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- Donald Trump said he would leave the White House if the Electoral College confirmed the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
- This, while Trump continues to make unsubstantiated claims about a “rigged election.”
- The Electoral College will meet on December 14 to certify Biden’s victory and declare him the winner with 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
Washington – US President Donald Trump said Thursday for the first time that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden is officially confirmed as the winner of the US election, even as he criticized the “rigged” vote.
Trump has made an unprecedented attempt to challenge the election results by refusing to budge, spreading wild theories about stolen ballots and launching unfounded legal challenges that have been dismissed by the courts.
Answering his first questions from reporters since the Nov. 3 vote, the president came closer to accepting that he would only serve one term before Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
When asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s victory, Trump said: “I certainly will. And you know it.”
But “if they do, they made a mistake,” he said, adding, “It’s going to be a very difficult thing to admit.”
He said:
I think a lot will happen between now and January 20.
The Electoral College, which determines the winner of the White House, will meet on December 14 to certify Biden’s victory, and Biden will receive 306 votes to Trump’s 232.
“This election was a fraud,” Trump said, again without providing any evidence during his remarks to reporters at the White House after speaking with military personnel via a video link over the Thanksgiving holiday.
He described the voting infrastructure of the United States as “like a third world country.”
Earlier in the day he tweeted that “this was a 100% EQUIPPED ELECTION,” while on Wednesday he called on his Republican supporters “to turn the election around.”
No proof of fraud
President-elect Biden has said that Americans “will not tolerate” attempts to derail the result of the vote and urged Americans to unite to fight the worsening pandemic.
More than 260,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19, and the number of daily deaths has risen to 2,000 in recent days.
Trump’s refusal to grant Biden the election has added to the countless rules he has broken during his four years in power.
Supporters suggest that he is already considering a bid for the presidency in 2024.
The 74-year-old Trump alleges, among other conspiracy theories, that voting machines deliberately erased millions of his votes, even though the government’s election security agency declared it “the safest election” in US history.
Under pressure from some high-level Republicans, Trump this week ended his blocking of government assistance to facilitate Biden’s preparation to take office.
Trump said Thursday that he would soon travel to Georgia to campaign ahead of two key second-round elections that will decide which party controls the Senate.
Biden, 78, this week unveiled a list of veteran diplomats and politicians who will make up his foreign policy and national security team, saying, “America is back, ready to lead the world.”
He said that in his first 100 days in office, he would address the Covid crisis, eliminate Trump’s policies that “harm” the environment, and push for legislation that offers millions of undocumented American residents a path to citizenship.
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