state that Trump won handily last week,
said in a statement that Biden is leading in enough states to win
election "and President Donald Trump's campaign must produce evidence to
support allegations of election fraud."
Portman added that he hoped states and courts would move "expeditiously"
to resolve the matter.
Behind the scenes, some were more explicit.
"I think the goal here is to give the president and his campaign team
some space to demonstrate there is real evidence to support any claims
of voter fraud. If there is, then they will be litigated quickly. If
not, we’ll all move on," said one senior Senate Republican aide.
A second such aide, while noting that most Republican senators support
Trump's right to refuse to concede, added that failing any surprise
revelations, "At some point this has to give. And I give it a week or
two."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Congress's top Republican,
delivered a stinging speech that sounded more like a continuation of
2020 campaign rhetoric than a post-election call for getting down to
business.
While defending Trump's challenge of the election result, McConnell took
time to chastise "far-left mobs" that engaged in "summertime rioting"
following the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
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Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) arrives ahead of U.S. Attorney General
William Barr testifying before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
entitled "The Justice Department's Investigation of Russian
Interference with the 2016 Presidential Election." on Capitol Hill
in Washington, U.S., May 1, 2019. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File
Photo
McConnell also hinted at something far less than prolonged
litigation, such as was seen in the 2000 contest between George W.
Bush and Al Gore: "Suffice to say a few legal inquiries from the
president do not exactly spell the end of the Republic."
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Marco Rubio late on Monday refused to
recognize Biden as the president-elect yet.
But responding to reporters' questions about unsubstantiated fraud
allegations in hotly contested states such as Pennsylvania, Rubio
said he was in no position to know what was going on anywhere
outside his home state of Florida.
Another matter was higher in some senators' minds -- a pair of
runoff elections in Georgia on Jan. 5 that will determine whether
Republicans maintain control of the Senate next year or must turn it
over to Democrats.
Asked about the battle Trump is waging against Biden, Republican
Senator Mike Rounds said, "No. 1, we have to focus on Georgia and
how critical that is as a backstop right now for limiting the amount
of major changes that a number of our Democratic colleagues have
suggested."
(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Scott Malone and Cynthia
Osterman)
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