Most Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to suggest that President Donald Trump concede the presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden. They argue that it's best to let Trump's expend his legal options before they apply too much pressure.
That pressure has been building and it could be about to go bust this week, with key states certifying the vote totals and making their results official.
Michigan and Pennsylvania are set to do so Monday, and Nevada will on Tuesday. Arizona and Wisconsin have certification deadlines next week.
Biden is ahead by more than 155,000 votes in Michigan, by more than 81,000 in Pennsylvania and by more than 33,000 in Nevada.
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey has called on Trump to accept the result.
"President Trump has exhausted all plausible legal options to challenge the result of the presidential race in Pennsylvania," Toomey said in a statement responding to a Trump campaign loss in Pennsylvania federal court Saturday.
The retiring senator went on to call Biden president-elect and noted that he was disappointed in the outcome, but said it was time to move on so Trump could preserve what he sees as a legacy of achievements in office.
"To ensure that he is remembered for these outstanding accomplishments, and to help unify our country, President Trump should accept the outcome of the election and facilitate the presidential transition process," Toomey wrote.
Republican Chris Christie, who has been close to Trump, was more blunt on Sunday, as the former New Jersey governor is known to be. "If you have got the evidence of fraud, present it," Christie said on ABC. "Quite frankly, the conduct of the president's legal team has been a national embarrassment."
With Biden winning 306 electoral votes, expanding his margins in key states since Election Day (he now holds a lead of more than 6 million in the national popular vote), and Trump losing court case after court case, Toomey, Christie and a handful of other prominent Republicans have been calling on Trump to end his attempts to overturn the results of the election and start working with the Biden transition team.
Those calls could grow louder this week after the expected certifications in those three key states will all but shut off any path of Trump getting the electoral votes needed to retain the presidency.
