White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany seemed to inadvertently admit that President-elect Joe Biden will return to the White House during an interview on Fox News on Sunday, amid the sitting president’s refusal to concede and Trump administration officials having yet to outright acknowledge Biden’s victory.
While discussing the Georgia Senate runoff elections on Fox News, McEnany lamented that if Republicans fail to maintain its majority in the Senate as a result of the battleground state’s runoff elections, then Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would be the person to deliver a tie-breaking vote if the occasion arises — a task that the Vice President of the United States is entitled to as President of the Senate.
“If we lose these two Senate seats, guess who’s casting the deciding vote in this country for our government? It will be Kamala Harris,” McEnany said, without outright acknowledging that Harris is VP-elect, as she again moonlighted as a “Trump campaign adviser” on Fox News.
McEnany issued her remarks on Fox News as she pushed Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to order a special legislative session to overturn election results — a request from the sitting president that the governor reportedly turned down on Saturday, prior to Trump’s appearance at a Georgia rally supporting the re-election campaigns of Sens. David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) that he made all about himself.
McEnany’s gripe that Harris would be tasked with issuing a tie-breaking vote if Republicans lose two seats from Georgia’s Senate runoff elections also comes amid Trump’s lawsuits seeking to overturn election results in several states falling flat. Additionally, McEnany’s remarks on Fox News were made a few days after White House communications director Alyssa Farah resigned from her position in the waning weeks of Trump’s presidency.
Earlier Sunday, the battleground state’s top officials made clear that they are Republicans who voted for Trump, but cannot, in good conscience, stand by his baseless claims.
“If we lose these two Senate seats, guess who’s casting the deciding vote in this country for our government? It will be Kamala Harris.” — Kayleigh McEnany acknowledging that Kamala Harris is the next VP, and by implication Joe Biden is the next president.pic.twitter.com/LKaHFtPtc1
— Jacob Rubashkin (@JacobRubashkin) December 6, 2020
However, other Trump administration officials on Sunday held fast to publicly denying the reality that the sitting president will depart the White House upon Biden’s inauguration next month.
During an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” HHS secretary Alex Azar outright refused to refer to Biden as President-elect as he attempted to defend Trump’s disastrous handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 280,000 Americans thus far.
When asked by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace whether the country would be in better shape if Trump had complied with mask-wearing early into the pandemic, compared to Biden’s public encouragement of mask-wearing, Azar sarcastically remarked that he “welcomes Vice President Biden to the club.”
Wallace interjected to factually state that Biden is the President-elect.
Azar dodged Wallace’s fact check by bringing up a moment when Trump called mask-wearing “patriotic” after months of vehemently refusing to comply with the practice.
Wallace once again reminded Azar that Biden won the election.
“First of all, it’s the President-Elect Joe Biden, Secretary Azar, and secondly, the fact is the president said on the first day, April 3, that he wasn’t going to wear a mask,” Wallace said. “He didn’t wear a mask in public for three months until July.”
HHS Secretary Alex Azar calls Joe Biden “the vice president." When Chris Wallace interjects to correct him that Biden is "the president-elect, sir," Azar ignores him multiple times. pic.twitter.com/X5Y76vYmN3
— The Recount (@therecount) December 6, 2020
Director of Intelligence John Ratcliffe also nonsensically suggested during an interview with Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that there might not be a Biden administration.
Ratcliffe, a Trump loyalist, issued his false statement after Bartiromo aired unfounded claims that Biden’s cabinet and national security nominees are involved with “the Russia hoax.”
“Well, these election issues — we’ll see who is in what seats and whether there is a Biden administration,” Ratcliffe said.
"We'll see … whether there is a Biden administration" — DNI John Ratcliffe pic.twitter.com/F4rC4LxFh8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 6, 2020
