Vice President-elect Kamala Harris (D) made a trip to the Senate to vote against President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Federal Reserve Board.
While Harris was on the Senate floor for the vote, several Republicans approached her to greet her and congratulate her. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was seen giving a fist bump to Harris.
Watch the video below:
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris returns to the Senate floor to cast a vote today.
— The Recount (@therecount) November 17, 2020
Here, Harris can be seen extending her fist to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for a bump. pic.twitter.com/3Mtaaykjpl
Graham was not the only Republican to congratulate Harris. Sens. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), and James Lankford (R-Okla.) also offered their congratulations.
Graham told CNN’s Manu Raju of this exchange he was “just saying hello – I haven’t a seen in her in a while.”
Asked about his fist bump to Kamala Harris, Sen. Lindsey Graham told me this: “Just saying hello – I haven’t a seen in her in a while. If it works out and they make it, I told her I wish her well and try to work where we can. We will know here in a month or so or less.”
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 17, 2020
“If it works out and they make it, I told her I wish her well and try to work where we can. We will know here in a month or so or less,” he added.
The move by the Republican senators come as President Donald Trump has refused to admit that President-elect Joe Biden won the election on November 3. Instead, he has insisted that he won the election.
While the president has refused to concede, Congressional Republicans have been reluctant to publicly admit that Biden won. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said, “If it works out and they make it, I told her I wish her well and try to work where we can. We will know here in a month or so or less.”
However, as more time has passed since the election, some Republicans appear to be getting closer to admitting that Biden won. Several Republican senators have called for Biden to receive intelligence briefings.
And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) referred to Biden as the president-elect while speaking to reporters.
While Republicans have been accused of undermining Americans’ faith in democracy and “aiding and abetting these authoritarian leaders” by no accepting the results, Trump has shown he is willing to lash out at members of his party who declare that Biden won.
After Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) said on CNN that Biden is the president-elect, Trump took to Twitter to suggest that he face a primary challenger in 2022.
