Paul Ryan Says Trump Should Drop Election Challenges

President should 'embrace the transfer of power,' he says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 24, 2020 6:39 PM CST
Paul Ryan: Trump Needs to 'Embrace Transfer of Power'
In this June 8, 2016 photo, then-Vice President Joe Biden and then-House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. laugh as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a joint meeting of Congress.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan has joined other Republicans calling for President Trump to concede the election and "embrace the transfer of power." Ryan told the Bank of America’s virtual European Credit Conference Tuesday that Trump should also abandon his legal challenges to the election results, Politico reports. "The attacks on our voting system really need to stop, in my opinion," Ryan said. "The outcome will not be changed, and it will only serve to undermine our faith in our system of government, our faith in our democracy." President-elect Joe Biden can now access transition resources, but Trump has vowed to continue fighting what he says was "the most corrupt election" in US history.

"I know firsthand what it’s like to lose a national election, and it is a terrible feeling," said Ryan, who was Mitt Romney's running mate in 2012. But "the mere fact that the president’s lawyers throw these sort of baseless conspiracy theories out at press conferences but offer no evidence of these in court tells you that there is not the kind of widespread voter fraud or systemic voter fraud that would be required to overturn the outcome of this election," he said. The Washington Post reports that Ryan also said it would in Biden's "best interest" for Republicans to keep control of the Senate, "because then he really does have divided government and he really does have to work with both sides of the aisle and you won’t have the building pressure from the left to try and jam the other side." (More Paul Ryan stories.)

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