Bush congratulates Biden

Former US President George Bush congratulated President-elect Joe Biden in a phone call and said that, while President Donald Trump has the right to pursue legal challenges and recounts, the 2020 race was "fundamentally fair" and "its outcome is clear."

The gesture by Bush, the only living former Republican president, was a break from his party's outgoing president, Trump, who has so far refused to concede the race.

In the statement, Bush said he had called Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Bush also offered congratulations in the statement to Trump "on a hard-fought campaign," nodding to his "extraordinary political achievement" of winning the votes of more than 70 million Americans, the second-most in history behind Biden.

[Source: CNN]