Mexican President Obrador: Media ‘Censoring’ Trump’s Election Concerns

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador called out the US media for censoring President Donald Trump as he remained firm on his earlier decision to hold off from congratulating Joe Biden as president-elect until all legal issues related to the elections are resolved.

In his daily news briefing, President Obrador expressed dismay at how the American media is trying to silence the US President himself while calling out possible election irregularities.

“In the country of freedoms, of the free press, all of a sudden they censor the president,” the Mexican President said.

“It is not anything – this had not been seen before. The media censors. I am talking about the US, because in Mexico we are used to that,” he added.

“Imprudent” to congratulate Biden now

Earlier, President Obrador said it would be “imprudent” to congratulate Biden while the US awaits the result of several legal actions filed by the camp of President Donald Trump over reported election irregularities.

“MEXICO: Pres. Andrés Manuel López Obrador says he will *not* congratulate Biden – yet – because he wants to wait until “the legal questions” of the election are resolved.”

The Mexican President said his government will wait for official certification of election results before congratulating a winner.

“We’re going to wait for all the legal issues to be resolved. We don’t want to be imprudent. … We want to be respectful of people’s self-determination and the rights of others,” he said.

President Obrador maintained that he has a good relationship with both President Trump and Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden amid criticisms that this could taint Mexico’s relation with the US.

Good relations with both Trump, Biden

“We have a very good relationship with the two candidates,” he said. “President Trump has been very respectful with us and we have reached very good agreements, and we thank him because he has not interfered and has respected us.”

Nonetheless, he noted that he has also known former VP Biden for more than 10 years.

“With regard to the US election, we are going to wait until all the legal matters have been resolved. I can’t congratulate one candidate or the other. I want to wait until the electoral process is over,” the Mexican President reportedly said.

The Trump campaign has earlier filed multiple lawsuits in key battleground states such as Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania over concerns of election irregularities.

On Monday, President Obrador reiterated that Mexico doesn’t want to interfere in the affairs of other countries.

“We cannot meddle in the politics of other countries. … We have to be respectful,” he said.

The Mexican president also referenced a mistake made by Mexico’s Congress who prematurely congratulated former 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton on “her win” in the 2016 election.

In 2018,  President Obrador — who was elected that time — said he wants to maintain “mutual respect” with the US government.

“We are never going to disrespect the US government, because we want them to respect us,” he said then, as he described President Trump’s congratulatory tweet that time as “very respectful.”

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.