US midterms: Biden warns election denial is 'path to chaos'

US President Joe Biden has warned immoderate candidates who garbage to judge decision successful adjacent week's midterm elections could acceptable the federation connected "the way to chaos".

He besides urged Americans to unite successful absorption to "political violence" successful the ballot connected 8 November.

Mr Biden, a Democrat, said erstwhile President Donald Trump and his supporters were peddling "lies of conspiracy and malice".

Republicans deed backmost that Mr Biden was seeking to "divide and deflect".

Control of some chambers of Congress and cardinal authorities governorships are hanging successful the equilibrium successful adjacent week's elections.

Most forecasts suggest Republicans volition triumph power of the House of Representatives, portion the Senate could spell either way.

Mr Biden spoke successful nationally televised remarks connected Wednesday evening astatine Washington DC's Union Station - conscionable a fewer streets from wherever Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol past twelvemonth successful an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Mr Biden blamed Mr Trump - whom helium did not name, but referred to arsenic "the defeated erstwhile president" - for inspiring threats by immoderate Republican candidates to garbage to judge the result should they suffer adjacent week.

"That is the way to chaos successful America," said Mr Biden. "It's unprecedented. It's unlawful. And it is un-American."

The president besides sought to nexus Mr Trump's predetermination rhetoric to a hammer onslaught past week connected the hubby of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

He argued that Mr Trump's "big prevarication that the predetermination of 2020 had been stolen" was the driving unit down some the battle connected 82-year-old Paul Pelosi and the US Capitol riot.

"It's a prevarication that fuelled the unsafe emergence successful governmental unit and elector intimidation implicit the past 2 years," said Mr Biden.

The president spoke arsenic a national justice successful Arizona issued a restraining bid against a radical of Trump supporters, sometimes equipped oregon wearing ballistic vests, who person been accused of harassing voters adjacent ballot boxes successful the borderline state.

The US authorities past week distributed a bulletin to instrumentality enforcement agencies informing of a "heightened threat" of home convulsive extremism, adding that candidates and predetermination workers could beryllium targeted by individuals with "ideological grievances".

Republicans reacted to Mr Biden's remarks by arguing helium was trying to distract Americans from his debased support ratings and US inflation.

House Republican number person Kevin McCarthy, who would go talker of the little enclosure of Congress should his enactment triumph power adjacent week, tweeted: "President Biden is trying to disagreement and deflect astatine a clip erstwhile America needs to unite - due to the fact that helium can't speech astir his policies that person driven up the outgo of living.

"The American radical aren't buying it."

A Reuters/Ipsos sentiment canvass this week recovered that fractional of Americans judge elector fraud is simply a wide problem, adjacent though specified cases are highly rare.

According to the BBC's US spouse CBS, retired of 595 Republicans moving for state-wide office, conscionable implicit fractional - 306 - person raised doubts astir the 2020 statesmanlike election.

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