McConnell congratulates Biden, warns Senate Republicans not to reject president-elect's victory

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday explicitly acknowledged Joe Biden as president-elect for the first time after weeks of Republican delays in recognizing the 2020 election result.

McConnell later warned Republicans in his conference not to object to the Electoral College outcome when Congress affirms Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, multiple sources told NBC News.

The Kentucky Republican congratulated the incoming Democratic president after the Electoral College formally certified Biden’s victory on Monday. Numerous GOP senators did not acknowledge Biden as the election winner for more than a month as President Donald Trump made baseless claims that widespread election fraud cost him a second term in the White House.

„Our country has officially a president-elect and a vice president-elect,“ McConnell said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

„The Electoral College has spoken. So today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden“ and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, he continued.

Biden on Tuesday morning told reporters he spoke to McConnell after the Republican congratulated him. The president-elect said he told the senator he believes they can work together and hopes the pair can meet sooner rather than later.

McConnell congratulated Biden after running through a list of what he called „nearly endless“ accomplishments during Trump’s term as president. He pointed to policies including the 2017 GOP tax law and „perhaps most importantly“ the confirmation of three conservative Supreme Court justices.