Joe Biden pauses to smile as he listens to questions from the media at The Queen theatre in Wilmington. AP

Gulf Today Report

President-elect Joe Biden plans further meetings to lay the groundwork for his new administration while President Donald Trump’s fierce refusal to accept the election outcome as “inconsequential,” even as Democrats elsewhere warned that the Republican president’s actions were dangerous.

Biden shrugged off Trump’s flurry of lawsuits challenging the election results in an effort to cling to power.

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Additional intelligence briefings “would be useful,” Biden added, but “we don’t see anything slowing us down.”

Trump suffered another possible setback on Tuesday when Democrats said a postal worker who claimed he witnessed ballot tampering in Pennsylvania had recanted his allegations.

President Donald Trump gestures to his supporters in an election rally. File photo

The measured comments come as Biden prepares to confront dueling national crises such as Coronavirus infections, hospitalisations and deaths are surging, the economy faces the prospect of long-term damage, and the nation’s political and cultural divides may be worsening.

Trump's unsupported charges of election fraud have gained little traction so far. His campaign said on Tuesday it planned to file a lawsuit in Michigan to halt the state from certifying its results, a day after it brought a similar action in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Judges so far have tossed lawsuits in Michigan and Georgia brought by Trump's campaign, and legal experts say the litigation has little chance of changing the outcome of the Nov. 3 election.

In an afternoon speech, Biden delivered a forceful defense of the Affordable Care Act, just hours after the Supreme Court heard arguments on its merits. The high court ruled eight years ago to leave intact the essential components of the law known as “Obamacare,” but Trump and his Republican allies are seeking to have it overturned.

If the 6-3 conservative court ultimately agrees with the GOP, millions of Americans could lose their health care coverage. While Tuesday’s arguments indicate the court is unlikely to strike down the entire law, the prospect added new weight to the already heavy burden Biden inherits from the outgoing administration.

“It’s a law that saved lives and spared countless families from financial ruin,” Biden charged. He vowed to work with Congress to strengthen the health care law “as soon as humanly possible.”