100 Republican national security experts say Trump’s refusal to concede poses ‘serious threat’

Former officials say president’s attempts to block Biden transition ‘risk long-term damage to our institutions’

A group of more than 100 Republican national security experts have demanded GOP members of Congress pressure Donald Trump to admit his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

In a letter first obtained by The Washington Post, the former officials warn that the president’s “refusal to concede the election and allow for an orderly transition constitutes a serious threat to America’s democratic process and to our national security”.

The letter, dated 23 November, is signed by former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge, former CIA director Michael Hayden, former defense secretary Chuck Hagel, and senior officials across several previous presidential administrations.

It follows the president’s spurious legal challenges to overturn the results of the 2020 election, and a steadfast refusal among GOP officials to admit his defeat, while Republican legislators plot to appoint new electoral college electors to override the will of the voters and the president’s attorneys amplify baseless conspiracies to undermine president-elect Joe Biden’s transition ahead of his January inauguration.

“President Trump’s continued efforts to cast doubt on the validity of the election and to interfere in state electoral processes undermine our democracy and risk long-term damage to our institutions,” the former national security officials wrote in the statement.

Republicans should “strongly oppose” the president’s “dangerous and extra-legal efforts to intimidate state election officials and distort the electoral college process,” they said.

The president’s efforts also pose "significant risks to our national security, at a time when the US confronts a global pandemic and faces serious threats from global adversaries, terrorist groups, and other forces”, the group added.

Their statement was published moments before election officials in Michigan convene to certify the results of the election in the state, after the president had called a Detroit-area official who later attempted to rescind her vote to certify the county’s results.

“The election is over, the outcome certain,” the letter says. “It is now time for the rest of the Republican leadership to put politics aside and insist that President Trump cease his dilatory and anti-democratic efforts to undermine the result of the election and begin a smooth and orderly transition of power.”