Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) on Sunday acknowledged President Biden was the “legitimately elected president” as Republicans continue to be peppered with questions about whether the 2020 election was legitimate.
Pressed by ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos on whether the 2020 election was stolen, Youngkin said, “Well, I’ve consistently said that Joe Biden was legitimately elected president. He’s sleeping in the White House. I wish he weren’t.”
Youngkin’s comments came shortly after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) appeared on the same program, in which he repeatedly refused to say if the 2020 election was stolen.
More than 100 House lawmakers voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Arizona, Pennsylvania or both during Congress’s official Electoral College count in January 2021.
While Youngkin acknowledged that Biden is the president, he also had criticisms for the commander in chief.
“In all candor, the chaos that we see around the world and at home is his projected weakness,” Youngkin continued. “International foreign policy has resulted in multiple spots of chaos from Israel to Ukraine to China, is his foreign policy weakness again, has resulted in bad adversaries being funded like Iran.”
Republicans have pounced on the Biden administration’s prisoner swap with Iran in September that was supposed to unfreeze $6 billion in funds in exchange for the release of five American prisoners. The deal drew criticism at the time from Republicans who argued it would free up other resources for Tehran, and it came under stronger scrutiny in the wake of Hamas’s attack on Israel last month.
Iran has been a longtime backer of Hamas, supplying it with money, military training and weapons. Hamas is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.
Youngkin also took aim at Biden’s domestic policies, arguing the president shows “weakness at our border.”
“And then we see his weakness at our border, which has turned every state into a border state,” Youngkin said. “The free flow of illegal drugs and crime has really invaded everywhere. We have five Virginians a day on average that died from fentanyl overdoses. And of course, the chaos in our economy is not only hurting Virginians, and Americans, but it projects weakness around the world yet again.”
“And so, I wish he wasn’t our president. We can’t afford to have him be our president again,” Youngkin continued, claiming Virginians continue to tell him of issues related to jobs, inflation, public safety and education.
Youngkin said earlier this year he does not expect to make an endorsement in the 2024 presidential primary.
After previously hinting at a potential White House bid in his future, Youngkin has signaled that an announcement is possible but unlikely.
Youngkin’s comments come just days ahead of elections in the Old Dominion state, where Democrats and Republicans are expected to fight over control of the commonwealth’s two legislative bodies, which could impact next year’s general elections across the nation.
There are four open seats up for grabs in the Virginia Senate and five in the state’s House of Delegates. Republicans currently control the state’s House, 50 to 46, while Democrats hold a majority in the Senate, 22 to 18.