[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 195 (Tuesday, November 17, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7026-S7027]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Presidential Election

  Mr. President, losing an election hurts. I know. I lost three 
elections before I ever won one. I suspect that anyone who has ever 
lost an election has had to grapple with the disappointments, the what-
ifs, and even a kind of sadness, bordering on anger, but that is the 
risk you take when you run for office. The voters have the last word.
  Never, until now, have we ever heard it suggested that a losing 
Presidential candidate ought to be allowed to put America's national 
security at risk because he is struggling mightily to accept his own 
loss in the election. Never, until now, have we tolerated a losing 
Presidential candidate's deliberately undermining Americans' faith in 
the integrity of our electoral system.
  Never before have we witnessed a losing Presidential candidate 
refuse, out of spite and anger, to follow the law and allow the 
peaceful, orderly transfer of power to his successor. Never before now 
could many Americans even imagine an outgoing President deliberately 
sabotaging our Nation's heroic efforts to bring an end to the deadliest 
health crisis in our country, but that is what is happening. It is 
shocking. It is dangerous. It is shameful. It needs to stop now.
  Some of my Republican colleagues ask: What harm can it do? We want to 
humor the President. He is going through a period of adjustment here. 
He lost an election. It hurts. The poor President--we have to stick 
with him. We have to parrot his theories of how there will be massive 
numbers of votes discovered somewhere. We know that he is raging in his 
tweets regularly. So he still must be in pain, the poor man, and we 
have to humor him. We have to tell him: Yes, Mr. President. You must be 
right. This election must have been stolen from you.
  Let me tell you what harm it can do. Every minute of every hour, an 
American dies from COVID-19. Every day, 1,000 Americans are dying from 
COVID. That is nearly a 50-percent increase from a month ago. We are 
nearing 1 million new COVID infections every week. The pandemic is 
surging in every single State, and public health experts warn the worst 
is yet to come.
  Over the weekend, we learned that President Trump has not attended a 
single meeting of the White House's coronavirus task force in 5 months. 
He told us why. I am tired of this COVID-19, he says. He has gone AWOL. 
By refusing to concede the results of the election, President Trump is 
preventing our Federal health officials from meeting with President-
Elect Biden's COVID task force and starting to coordinate the efforts 
for the transition that is going to take place on January 20, and 
failing to put the time, personnel, and resources into the distribution 
of a vaccine, which we pray to God will be available soon. In doing 
this, the President is jeopardizing America's ability to successfully 
distribute a COVID vaccine and bring this pandemic, once and for all, 
under control.
  He is deepening our Nation's economic crisis because the first step 
to healing our economy is in defeating this virus--all because of the 
pain he is going through personally. Well, I wish I could share that 
pain, but I am overwhelmed by the pain of America's going through a 
pandemic. The President's hurt feelings don't compare. The grief of 
losing an election is nothing compared to the grief of 246,000 American 
families who have lost loved ones to this pandemic. That is the grief 
we ought to be concerned about.
  More Americans voted in these elections than ever before--in history. 
Now that the election is over, the results are clear: President-Elect 
Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris received 306 electoral votes 
versus 232 electoral votes for President Trump and Vice President 
Pence. Four years ago, the President referred to exactly the same vote 
totals in his favor as a landslide. Today, he refuses to acknowledge 
them. He is so full of himself that he can't feel the pain of others. 
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received at least 5 million more votes than 
President Trump and Vice President Pence. That is the largest popular 
vote margin of victory in a Presidential election since 1932.
  In the 2 weeks since the election has ended, the Trump campaign and 
its allies have decided to strike back and file a flurry of lawsuits in 
six different States, challenging the vote counts. Well, how are they 
doing? These lawsuits have only affirmed the integrity of the election 
results that we knew. Many of the complaints have been dismissed, and 
not a single vote has been invalidated. Even Trump campaign officials 
privately and publicly agree that none of the remaining legal 
challenges can change the outcome of the election.
  Last Thursday, members of the Election Infrastructure Government 
Coordinating Council, within this administration's own Department of 
Homeland Security, called the 2020 election ``the most secure in 
American history.'
  Over the weekend, a senior Federal election official who was 
nominated by President Trump condemned the President's false 
postelection claims of vote fraud, calling them baffling, laughable, 
and insulting. The same official warned ``these conspiracy theories 
that are flying around have consequences.''
  They are dangerous to our national security. Over the weekend, John 
Bolton, who is President Trump's former National Security Advisor, 
urged Republican leaders to finally acknowledge Mr. Trump's defeat and 
get on with it.
  Another former Trump security adviser, LTG H.R. McMaster, rejected 
Mr. Trump's claim on Twitter that the Presidential election was rigged. 
``What the President says in this tweet--it's just wrong,'' the general 
said. ``It's regrettable, it's counterproductive.''
  John Kelly, once Chief of Staff to the same President, told POLITICO 
that a delayed transition was detrimental to the country's national 
security. His concerns were echoed by more than 150 former national 
security, senior military, and elected officials who called on the 
leader of the General Services Administration, Ms. Emily Murphy, to 
recognize the election of President-Elect Biden and Vice President-
Elect Harris.
  Yet Administrator Murphy refuses to gauge what is known as 
``ascertainment'' to establish who the real winners were. She continues 
to deny President-Elect Biden and his team access to resources and the 
knowledge they need to begin the massive task of setting up a new 
government. Administrator Murphy's actions are in defiance of the 
Federal Presidential Transition Act, the law that has governed the 
transfer of Presidential power in America since 1963.
  Quite stunningly, what we are hearing from our American President--
the

[[Page S7027]]

leader of the free world--are the same kind of nonsense claims that 
petty dictators use to deny citizens democracy and the peaceful 
transfers of power. One need only look at Belarus, at the moment, for a 
timely comparison. America is the country that stands against these 
kinds of undemocratic attempts at power around the world, not a nation 
that cowers in fear.
  Leader McConnell has compared President Trump's refusal to accept the 
election results to the delay in determining the winner of the 2000 
election, which sounds right until you look at the facts. He is wrong. 
The comparison is wrong. The 2000 election between President Bush and 
former Vice President Gore ultimately came down to a difference of not 
5 million votes but 537 votes in one State--Florida--not tens of 
thousands of votes in many States. Even Republican attorney and 
elections expert Ben Ginsberg rejects the comparison. He ought to know. 
Ginsberg was part of the team that led President Bush's recount effort 
in 2000.
  The refusal by President Trump and some around him to accept the 
election results is damaging faith in our elections and our democracy. 
The goal is clear: to undermine the legitimacy of the Biden-Harris 
administration even before it is sworn in. He is damaging the ability 
of President-Elect Biden and his team to get to work now on the deep 
and painful challenges we confront as a nation.
  People close to President Trump tell reporters off the record that 
the President knows he can't win. Some say he just needs to very 
gradually come to accept the reality of his defeat.
  Well, with all due respect, Mr. President, your duty is to preserve 
this democracy. Your moral obligation is to prevent unnecessary 
suffering and death and to defend this country.
  For 4 years, Donald Trump has feasted on chaos and the discord of 
America. Time and time again, he has placed his own self-interest over 
our national interest. He has damaged the institutions of our democracy 
and abused his power. We shouldn't be surprised by his destructive 
actions on his way out, but we shouldn't tolerate them either.
  It is time for Donald Trump to accept the clear results of the 
election and for his administration to work with President-Elect 
Biden's team for a successful, peaceful, productive transition of 
power. It is time for the President's friends, allies, and political 
pals to finally level with the President. It is time for a 
confrontation, perhaps--a moment of truth, perhaps--and to say to the 
President: It is over. Now be a man. Stand up, and show this Nation 
that we can have a peaceful transition of power. Show this Nation we 
are prepared to accept the will of the American people.
  Subverting faith in democracy is not a winning strategy, and it 
should be beneath the dignity of any American President
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Texas.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I was listening to our friend, the 
Democratic whip, and his advice to President Trump to capitulate before 
the recounts and before the litigation that has been filed has been 
finally decided. I know they would like to have him do so, but he is 
completely within his rights to use the existing procedures in the 
States and in the local jurisdictions where these elections were 
conducted to review the results to see if there are discrepancies.
  I also know they would like to say it is just about President Trump, 
but more candidates other than President Trump were on the ballot. We 
ought to be in the position of trying to preserve every legal vote for 
every candidate and making sure there are no mistakes, and there is a 
process in place to make that happen.
  I don't know what the ultimate outcome will be--I sort of have a 
sneaking suspicion about what the trend line looks like--but 72 
million-plus people voted for President Trump and Vice President Pence. 
Out of respect for them, at least, if not for the President and the 
Vice President themselves, we ought to let this process play itself 
out. There will be a peaceful transition of power. I have no doubt 
whatsoever.