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By Reuters 
2h ago
By Joseph Ax
Washington – President Donald Trump appeared to publicly acknowledge for the first time on Sunday that Democrat Joe Biden won the November 3 US presidential election, but claimed it was “rigged,” reiterating his false claims of widespread voter fraud.
Biden defeated Trump by winning a series of states on the battlefield that the Republican president had won in 2016. The former Democratic vice president also won the national popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points.
Trump appeared to acknowledge Biden’s victory in a Twitter post in which he listed unsubstantiated allegations of fraud.
“He won because the election was rigged,” Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday morning, without referring to Biden by name. “NO OBSERVERS OR OBSERVERS VOTE ALLOWED, vote tabulated by a private Radical Left company, Dominion, with a bad reputation and team that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), The Fake & Silent Media, & more!”
The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results in several states, albeit without success, and legal experts say the litigation has little chance of altering the election outcome.
Election officials from both parties have said there is no evidence of major wrongdoing. Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of trying to delegitimize Biden’s victory and undermine public confidence in the American electoral process. Before the election, Trump had refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
Trump’s refusal to budge did not change the fact that Biden was president-elect, but it has stalled the administration’s normal process of preparing for a new presidential administration.
The Trump administration’s decision not to recognize Biden as the winner has prevented Biden and his team from gaining access to government office space and funds normally awarded to an incoming administration to ensure a smooth transition.
The federal agency in charge of providing those resources, the General Services Administration, has yet to acknowledge Biden’s victory.
Biden has spent days huddled with advisers as he weighs cabinet appointments, receives congratulatory calls from world leaders and maps out the policies he will pursue after taking office on January 20. He is expected to continue meeting with advisers privately on Sunday.
Biden has won 306 votes in the state-by-state Electoral College system that determines the presidential winner, according to Edison Research, far more than the 270 needed to secure a majority.
Trump won the same number of electoral votes in 2016 over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, a victory he has called “overwhelming” despite winning the national popular vote by about 3 million ballots.
TRUMP SUPPORTER RALLY
On Saturday, tens of thousands of Trump supporters ventured into Washington to echo his claims of voter fraud. The “MAGA Million March,” referring to Trump’s campaign slogan of “Make America Great Again,” drew a crowd of flag-waving supporters to central Washington.
“Hundreds of thousands of people showing their support in DC will not stand in a rigged and corrupt election!” the president wrote on Twitter, although most of the crowd’s estimates were well below Trump’s figure.
Trump’s caravan cut through the crowd on its way to his golf course in Virginia, drawing cheers from protesters as the president waved from the back seat.
The march was largely peaceful, although numerous fights broke out between Trump supporters and counter-protesters that continued after dark. One person was stabbed and taken to a trauma center, the city’s fire department and emergency medical services said. The Washington Post reported that the stabbing occurred in the middle of a fight that broke out after 8 p.m.
Dozens of Proud Boys, a far-right group, marched through the streets, some wearing helmets and ballistic vests, while members of the far-left movement known as Antifa organized their own counter-demonstrations.
City police arrested at least 10 people, including several accused of assault.
With his chances of reversing the result practically extinct, Trump has discussed with his advisers possible media companies that would keep him in the limelight ahead of a possible 2024 run for the White House, his aides said.
The states are in the process of certifying their election results. The Electoral College meets to vote for the new president on December 14.
Biden’s election for White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said this week that a swift transition is necessary to ensure the government is prepared to roll out a potential coronavirus vaccine early next year.
Addressing the devastating pandemic will be a top priority for Biden. The United States set a new daily record for new cases on Friday for the fourth day in a row.
More than 244,000 people in the country have died from the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Reuters
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