Trump continues challenge as his options dwindle

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Sunday questioned whether the Supreme Court would ever hear a case airing his unproven allegations of widespread election fraud as senior U.S. Republicans said a transition to a Joe Biden presidency looked inevitable.

Trump’s comments in a telephone interview with Fox News Channel suggested a growing resignation to the results of the Nov. 3 election that handed the White House to his Democratic opponent Biden, and it came as the Republican president’s team was dealt another blow.

The recount of ballots in Wisconsin’s two largest counties finished on Sunday, confirming Biden won the hotly contested swing state by more than 20,000 votes.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, chair of the congressional inaugural committee, said the group of senior lawmakers expects Biden to be sworn in as president on Jan. 20.

“We’re working with the Biden administration, the likely administration on both the transition and the inauguration as if we’re moving forward,” Blunt said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” though he stopped short of acknowledging Trump lost.

Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas is one of a few Republicans to refer to Biden as the president-elect.

“The transition is what is important. The words of President Trump are not quite as significant,” Hutchinson told “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump used his interview on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” to repeat the allegations he has made without evidence about widespread electoral fraud. His campaign and legal team have lost dozens of lawsuits by failing to convince judges of election irregularities in states including Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, all critical to Biden’s victory.