Conservative outlet OAN won’t recognize Biden as president-elect until Congress certifies

The conservative outlet One America News (OAN) will not recognize Joe Biden as president-elect until Congress certifies the Electoral College vote.

CEO Robert Herring tweeted that “our investigations indicate there was fraud in voting” so the network will not decide to recognize Biden’s victory over President Trump until Jan. 6, at the earliest.

One America News will not recognize Biden as the President-elect as all of our investigations indicate there was fraud in voting.

There will be no decision until Jan. 6, 2021. @OANN

— Robert Herring (@RobHerring) December 16, 2020

That announcement comes after the conservative outlet Newsmax announced this week that it would honor the Electoral College vote and begin referring to Biden as “president-elect.”

Many Republicans had held off on recognizing Biden’s victory as Trump has challenged the outcome in court.

The president and his allies have made unsubstantiated claims about the election having been stolen from him through widespread fraud.

But the Electoral College vote this week was a tipping point for many Republicans.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday congratulated Biden on his victory for the first time and is privately urging his caucus to not join an effort led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) to protest the results when Congress meets to certify the election on Jan. 6.

Trump has promoted both Newsmax and OAN as conservative alternatives to Fox as he’s grown frustrated by the cable giant’s coverage of his allegations of fraud. Trump’s allies on the network, such as Sean Hannity, have promoted his claims but the news division has reported on the matter with deep skepticism.

Newsmax and OAN have seen an opening to try and peel away some conservative viewers from Fox with more stridently pro-Trump content.

Newsmax and OAN have seen some increases in viewership but are far behind Fox, which remains the cable news ratings king.