The Hill’s Campaign Report: Biden on Trump: ‘He’ll leave’ l GOP laywers brush off Trump’s election remarks l Obama’s endorsements

The Hill’s Campaign Report:

Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, your daily rundown on all the latest news in the 2020 presidential, Senate and House races. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe.

We’re Julia Manchester, Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley. Here’s what we’re watching today on the campaign trail:

LEADING THE DAY:

President Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the November election to Democratic nominee Joe Biden has shaken Washington, resulting in another day of fury from Democrats and warnings from Republicans that the president is playing with fire.

In an interview on MSNBC, Biden said he is not worried about the prospect of a constitutional crisis.

“This is a typical Trump distraction, trying to make everybody wonder whether or not the election will be legit…I just think the people in the country are going to be heard on Nov. 3,” Biden said. “Every vote in this country is going to be heard and they will not be stopped. I’m confident that all of the irresponsible, outrageous attacks on voting, we’ll have an election in this country as we always have had. And he’ll leave.”

Trump this week said he’d “see what happens” when asked if he could commit to a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election. The president later said he’d accept a Supreme Court ruling on the winner of the election. The White House has tried to explain away the president’s remarks as him saying he’ll accept the results of a “free and fair” election.

But based on Trump’s own remarks, it’s hard to see him viewing an outcome where he loses as having been “free and fair.”

“We want to make sure the election is honest, and I’m not sure that it can be,” Trump said. “I don’t know that it can be with this whole situation — unsolicited ballots.”

Democrats are furious over what they view as a threat by Trump to subvert the election and take power as a strongman.

We asked conservative constitutional and election lawyers about that scenario.

The legal scholars called Trump’s remarks “reckless” and criticized efforts to undermine faith in the electoral system.

But they said there are safeguards in place to ensure that the president could not stay in power if he loses in November.

The winner will be certified by Congress and by the courts. If the president doesn’t accept the results, he won’t be in control of the government beginning on Jan. 20 anyway and will be treated as a trespasser.

Jonathan has the story here.

THE OBAMA ENDORSEMENTS:

Former President Barack Obama rolled out his second wave of endorsements ahead of November’s election on Friday.

The list includes: Arizona Senate candidate Mark Kelly, Delaware state Senate candidate Sarah McBride, Georgia Senate candidate Jon Ossoff, New Hampshire gubernatorial candidate Dan Feltes, and New York congressional candidate Ritchie Torres.

Obama also notably threw his support behind the Rev. Raphael Warnock, who is wrapped in a tight race in Georgia’s special Senate election. Warnock, who is competing with GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, GOP Rep. Doug Collins, and other Democrats, is riding a wave of big endorsements this week. He’s scored endorsements from the Human Rights Campaign, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.

You can read see all of Obama’s latest endorsements here.

A FINAL GOODBYE

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg became the first woman and first Jewish person to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol on Friday, making history, even in her death. 

A number of lawmakers and public officials were present at the invitation-only ceremony, including Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).

Harris paid homage to Ginsburg afterward, saying the late justice “absolutely” cleared the path for her.

“Because she first of all made America see what leadership looks like and in the law in terms of public service and she broke so many barriers and she did it intentionally knowing that people like me could follow,” Harris said.

Meanwhile, Biden reminisced on the time he first met her when she was going through the confirmation process in 1993.

“I first met her when I did her hearings. I was the chairman of the committee and she was confirmed. Wonderful memories,” he said.

One of the most widely circulated videos from the event came from the moment Ginsburg’s longtime personal trainer, Bryant Johnson, honored his former client with three push-ups.

TWEET: https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1309504068742713345?s=20

SORKIN’S ELECTION NIGHT PREDICTION

Washington was rocked this week after Trump declined to commit to a peaceful transition of power in the case he loses the election. The president’s comments ignited rage among Democrats and sent Republicans scrambling to distance themselves from the remarks.

However, The Hill’s Judy Kurtz reports that just one day before Trump made the remarks, the creator of “The West Wing,” Aaron Sorkin, predicted a very similar scenario.

“For the first time since the man was sworn in, Republicans, his enablers, his apologists, march up to the White House and say, ‘Donald, it’s time to go. You will not ruin this country. You will not start a civil war,’” Sorkin said as part of a virtual conversation with the San Sebastian Festival.

You can read more about the rest of what Sorkin predicted here.