評論
打印
JUDY WOODRUFF: And now we turn once again to our Yamiche Alcindor in Wilmington, Delaware. And this time, Yamiche, it is to talk about president-elect Joe Biden. What more are you learning about what he might say, signal tonight in his remarks?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, president-elect Joe Biden is going to be taking a bit of a victory lap, as well as making an appeal for unity, both for people who voted for him, but as well for people who supported President Trump. Just a few short feet from where I am standing right now, sitting right now, president-elect Biden is going to come to the lantern, and he's going to do something that President Trump didn't do all too well, which is that he is going to pivot away from campaigning and go into governing, saying that he is a president for all Americans. I want to read to you a bit about what president-elect Joe Biden is expected to say. He's expected to say: "In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed. We, the people, voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And so now it is time to turn the page, to unite, to heal." That is president-elect Biden not only saying that people need to get together, of course, to fight the coronavirus pandemic, but he also realizes he's going to have to convince a large swathe of Americans that the election was actually done fairly, that the integrity is still there, of course, because President Trump is continuing to say, without evidence, that the election was stolen from him.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Yamiche, I know you're obviously still covering the White House. What are we -- what are you hearing in the way of President Trump's reaction to today's events?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, President Trump is still lashing out, very, very angry at the fact that the results have become officially official, with, of course, the Electoral College voting today. Now, President Trump also just minutes after Joe Biden clinched the necessary 270 officially to become the president-elect, we saw him make that announcement that Attorney General Bill Barr was leaving. In some ways, critics of the president saw that as a bit of counterprogramming for someone who understands television, in, of course, President Trump. So, he was making a big, big statement in the middle of headlines being about Joe Biden. Another thing to note is that Joe Biden and President Trump are both talking in some ways about the coronavirus vaccine. So, even as all of this is happening, we're hearing Joe Biden. He's expected to say that there's going to be urgent work ahead of him to really deal with the coronavirus pandemic. And President Trump is also taking a victory lap, saying, now that the vaccine is reaching people for the first time in America, that he should also be praised for that. So, while he's angry about the results, he's also saying, look, I had a good run, I'm doing things well. We don't expect President Trump to concede. So, we have to, of course, keep watching that space, especially, I should say quickly, that Republicans are starting to now call Joe Biden president-elect. They hadn't been doing that before, Judy. And now we're seeing that that shift is happening.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We are hearing that reporting. Yamiche Alcindor covering both the outgoing and the incoming president. Thank you, Yamiche.
