House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC) suggested during a CNN interview on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin might be behind President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the presidential election, despite ongoing litigation in key battleground states.
“Joe Biden’s been the president-elect for about 24 hours now,” CNN’s Jake Tapper claimed. “President Trump has not conceded the race. Should Trump concede the race? How should president-elect Biden handle this potentially volatile situation?”
“Well, I think Trump should concede,” Clyburn responded. “But I also think that the Republican Party has a responsibility here. This country is bigger than any one person. This democracy is teetering. He called it an inflection point. We are in a very dire set of consequences here. And we had better get hold of ourselves and this country and stop catering to whims of one person.”
“So, it doesn’t matter to me whether or not he concedes. What matters to me is whether or not the Republican Party will step up and help us preserve the integrity of this democracy,” Clyburn continued. “We have been the envy of the world, but we have also received a lot of disdain from places around the world. See, I’m old enough to remember Nikita Khrushchev. I remember that speech at the United Nations when he looked out and says: ‘We will bury you.'”
“I will never forget that,” Clyburn concluded. “And so, I don’t understand how Republicans can allow Putin to dictate the fortunes of this country. And that is what is going on here.”
The clip posted by CNN on social media cuts off at that point, but a review of the entire interview shows that Tapper responded by stating, “yeah,” before transitioning to a completely different subject.
WATCH:
House Majority Whip James Clyburn: “I think Trump should concede but I also think that the Republican Party has a responsibility here … what matters to me is whether or not the Republican Party will step up and help us preserve the integrity of this democracy” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/I9j6VQruC4
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 8, 2020
TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED VIA CNN:
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Joe Biden’s been the president-elect for about 24 hours now.
President Trump has not conceded the race. Should Trump concede the race? How should president-elect Biden handle this potentially volatile situation?
JAMES CLYBURN, CONGRESSMAN: Well, I think Trump should concede.
But I also think that the Republican Party has a responsibility here. This country is bigger than any one person. This democracy is teetering. He called it an inflection point. We are in a very dire set of consequences here. And we had better get hold of ourselves and this country and stop catering to whims of one person.
So, it doesn’t matter to me whether or not he concedes. What matters to me is whether or not the Republican Party will step up and help us preserve the integrity of this democracy.
We have been the envy of the world, but we have also received a lot of disdain from places around the world.
See, I’m old enough to remember Nikita Khrushchev. I remember that speech at the United Nations when he looked out and says: “We will bury you.”
TAPPER: Yes.
CLYBURN: I will never forget that.
And so, I don’t understand how Republicans can allow Putin to dictate the fortunes of this country. And that is what is going on here.
TAPPER: Yeah.