Saying “I still think it’s more embarrassing to the country than debilitating,” President-elect Joe Biden says that the barriers outgoing president Donald Trump put up to transitioning to the next administration will not stop the inevitable from happening, CNN reports.
Biden also noted that more American lives will be lost if Trump doesn’t grow up and cooperate with the transition of the government to a Biden administration.
“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden said during a Monday afternoon press conference. Biden cited the need to learn how far the Trump administration has gotten regarding the distribution of a potential vaccine in order to prepare his team from taking the reins on Day One of his administration.
While Trump fights futile battles to overturn the legitimate outcome of the election, he has done little to personally oversee the efforts to battle the coronavirus. Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper that Trump has not attended a meeting of the coronavirus task force in several months.
Trump chose to spend Saturday and Sunday at his Virginia club playing golf at the end of a one-week period where one million Americans were infected with the coronavirus.
Biden also encourage Republicans to pass the HEROES Act, the second round of coronavirus relief, citing millions of Americans who will not be able to pay rents and mortgages, as well as the cascading impact on independent landlords and businesses.