Biden tells governors he’ll help states overcome coronavirus
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden expressed concern Thursday that President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attempt to block the peaceful transition of power at the White House has hindered the flow of information about programs to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine.
“Unfortunately, my
administration hasn’t been able to get everything we need,” the
president-elect said during a video conference with the National
Governors Association’s leadership team, which includes five Republicans
and four Democrats.
He specifically cited Operation Warp Speed,
the federal government’s partnership with private pharmaceutical
companies to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
“We haven’t been able to
get into Operation Warp Speed but we will take what we learned today
and build it into our plan,” Biden said after the meeting, which
included Republicans Larry Hogan of Maryland, Asa Hutchinson of
Arkansas, Kay Ivey of Alabama, Charlie Baker of Massachusetts and Gary
Herbert of Utah.
Biden participated from a theater in Wilmington,
Delaware, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Also appearing
online were the leaders of Biden’s virus task force: Vivek Murthy, a
former surgeon general; David Kessler, an ex-head of the Food and Drug
Administration; and Marcella Nunez-Smith of Yale University.
Among
the Democrats on the videoconference was Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan,
which has been among the states Trump has targeted for unfounded claims
of fraud.
“All the governors, no matter their political party, …
no matter their political philosophy shared a strong and abiding sense
of common purpose,” Biden said. “There’s a real desire for real
partnership between the states and the federal government.”
The
president-elect promised state leaders he would “make sure you get the
resources you need … to beat this virus” and said he would hold
similar meetings with governors frequently going forward.
Biden
noted afterward that 10 governors had imposed statewide mask mandates to
slow the spread of the coronavirus, calling it not a partisan issue but
a “patriotic duty.”
Ivey told participants that both parties in
Congress need to come together to provide more coronavirus response
funding, especially for families struggling economically because of the
pandemic, according to a readout provided by her office.
Hogan
recently told The Associated Press recently that Trump’s wild and
unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud were “dangerous” and
“embarrassing.”
“As I said on the day that the president-elect was
declared the winner, his election has provided a mandate for
cooperation,” Hogan said after the videoconference. “We look forward to
working closely with the Biden-Harris administration as we continue to
face this unprecedented global pandemic.”
Hutchison said over the
weekend that Biden would be the next president and he called on the
Trump administration to give Biden access to the intelligence briefings
he needs in order to be fully prepared to lead the country on Jan. 20,
Inauguration Day.
So far, the governors have not swayed the Republican president.
Before
Biden’s meeting, Trump came out with a new round of false claims of
voter fraud in key states, even as courts continue to reject his
challenges, and a small, but growing number of Republican officeholders
publicly begin to accept Biden’s victory.
Beyond being a pillar
of democracy, the orderly transfer of power after an election is
especially critical this year given the extraordinary governing
challenges Biden will inherit in just nine weeks. The United States is
struggling through the worst public health crisis in a century, state
and local government are facing massive budget shortfalls, and millions
of Americans remain out of work.
But more than two weeks after the
Nov. 3 election, the Trump administration is refusing to let Biden
receive detailed briefings on national security and pandemic planning
that leaders in both parties say are vital to ensure Biden can govern
effectively on Day One.
With Trump dug in and Republicans on Capitol Hill largely unwilling to challenge him, Biden has been forced to turn to diverse collection of outside allies to ratchet up the pressure on Trump to concede.
The
CEOs of America’s largest companies have released a statement
recognizing Biden and Harris as the clear winners. The heads of the
American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association and the
American Nurses Association issued a joint statement on Tuesday urging
the Trump administration to share “all critical information related to
COVID-19” with Biden. Not doing so, they warned, would jeopardize
American lives.
Trump is showing no signs of giving in.
He
is getting nowhere in the courts, and his scattershot effort to overturn
Biden’s victory is shifting toward obscure election boards that certify the vote. The battle is centered in the states that sealed Biden’s win. In Michigan,
two Republican election officials in the state’s largest county
initially refused to certify results despite no evidence of fraud.
The
officials then backtracked and voted to certify before flipping again
on Wednesday and saying they “remain opposed to certification.” Some
Republicans have called on the GOP statewide canvassers to so the same
as Trump applies pressure from his social media accounts.