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- Over 100 Republican national security experts on Monday called on GOP congressional leaders to push President Donald Trump to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, according to the Washington Post.
- In a signed letter, the experts urged current GOP officeholders and Trump to prioritize the country’s national security interests above politics.
- “President Trump’s refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks to our national security, at a time when the US confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces,” the statement read.
- Trump is continuing to block the General Services Administration from signing off on declaring Biden as the president-elect.
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More than 100 top Republican national security experts on Monday called on GOP congressional leaders to push President Donald Trump to concede the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden and begin the formal transition process with the new administration, according to The Washington Post.
In a signed letter, Republican luminaries from William Webster, director of the FBI and CIA during the administration of President Ronald Reagan, to Tom Ridge, the former Pennsylvania governor and first Secretary of Homeland Security, came together to urge GOP leaders and Trump to put the country’s national security interests first.
Other high-profile signatories include former CIA director Michael Hayden, former director of national intelligence John Negroponte, former US Senator and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, and former CIA director and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden.
“President Trump’s refusal to permit the presidential transition poses significant risks to our national security, at a time when the US confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces,” the statement read. “The delay in allowing transition teams to meet and confer with officials on the Coronavirus Task Force and at the National Security Council, the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security, and the other departments and agencies critical to US national security means that the incoming Biden Administration will be less prepared to defend America’s security when it assumes power.”
The letter asks current elected GOP lawmakers to “publicly demand that President Trump cease his anti-democratic assault on the integrity of the presidential election.”
The group added: "Although some Republican leaders have supported President Trump's right to challenge aspects of the voting in various states, for the good of the country, they should now strongly oppose his dangerous and extra-legal efforts to intimidate state election officials and distort the Electoral College process."
Trump has refused to begin the transition process with Biden's team, blocking the General Services Administration (GSA) from signing off on declaring his successor as the president-elect. This is a necessary step for government coordination and also to open up millions of dollars for the transition.
Biden won the Electoral College with 306 electoral votes versus Trump's 232 electoral votes. But the president has unleashed a litany of lawsuits alleging voter fraud and massive irregularities despite not providing any concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Biden has forged ahead on his national security appointments, naming Antony Blinken as his pick for Secretary of State and Jake Sullivan as his choice for national security advisor. On Monday, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the administration of former president Barack Obama, was also named as Biden's choice for US Ambassador to the United Nations.