Schumer calls out GOP for standing by Trump

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Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer  blasted Republicans for standing by President Trump's claims of fraud and refusing to accept the outcome of the presidential election.

Schumer, D-N.Y., fresh off of winning another term as head of the Senate Democrats, took special issue with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not acknowledging President-elect Joe Biden and saying the transition will be to a "second Trump Administration."

"Joe Biden has won," Schumer said at a Capitol news conference Tuesday. "He's won the election. Now move on. Let's bring this country together and get things done. We have a COVID crisis raging. We don't have time for these kinds of games."

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Schumer also delivered a floor speech saying each day that passes without Republicans accepting the presidential election results, America's trust in democracy declines. He took aim at Georgia GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue, who are competing in high stakes run-off elections Jan. 5, when they called for the GOP secretary of state to resign in Georgia for "no other apparent reason than the fact that President Trump did not win their state," Schumer said.

"That’s the kind of thing you hear about in banana republics and dishonest elections," Schumer added.

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Meanwhile, Republicans largely put up a united front in the Senate on Tuesday, standing by Trump's efforts to fight legal battles against the results and declining to formally acknowledge Joe Biden as the president-elect.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said there's "no reason for alarm" and the delay shouldn't affect the transition "if there is a new administration." 

"Anyone who's running for office can exhaust concerns about counting in any court of appropriate jurisdiction," McConnell said. "That's not unusual. It should not be alarming. At some point here we'll find out."

Keeping the pressure on could have political benefits, especially in Georgia, where the race has not yet been called because of the thin margin separating Biden and Trump. Republicans are trying to keep the base of the party animated heading into the Jan. 5 run-off elections that will decide control of the Senate. 

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If Democrats Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock defeat Purdue and Loeffler, then Republicans will have lost power in the House, Senate and White House -- giving a Biden Administration smoother sailing to move the Democratic agenda.