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President-elect Joe Biden criticized President Trump on Monday for what he described as a painfully slow delivery rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Biden spoke in Atlanta as he campaigned with the two Democratic challengers on the eve of Georgia’s second round of Senate elections, which will decide whether Republicans retain their majority in the Senate. The former vice president said “it’s a shame what’s happening now” with the vaccine, accusing “this administration has got off to a bad start”.
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But Biden made no direct mention of a controversial taped phone conversation between the president and Georgian Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger – which went viral on Sunday and dominated media headlines.
At one point in the leaked conversation, which was first reported by the Washington Post, Trump allegedly told the Republican Secretary of State, “All I want to do is this. I want to do this. just find 11,780 votes, which is one more than what we have, because we won the state. “
That’s one more vote than the 11,779 votes by which Biden passed Trump in Georgia, according to the state’s certified election results. Ballots in Georgia have been counted three times – the initial count on election day, a mandatory manual count, and a recount requested by the presidential campaign. Trump refused to concede to Biden and claimed for two months that there had been massive voter fraud in Georgia and five other states where he was beaten by the former vice president.
Biden criticized Trump for “whining and complaining” rather than acting as president. “I don’t know why he still wants the job,” Biden said of Trump. “He doesn’t want to do the job.”
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Biden joined Democratic Senate challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in a drive-through rally a few blocks south of downtown Atlanta. The president-elect event took place just hours before Trump campaigned for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in Dalton, in heavily Republican northwest Georgia.
The election eve rallies by the outgoing GOP chairman and his Democratic successor were the second in Georgia for everyone since the second-round campaign began after the November general election.
The balance of power for the next Senate after the November elections is 50 Republicans and 48 Democrats. This means Democrats must win both Georgia ballots to make it a 50-50 Senate. If that happens, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the deciding vote, giving her party a tiny majority in the House. Democrats hold a slim majority in the House.
But if Democrats don’t sweep both elections, the GOP would retain the house and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Would retain his position – and the ability to thwart many of the proposals Biden hopes to push through. by Congress.
Tuesday’s vote in Georgia came because state law dictates a runoff if no candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, Perdue narrowly missed by avoiding a run-off in November, winning 49.75 percent of the vote. voice. Ossoff was followed by around 87,000 votes.
In the other race, Loeffler captured nearly 26% of the vote in a huge special election of 20 candidates to fill the last two years in the tenure of former GOP Senator Johnny Isakson, who resigned due to health problems. Loeffler was appointed to its headquarters last December. His opponent Warnock won almost 33% of the vote.
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For Biden, who in November became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Georgia in more than a quarter of a century, Monday’s rally was about location. Early voter turnout skyrocketed in Democratic strongholds of Atlanta – and surrounding suburbs of the capital – and Democrats were unwilling to let go on the eve of the election.
“Georgia, the whole nation is waiting for you to move us forward,” Biden said. “The power is literally in your hands. Unlike at any point in my career, a state, a state can lead the way not only for the next four years, but for the next generation.”
Biden added, “By electing Jon and the Reverend, you will be voting for states to have the resources they need to distribute the vaccines.”
Only about four million Americans have received the first of two doses of the COVID vaccine, with just over 13 million doses having been administered, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Logistical issues are plaguing the Trump administration’s distribution efforts, especially states struggling to administer doses already sent by the federal government.
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Trump last week targeted states for the slow rollout, tweeting, “The federal government has distributed the vaccines to the states. Now it’s up to the states to administer them. Go ahead!”
Biden, in his comments on Monday, also highlighted the failure of Congress and the current administration to push coronavirus relief checks to Americans from $ 600 to $ 2,000.
And he predicted, “If you send Jon and the Reverend to Washington, those $ 2,000 checks will come out, giving hope, decency and honor to so many who are struggling now. And if you send Senators Perdue and Loeffler back to Washington, those checks will never come. It’s as simple as that. “
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST NEWS FROM FOX ON THE SENATE RUNOFFS OF GEORGIA
Biden pointed out that “by electing Jon and the Reverend, you can break the deadlock that has gripped Washington and the nation.”
The former vice president also criticized Loeffler and Perdue, staunch supporters of the president who backed Trump as he tried to overturn Georgia’s certified election results.
“You now have two senators who think they don’t work for you, they work for Trump,” Biden accused. “You have two senators who believe their loyalty to Trump, not Georgia.”
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