Washington – US President-elect Joe Biden has warned that “people may die” if his incoming administration continues to be impeded by incumbent Donald Trump.
Biden said co-ordination was needed to tackle the coronavirus outbreak.
He called President Trump’s refusal to acknowledge he lost the election, despite calls to do so from both sides, “totally irresponsible”.
The Trump campaign launched a flurry of legal challenge in the wake of the 3 November vote to contest ballot counts.
Trump’s team is trying to have courts overturn votes in key states on the grounds that many ballots were invalid or improperly counted. So far those efforts have failed and no evidence of significant fraud has emerged.
Democratic president-elect Biden has 306 votes in the electoral college, surpassing the 270 threshold needed to win.
Yet Trump, a Republican, tweeted on Monday: “I won the election!”
Speaking in his home state of Delaware on Monday, Biden said of the stalled transition: “Does anyone understand this? It’s about saving lives, for real, this is not hyperbole.”
“More people may die if we don’t co-ordinate,” he added.
Calling nationwide vaccine distribution a “huge undertaking”, Biden said that if team had to wait until 20 January – his presidential inauguration – until they could begin work on the distribution programme, they would be behind by “over a month, month and a half”.
