Republicans call on Trump to allow Biden briefings

More Republicans have called on the administration of President Donald Trump to allow Joe Biden to receive intelligence briefings in what seems to be tacit acknowledgement the Democrat will soon occupy the White House in spite of the president's refusal to concede.

They said on Thursday that Biden is entitled to intelligence briefings even if they were not ready to recognize him as the winner of the disputed election on November 3.

Most Republican officials and lawmakers have publicly remained behind the Trump campaign’s push to contest the result through lawsuits challenging vote counts in individual states.

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The president’s campaign has filed a string of lawsuits since the media declared Biden the winner, with Trump repeatedly claiming that there was widespread voting fraud.

Hand-count audits, meanwhile, in over six counties in the battleground state of Arizona, where Biden continues to lead, found only minor discrepancies, according to the secretary of state's office.

The audits involve hand counts of a random sampling of ballots.

Biden, meanwhile, has been moving ahead with the work of preparing to govern as his fellow Democrats in Congress criticized Republican election “shenanigans” and urged action on the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

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Republican senators - John Cornyn, Ron Johnson, James Lankford, Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham – among others called on the Trump administration to allow Biden access to presidential daily intelligence briefings.

The president-elect traditionally receives those briefings from the intelligence community to learn of threats the US is facing before taking office.

“I don’t see it as a high-risk proposition. I just think it’s part of the transition. And, uh, if in fact he does win in the end, I think they need to be able to hit the ground running,” Cornyn told reporters.

Graham, a vocal Trump defender, when was asked if the briefings should happen, said, “I think so, yeah.”

The top House Republican, Kevin McCarthy, however, opposed the idea. “He’s not president right now. I don’t know if he’ll be president January 20^th.”

Some 150 former US officials - including some from the Trump administration – also said intelligence briefings were critical to ensuring the continuity of government.

Meanwhile, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer - the two top Democrats in Congress- urged Republicans Thursday to join them in passing legislation to address the pandemic and buttress the battered ailing economy.

“The Republicans should stop their shenanigans about an election that President Trump has already lost and focus their attention on the immediate issue at hand – providing relief to a country living through the COVID health and economic crisis,” Schumer said.

Pelosi said Biden, who has spent five decades in public life as a senator and vice president, “knows the territory” and will be “just fine” in the transition.”

However, she noted, “It’s most unfortunate that the Republicans have decided that they will not respect the will of the people.”

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