“After a historic recounting of all five million ballots cast in Georgia, Republican state leaders confirmed on Friday that President-elect Joe Biden did, in fact, defeat President Donald Trump in the state, despite baseless claims to the contrary from Trump and his supporters. But the state’s embattled governor and its top elections official diverged sharply in how they relayed the news. In brief remarks on Friday evening from Atlanta, Gov. Brian Kemp said that under state law he must certify Biden as the winner” reports The Daily Beast.

“But the Trump-backed Republican, who has faced immense pressure from the president and his base to generally do something about his election loss, coated that message in criticism for the election process and insisted the Trump campaign can still fight the result. The certification of the result allows the Trump campaign to request a formal recount of votes, conducted by machine, and ‘other legal options’ through that process, said Kemp. While Georgia elections officials have defended the integrity of the system in recent weeks, Kemp zeroed in on the fact that the audit found several thousand previously uncounted votes, a discovery that has outraged Trump supporters even though the new votes hardly moved the statewide margin of the race. Calling it ‘completely unacceptable,’ Kemp said Georgians ‘deserve better.’ The governor also suggested that elections officials do more to match signatures on absentee ballots with signatures on file—a demand repeated by Trump and his allies—even as Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, has insisted the safeguards in place are stronger than ever.”