Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) seemingly acknowledged Joe Biden’s status as president-elect, saying the courts “have resolved the disputes” over the presidential election.
“The states have counted, certified their votes. The courts have resolved the disputes. It looks very much like the electors will vote for Joe Biden. And when they do, I hope that [President Trump] puts the country first,” Alexander said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We need to not lose one day in the transition in getting the vaccine out to everybody who needs it.”
Alexander, who is retiring after three terms in the Senate, went on to say that while the president “has a right to take his legal cases, I don’t think his lawyers have a right to go to court with specious lawsuits with no evidence. And I think the processes say it’s over on Monday if the electors vote for Joe Biden, which I expect that they will.”
The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Texas lawsuit that would have thrown out the results in four battleground states. Trump’s own legal team has similarly failed to gain traction in its various legal challenges to the election results.
Host Chuck Todd asked Alexander about comments he made during the president’s impeachment trial, when he said the American population should make the final decision about whether Trump should be removed from office.
“It appears, and I’ve said as clearly as I could for the last several weeks, it appears that when they vote, Joe Biden will be the president,” Alexander responded. “And I believe that the president’s conduct, his behavior, plus the difficulty of governing the country during a pandemic, are the two reasons that he will have lost on Monday if the electors vote for Biden.”