A top Senate Democrat said Hillary Clinton was wrong to advise Joe Biden not to concede the election if he is losing to President Trump.
“I disagree with Hillary Clinton. I respect her. I like her. But I think she’s just flat-out wrong. The election itself is going to be announced. The winner will be announced at some point. It’ll take a little longer with all the paper ballots that are being cast,” Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, told ABC’s This Week on Sunday.
Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election and conceded the morning after the contest, said in August that Biden “should not concede under any circumstances.”
“But at some point, I hope my choice, Joe Biden, is elected president. But if we’re going to maintain a democracy, peaceful transition through an election is the only way to do it,” the Senate minority whip said, later adding, “Whoever the winner is, if it is clear and legal, that should be announced, and the other party should concede.”
Concerns that Trump would challenge the results of the election, even among Republicans, were ignited on Wednesday when the president would not “commit” to a “peaceful transfer of power,” declining to answer a reporter’s question clearly during a White House news conference. Trump pointed instead to mail-in ballots, which he has argued are susceptible to fraud and predicted the election would be decided by the Supreme Court.
The White House has stated that Trump will “accept the results of a free and fair election.”
