Estonia official quits after Biden remark

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Estonia’s far-right interior minister, Mart Helme, resigned Monday, a day after he called projected U.S. presidential election winner Joe Biden and his son Hunter “corrupt characters” without providing details or evidence.

“Last night I decided to resign [when] looking at the slander and lies produced by the Estonian media,” said Helme, of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party.

“I am tired. I did nothing yesterday that would endanger Estonia’s security. I have not said anything that has not already been told by the American media, the American free media,” he told public broadcaster ERR.

He made the remarks Sunday on an Estonian radio show that interviewed both Helme and his son Martin, who is the country’s finance minister. They also discussed a hypothetical scenario of a U.S. civil war after the election result.

President Donald Trump “will win eventually. It will happen as a result of an immense struggle, maybe even bloodshed, but justice will win in the end,” Mart Helme told the TRE radio station, according to local media.

“There is no question that these elections were falsified,” Martin Helme said, according to Estonian news portal Delfi and national broadcaster ERR. “I believe all normal people should speak up against it. There is no point in talking about democracy or rule of law in a situation where elections can be faked so plainly, boldly and on a massive scale.”

On Facebook on Sunday, Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas urged the pair to stop issuing unsubstantiated statements that he said damage Estonian-U.S. relations. Ratas congratulated Biden and stressed the U.S. elections were “fair, free and transparent.”