In an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday, Republican U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt (Mo.) admitted that President Donald Trump's chances of winning the election via a recount is "unlikely," while also urging that he "turn this discussion (of voter fraud) over to his lawyers."
President Trump's unfounded claim that Democrats are trying to "steal" the election through fraud has divided Republicans, with some urging Trump to continue the fight, while others say they have seen no evidence to support fraud.
On Sunday, Sen. Blunt would not yet acknowledge Joe Biden as President-elect and said that "there's a process" that the nation must go through before the winner is decided.
Stephanopoulos said in response, "I've spoken with secretary of states, Democrat and Republican state officials over the last several days, they said they have seen no widespread evidence of any kind of fraud at all. Joe Biden has won this election. Why can't you acknowledge it?"
"It's time for the president's lawyers to present the facts and then it's time for the facts to speak for themselves," Blunt responded. "It's gonna be much easier to work toward the kind of transition we want, look at the inauguration -- which I'm gonna have the honor of chairing again this time -- and bringing the country together if everybody feels like we went through a process and everybody was heard. Every legal vote was counted, every illegal vote was challenged and not counted."
The Trump campaign has so far accused Pennsylvania and other states that Biden won of unsubstantiated large-scale voter fraud. According to the Associated Press, by the end of this week, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani predicted the campaign will have filed four or five lawsuits, with a total of 10 possible.
Blunt added that while state election result canvassing -- the official tally and certification of election results -- always causes some changes in the days following an election, it seemed "unlikely" that any of those changes could be big enough to make a difference.
"But this is a close election, we need to acknowledge that," he said.
Blunt echoed similar sentiments when he took to Twitter on Friday:
"President Trump did a great job with unbelievable energy and dedication at the end of the campaign. We have set all-time records for voter participation. Every vote that was legally cast needs to be counted. Votes that were not legally cast should not be counted," he said.
"Candidates have the right to use all of the tools available to them to ensure the votes are accurately counted. This process should be completely transparent so the American people are confident in the results."
Blunt added on Sunday that this election has sent a message to "whoever the next president is" that both sides of the political aisle need to work together.
"I thought Vice President Biden did a great job last night talking about where the country wants to head," he said. "And one way to do that is to finish this election the way it deserves to be finished."
