GOP Sen. Pat Toomey calls on Trump to cooperate with Biden transition

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) called on President Trump to start cooperating with President-elect Biden's transition team in an interview Tuesday with Pittsburgh's Action News 4.

The big picture: Toomey said the "transition process ought to begin," making him one of the few sitting Republican senators to have implored Trump to let the transition take place. But Toomey did not go so far as to say Biden won the election, remarking instead the result is "not 100% certain."

Why it matters: The refusal by top Republicans to accept Biden's victory and exhaust all legal options could mean weeks of drama — and, importantly, distract from the vital work of transitioning government for a change of power.

• Five world leaders have called Biden to congratulate him on the projected win — one more than the number of GOP U. S. senators who have publicly done so.

What he's saying: "We're on a path it looks likely Joe Biden is going to be the next president of the United States. It's not 100% certain but it is quite likely. So I think a transition process ought to begin," Toomey told Action News 4.

• The transition would be moot in "the unlikely scenario" that Trump does ultimately win the election, Toomey noted, "but I think that's not the likely outcome, so I think [the transition] should begin."
• "We're very, very close to the end of the process but we're not quite there yet. And it's okay, in fact, it's necessary to go through the entire process," Toomey said.

Go deeper: Pompeo refuses to say Biden has won election