President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday called President Donald Trump's refusal to concede his election loss an "embarrassment" but dismissed the standoff as unimportant.
"I just think it's an embarrassment, quite frankly," Mr Biden said when asked what he thinks about Mr Trump's refusal to acknowledge defeat in the 3 November election.
"How can I say this tactfully? I think it will not help the president's legacy," Biden told reporters in his home town of Wilmington, Delaware.
A week after the US election, Mr Trump remained shut up in the White House, pushing an alternate reality that he is about to win and filing lawsuits alleging voter fraud that so far have been backed up by only the flimsiest evidence.
Mr Biden, meanwhile, mostly ignored Mr Trump.
"The fact that they're not willing to acknowledge we won at this point is not of much consequence in our planning," Mr Biden said.
The Democrat signaled that despite attempts by Mr Trump to stymie his transition to power he was increasingly a president in waiting.
"I think at the end of the day, it's all going to come to fruition on January 20th, and between now and then, my hope and expectation is that the American people do know, and do understand that there has been a transition.
President-elect Joe Biden listens as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris speaks. Source: AP
Mr Biden said he had also spoken to several world leaders, telling them "America is back".
So far, including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
"I'm letting them know that America is back. We're going to be back in the game. It's not America alone," Mr Biden said, underlining a likely new approach to foreign policy under the incoming Democratic administration.
Separately, an official from Mr Biden's transition team said they were considering legal action over the General Services Administration's (GSA) delay in recognising the Democrat's election victory.
The GSA normally recognises a presidential candidate when it becomes clear who has won an election so that a transition of power can begin.
The law does not clearly spell out when the GSA must act, but Biden transition officials say their victory is clear and a delay is not justified, even as Mr Trump refuses to concede defeat.
“Legal action is certainly a possibility, but there are other options as well that we’re considering,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declining to outline other options.
The delay is costing the Biden team access to millions of dollars in federal funding and the ability to meet with officials at intelligence agencies and other departments.
'Smooth transition'
Emphasising the atmosphere of intransigence,
Since Election Day, Mr Trump has made few public appearances and seems to have all but shelved normal presidential duties.
His only known activities outside the White House have been to play golf twice over the weekend, after the results came in.
Normally routine secret presidential intelligence briefings have been off the daily schedule. He has made no mention of the dramatic rebound in the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.
And his once near-daily press conferences, interviews with Fox News or impromptu question-and-answer sessions with White House journalists have dried up.
In place of that, Mr Trump has spent much of his time tweeting, mostly about what he claims is the stolen election.
Mr Trump's only significant presidential action has been the on Monday, which he announced on Twitter.
