Joe Biden said Wednesday that Americans "won't stand" for the results of the Nov. 3 election not being honored.
"Our democracy was tested this year," Biden said in a Thanksgiving Day address in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. "And what we learned is this: The people of this nation are up to the task.
"In America, we have full and fair and free elections, and then we honor the results," he said. "The people of this nation and the laws of the land won't stand for anything else."
Biden did not mention Donald Trump by name but he was clearly referring to the president's refusal to accept the results of the election, which on their face favored the Biden campaign. The president and his legal team are continuiing to press legal challenges and allegations of systemic voter fraud, in some instances urging state legislators to designate their own electors for the official rendering of the electoral college vote.
Biden said the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated political divisions in the United States and called for unity.
"It has divided us. Angered us. And set us against one another," he said. "I know the country has grown weary of the fight.
"But we need to remember we're at a war with a virus -- not with each other."