Sen. Chris Coons claimed Tuesday that his Republican colleagues are asking him privately to congratulate Joe Biden for winning the election since they can't congratulate him publicly while President Donald Trump pushes forward with his legal challenges against the election results.
"It's past time for Republican leaders to stand up and say, 'We should accept the results of this election,'" the Delaware Democrat, who worked closely with the Biden campaign, said on CNN's "New Day." "They call me to say, you know, 'Congratulations, please convey my well wishes to the president-elect, but I can't say that publicly yet.'''
Coons didn't name any of the Republicans involved, and he thinks his job is to urge them in private to "do the right thing and to help the president accept reality."
He also said he's urging Republicans to help their caucus to stand up publicly, as the transition will be chaotic at best if it doesn't move soon.
However, Coons said he can't speak for the transition team when asked if he thinks it should seek legal action over General Services Administration Administrator Emily Murphy's refusal to sign a document needed to formally start the transition process.
"It is critical to keep moving forward with the transition process, to do everything that the transition team can, to force an acceptance of reality," Coons said. "There is a lot of important, difficult and urgent work to be done on the transition ... they do need access to the vital federal resources that make it easier for them to do their work."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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