Back in September, Democrat candidate Joe Biden promised Fox News’ anchor Chris Wallace during the first presidential debate with Trump not to declare victory until the election results were “independently certified”, in the wake of Trump voicing concerns about potential election fraud associated with postal voting.
“Will you urge your supporters to stay calm while the vote is counted, and will you pledge not to declare victory until the election is independently certified?” Wallace asked the former vice-president during the Cleveland debate.
“Yes,” Biden assured him.
“And here’s the deal. We’ll count the ballots. As you pointed out, some of these ballots in some states can’t even be opened until Election Day, and if there’s thousands of ballots, it’s going to take time to do it,” he added.
The episode, which has now resurfaced, has raised many questions among observers, who mocked Biden for “forgetting” his pledge. On the night of 7 November, Biden delivered a “victory” speech in Wilmington, after US media called Pennsylvania state in his favour, despite votes still being counted in major battleground states.
“Biden can always blame that on his memory problems,” one social media user wrote on Twitter.
The Democrat hopeful has now assumed a slight lead over the incumbent President in a number of key swing states. However, the results of the election are far from being certified, as the Trump campaign has now filed dozens of lawsuits to dispute alleged frauds in the postal voting.
According to TV host Geraldo Rivera, Trump told him in a phone conversation that he was a “realist” who would “do the right thing” and definitely concede if he was “satisfied that every legitimate vote had been counted and every illegitimate vote had been thrown out". But the President’s supporters are still strongly urging him not to let the election get “stolen” by his Democrat opponent and to investigate reported claims of ballots being backdated and vote tampering.
Meanwhile, Biden has already been having discussions with foreign governments about the “agenda” his administration could pursue if he takes over the White House in January, according to revelations by Obama’s former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes.
News that these conversations have already taken place has infuriated Republican lawmakers, who accused Biden of hypocrisy citing the Democrats’ legal assault against former national security adviser Michael Flynn for holding similar talks with the Russian ambassador during the transition period back in December 2016.