Army will give marching orders if President refuses to go: Joe Biden
Joe Biden says his chief worry is that Donald Trump will attempt to ‘steal’ the November election.
Joe Biden says his chief worry is that Donald Trump will attempt to “steal” the November election, and the Democratic challenger says he’s even considered the possibility that the Republican incumbent would refuse to leave the White House should he lose.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany accused the former vice-president of trafficking in conspiracy theories.
“My single greatest concern: This president’s going to try and steal this election,” Mr Biden said on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, which was broadcast on Thursday. “This is a guy who said all mail-in ballots are fraudulent, voting by mail, while he sits behind the desk in the Oval Office and writes his mail-in ballot to vote in the primary.”
Mr Biden was asked whether he had considered what would happen if Mr Trump refused to vacate the presidency in the event he wasn’t re-elected.
“I have,” Mr Biden said, before suggesting that the military could step in to ensure a peaceful transition of power. “I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.”
Ms McEnany said Mr Biden was taking “a ridiculous proposition”, telling Fox News: “This President’s looking forward to November. This President’s hard at work for the American people. And leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories.”
Mr Biden’s comments come as Mr Trump has intensified his claim that absentee voting, which many states are expanding to avoid large crowds at polling places during the coronavirus pandemic, increases the possibility of fraud.
A chaotic Tuesday primary in Georgia, where there were problems with voting machines and long lines, may foreshadow a messy November election.
Mr Trump resumed in-person fundraising events after a three- month hiatus as his campaign tries to maintain a steep cash advantage over Mr Biden. The President travelled to Dallas to raise more than $US10m ($14.6m) for his campaign and the Republican Party. He has scheduled another event on Saturday at his New Jersey golf course.
During the Daily Show interview, Mr Biden said that more than 20 states had passed 80-plus pieces of legislation “making it harder for people vote”. He said his campaign was assembling a team of lawyers to observe balloting in “every district in the country”.
Also, Mr Biden acknowledged during a virtual National Association for the Advancement of Colored People forum that questions raised about his support for the 1994 crime bill were “legitimate”. Mr Biden helped write the tough-on-crime bill when he was a Delaware senator. Critics say it contributed to the mass incarceration of racial minorities.
Black voters remain key to Democrats’ chances in the election. Mr Biden has engaged in a concerted outreach effort to the African-American community, and has released a plan focused on black economic mobility and racial disparities in healthcare and education systems.
“Watch what I do,” he said during the forum. “Judge me based on what I do, what I say and to whom I say it.”
AP
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