Ex-President George W Bush congratulates ‘good man’ Biden

Former Republican US president George W Bush has said that the American people can have confidence that the 2020 presidential election was “fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear”.

Bush, however, also said that outgoing President Donald Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, with any unresolved issues to be properly adjudicated.

In a statement after speaking to President-elect Joe Biden over phone, Bush said he extended his warm congratulations to Biden and thanked him for the patriotic message in his national address after being declared the election winner.

Bush, 74, who was the US president from 2001 to early 2009, said that while he and the 77-year-old Democrat leader have political differences, he knows Biden to be good man who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country.

The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. “I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can,” he said.