White House still claims Trump won election after promise to 'move forward united'
White House adviser Peter Navarro says he thinks Trump ‘was legally elected on Nov. 3.’
The Trump administration is still pushing the lie that Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election — even after Donald Trump said it was time to “join together” and move on.
On Thursday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro appeared on Fox Business Network — identified in his official capacity as head of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy — and claimed Trump was the real victor in November.
“The Democratic Party did violence to this country by attacking a president who, I believe, was legally elected on Nov. 3,” Navarro said. “I’ve never been more pissed off in my life at this place and I think there’s 74 million Americans out there who voted for President Trump who feel exactly the same way.”
Not long after, Navarro tweeted out a self-penned “report” that he called a “scholarly rendering of the potential number of illegal votes in the 2020 election.” The title of the document was “Volume III: Yes, President Trump Won.”
Even though Congress has certified Biden’s win in the Electoral College — by a margin Trump himself termed a “landslide” when he was on the winning end — Trump and his allies continue to pursue court challenges to the election results.
On Wednesday, Trump appeared in a prerecorded video as a conciliatory figure ready to unify the nation and accept that a new administration will begin next week, telling the camera, “Today I am calling on all Americans to overcome the passions of the moment, and join together as one American people. Let us choose to move forward united, for the good of our families, our communities, and our country.”
Some Republican lawmakers have cited this message as a reason not to remove Trump from office after his impeachment on Wednesday in the House of Representatives on a charge of inciting the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his followers on Jan. 6.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday evening, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina praised Trump’s message as one that “helps move the country move forward” and demanded that Biden “reject post presidential impeachment because of the destructive force it would have on the presidency and nation.”
Spokespeople for the White House and Graham did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump has not acknowledged that Biden is the president-elect.
A federal intelligence memo issued on Jan. 13 and obtained by Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent warns, “Amplified perceptions of fraud surrounding the outcome of the General Election and the change in control of the Presidency and Senate — when combined with long-standing [domestic violence extremist] drivers such as perceived government or law enforcement overreach, and the anticipation of legislation perceived by some DVEs to oppose or threaten their beliefs — very likely will lead to an increase in DVE violence.”
Juliette Kayyem, a former official with the Department of Homeland Security official, told Sargent, “The animating lie has not been remedied by Trump.”
“The lie that the election was stolen, which Trump continues to nurture, will motivate violence in the future,” Kayyem said.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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