Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has plans to address the nation as its new president-elect if news networks declare him winner, even if President Donald Trump continues to battle the results in court, Axios reported on Tuesday.
Advisers told Axios that if Biden was declared the winner he will quickly begin forming his government and appearing presidential regardless of Trump’s efforts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election’s results.
Trump is likely to make a lot of noise about the results if it appears he is losing, but Biden plans to sidestep the President’s nonsense.
Biden would likely begin with senior staff appointments so that officials in each agency are quickly able to begin work, Axios reported.
Biden also has detailed plans for executive orders, including efforts to reverse Trump actions advisers told Axios.
One Biden ally told the publication that Biden hopes to strike “a healing tone,” and spring into battle against the coronavirus by embracing science in a sharp departure from President Trump who threatened to fire leading infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci after Election Day on Sunday.
The news of Biden’s plans to immediately step up if he is declared victor comes as President Trump told reporters on Sunday that he would be armed with lawyers as soon as the election concluded.
“We’re going in the night of — as soon as the election is over — we’re going in with our lawyers,” Trump said.
Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon said during a briefing on Monday that “under no scenario will Donald Trump be declared a victor on election night.”
Per Axios, O’Malley Dillon told reporters on Monday that on election night the campaign would “use our data, our understanding of where this is headed, and make sure that the vice president is addressing the American people.”
Biden would likely be delivering those remarks from Wilmington, Delaware, where he is expected to be spending election night. After cancelling an appearance at an election night party at his Washington hotel, President Trump has plans to watch results roll in from the White House.
President Trump has waged a months-long battle to play up an election marred by fraud. During a campaign rally on Monday night he railed anew saying “bad things will happen” after last week’s Supreme Court decisions that allow battleground North Carolina and Pennsylvania to accept absentee ballots for several days after Election Day. Experts have predicted Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania could be decisive in determining who will be president.
“Tomorrow’s the beginning of a new day,” Biden told supporters at a drive-in rally in the state on Monday night. “The power to change this country is in your hands.”
