Coons: ‘Trump’s Two-Week-Long Temper Tantrum’ an International ‘Embarrassment’

Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) said Friday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that President Donald Trump’s election legal actions were a “two-week-long temper tantrum.”

CNN’s Dana Bash said, “Let’s start with what you just mention about your Republican colleagues in the Senate. I know you have real relationships across the aisle. You talk to them in private. What is your sense from those behind the scenes conversations about when they will finally come out, A, and B, whether or not they think it will really have impact or thinking it is time to do that for history’s sake.”

Coon said, “Well, I keep making the argument with a dozen friends, colleagues who are Republican Senators that this is hurting us globally, that it is going to hurt us domestically, and it is past time to make the case, whether privately or publicly. Some say they are urging a transition, communicating with the GSA head or communicating with the White House, but frankly, relatively few have stood up publicly and said it’s time. Developments in Georgia and developments in terms of the president’s failed and flailing efforts at any litigation strategy I think strengthen the resolve of a number of them to be more forceful. Frankly, it is past time. So I am testing some of the relationships and, in some cases straining them by really pressing. But it is frankly an embarrassment, and I am clear that this is hurting us around the world. Our reputation as a democracy, where we have orderly, peaceful, responsible transitions, is being sorely challenged by President Trump’s two-week-long temper tantrum and refusal to cooperate with the transition, and we’re at a point this is having an impact that is significant and real.”

He continued, “President-elect Biden is not receiving the presidential daily briefing, he’s not getting access to the highest level of intelligence. His COVID-19 team that is preparing for the handoff of responsibility for vaccinating more than 300 million Americans is not getting robust and real-time information about the challenges that Operation Warp Speed may be facing. ”

added, “Frankly, there’s also been actions taken by countries around the world, from China in Hong Kong to Uganda, to Egypt where human rights advocates or candidates for office are being arrested or harassed in a way that I think shows that some of the nations that view themselves as being our potential allies or competitors are seeing this moment of transition as a moment of distraction in terms of America’s leadership in advancing democracy on the world stage.”

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