Rush Limbaugh denies legitimacy of presidential election as Joe Biden administration begins

Rush Limbaugh repeatedly denied the legitimacy of the incoming administration Wednesday shortly after President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn in on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

“I think they know that this is something that’s been arranged rather than legitimately sought and won,” the conservative commentator said on his syndicated radio program, “The Rush Limbaugh Show.”

“They have not legitimately won it,” Mr. Limbaugh alleged later. “I’m almost of the mind that they know that there’s not a full-fledged legitimacy to this. But it doesn’t matter because they’re able to lie to themselves.”

Mr. Limbaugh, a vocal supporter of former President Trump, whom Mr. Biden beat in the November election, continued to reject the results of that White House race throughout his widely heard radio show.

“I don’t think that the people on that stage today are genuinely the choice of a majority of Americans,” Mr. Limbaugh said later. “Now, the results say they are, and they will tell themselves they are — and they will, thus, lie to themselves, something I will never do. I just don’t. I can’t. I can’t lie to myself about praise for things I really didn’t do. They can; they’re doing it.”

The final results of the White House race, which ended Nov. 3, found that Mr. Biden received more than enough popular and electoral votes needed to be elected president and succeed Mr. Trump.

Mr. Trump and some of his supporters disputed the results of the race after his loss became apparent and cited unfounded claims and conspiracy theories about purported election fraud, however.

Dozens of lawsuits were filed by fellow Republicans seeking to overturn Mr. Trump’s loss to Mr. Biden, but no credible evidence of widespread election fraud emerged and the legal efforts all failed.

Mr. Biden was sworn in at the Capitol on Wednesday, two weeks to the day after mobs of people opposed to his election stormed the building. The House of Representatives has since impeached Mr. Trump for inciting an insurrection, making him the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.