Asked About Peaceful Transition of Power, Trump Says 'We're Gonna Have to See What Happens'

A number of prominent Republican lawmakers addressed President Trump's refusal on Wednesday to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses November's presidential election.

Driving the news: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tweeted, "The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792."

Other prominent Republicans who spoke out against Trump's statement:

Sen. Mitt Romney (Utah): "Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is...

In Donald Trump’s telling of it, the result of the 2020 election, which has not been held yet—and he might even win—is not legitimate. It’s a note Trump struck in 2016, when it looked like he almost certainly would not win, and it’s a scorched earth approach to democracy that he’s only made more extreme this time around. There’s no way to frame Trump’s approach to the upcoming vote as anything other than the stuff of strongmen and authoritarians. This is how elections are treated in Ankara and Moscow.