John Bolton: Republicans Must “Acknowledge the Reality” That Biden is “President-Elect”

Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:21 pm

In an interview with NPR that aired today, President Donald Trump‘s former national security adviser John Bolton urged Republicans to “acknowledge the reality” that President Donald Trump lost the general election and that Joe Biden is the president-elect.

Bolton said that “the country deserves to give” Biden “the preparation he needs” despite Republican opposition. He also said, in reference to President Trump, that “A gracious president who kept the country’s interests first would acknowledge that.”

“All I’m saying is that showing disagreement with the president is not fatal to your political future. I’m not asking anybody to climb Mount Suribachi and plant the American flag on top of it,” Bolton said.

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Bolton also addressed the president’s claims of voter fraud, which have been repeatedly struck down by the courts despite his campaign’s attempts to further a narrative that Biden benefited from Democrats cheating to win the election.

“The arguments that Trump and his campaign are making on the conspiracy to deny him reelection is this conspiracy is so vast and so successful, that apparently there’s no evidence of it,” he said.

Bolton’s comments come after a joint statement from the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees, that they found “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” The statement went on to refer to the 2020 general election as “the most secure in American history.” 

Bolton went on to say that the Trump administration should allow the Biden-Harris transition to proceed and that Biden should be given access to presidential intelligence briefings. NPR reported yesterday that more Republicans are speaking out, urging the party to move forward and provide Biden with intelligence briefings.

Earlier this week, President-elect Joe Biden called President Trump‘s refusal to concede the election “an embarrassment” but indicated the president’s behavior would not stop him for working on a successful transition.

“I just think it’s an embarrassment, quite frankly.” he said on Tuesday. “It will not help the president’s legacy… I think at the end of the day it will all come to fruition on January 20.”