Joe Biden warns ‘people may die’ if Donald Trump continues refusing to concede US election

Robert Dex @RobDexES17 November 2020

US President-elect Joe Biden has warned “people may die” if Donald Trump refuses a smooth hand over of power to his administration.

President Trump is still contesting the result of this months presidential election tweeting that his opponents were trying to “steal” the election despite Biden and his running mate - Kamala Harris - having a clear majority of the vote.

Trump’s refusal to concede has meant the incoming Biden administration has not been given access to government in order to plan taking over on January 20 when the Democrat should be inaugurated as the next President.

Asked about the consequences of a delayed transition, Biden told reporters “People may die if we don’t coordinate”.

Biden, who served as vice-president to Barack Obama, said: “If we have to wait until January 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind, over a month and a half. And so, its important that it be done - that there be coordination now. Now or as rapidly as we can get that done.”

The Washington Post reported the head of the government agency charged with starting the transition process is refusing to sign the paperwork that would give the Biden team access to government officials and paperwork to allow them to start planning their response to the covid crisis.

Around 246,000 have died of Covid-19 in the US with the daily death toll topping 1,000 and many states reporting surges in infections that threaten to overwhelm their health services.

CNN’s White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond reported Biden specifically praised state governors who belong to Trump’s Republican party who have taken action to try to stop the spread of the virus.

He also said he “wouldn’t hesitate” to get the vaccine if scientists thought it was safe and said wearing a mask was “about being patriotic”. 

He added: "It's about saving lives."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in