“
Joe Biden won the 2020 election and will become the 46th President of the United States,” said Toomey, who has announced he will not run for re-election in 2022. “I congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect
Kamala Harris on their victory.”
Toomey’s comments were rebuked by Trump on Twitter, who said “Senator Pat ‘No Tariffs’ Toomey” was “no friend of mine.”
Earlier, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, chair of the House Republican Conference, said it was time for Trump to respect “the sanctity of our electoral process.”
If Trump cannot prove the claims of widespread fraud that he and his lawyers have made, “he should fulfill his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Cheney said in a statement reported by Politico.
Her comment also attracted a critical tweet from Trump.
H. R. McMaster, Trump’s former national security adviser, said on CBS that Trump’s failure to accept the election results was “corrosive,” and played into Russia’s hands by undermining faith in democracy and U.S. institutions.
And Chris Christie, the former New Jersey Republican governor and Trump confidant, said the conduct of the president’s legal team had been “outrageous” and a “national embarrassment.”
“They allege fraud outside the courtroom, but when they go inside the courtroom, they don’t plead fraud and they don’t argue fraud,” Christie said on ABC’s “This Week.” “You have an obligation to present the evidence. The evidence has not been presented.”
Only a few other GOP senators have distanced themselves from Trump’s attempts to reverse or discredit the outcome of the election.
Senator Mitt Romney of Utah issued the strongest rebuke, saying that by pressuring state and local officials to subvert the will of the people and overturn the election, “it is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting president.”
Trump’s efforts -- including bringing Michigan state GOP lawmakers to the White House on Friday -- may prove to be a bridge too far for some Republicans, who mostly have been tolerant of the president’s extended legal challenges.
Most GOP lawmakers and office-holders including governors haven’t yet recognized Biden as the winner of the Nov. 3 election.
Maryland’s Larry Hogan is among the few Republican governors who have acknowledged Biden’s win. He said Sunday that he was “embarrassed” the majority of the party hasn’t followed suit.
“I just don’t think there are a lot of profiles in courage, frankly,” Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We all know how vindictive the president can be.”
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