“He won because the election was rigged,” Trump wrote earlier that day, but later tweeted: “He only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I grant NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was an EQUIPPED CHOICE! ”
President Donald Trump backtracked after appearing Sunday to first acknowledge that Joe Biden won the Nov. 3 election, saying he conceded “nothing” and repeating his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.
Biden defeated Trump by winning a series of battleground states 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 made conflicting statements in a series of posts on Twitter.
“He won because the election was rigged,” Trump wrote Sunday morning, without referring to Biden by name. NO OBSERVERS OR VOTE WATCHERS ALLOWED, vote tabulated by a Radical Left private company, Dominion, with a bad reputation and shoddy equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), The Fake & Silent Average, & more! “
About an hour later, Trump wrote: “He only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I grant NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was an EQUIPPED CHOICE! “
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mr. Biden’s choice for White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said: “Donald Trump’s Twitter does not make Joe Biden president or not president. President. The American people did that. “
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 concede did not change the fact that Biden was president-elect, but it has stalled the normal process of preparing the administration 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.
‘Absolutely embarrassing’
Senator Bernie Sanders, one of Biden’s main challengers for the Democratic presidential nomination, criticized Trump’s post-election conduct.
“Trump will have the distinction of doing more than anyone in the history of this country to undermine American democracy. The idea of him continuing to tell his supporters that the only reason he could have lost this election was fraud is absolutely shameful and anti-American, “Sanders told CNN’s” State of the Union “program.
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. The states are in the process of certifying their election results. The Electoral College meets to vote for the new president on December 14.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser turned critic, on Sunday called on Republicans to recognize Biden’s victory. Last week, Bolton accused fellow Republicans of “coddling” and “bowing” to Trump as a starter despite his loss.
“I think it is very important that the leaders of the Republican Party explain to our voters, who are not as stupid as the Democrats think, that in fact Mr. Trump has lost the election and his claims of voter fraud are unfounded,” said the Mr. Bolton said on ABC’s “This Week” show.
“I take this as a test for the Republican Party. … I do not buy the argument that Donald Trump has hypnotized Republican voters, “added Bolton.
Trump supporters rally
On Saturday, tens of thousands of flag-waving Trump supporters ventured into Washington to echo his claims of election fraud during the “MAGA Million March,” referring to Trump’s campaign slogan of “Make America be great again. “
Trump’s caravan passed 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.
Klain said this week that a swift transition is necessary to ensure the government is prepared to launch a possible coronavirus vaccine early next year.
Addressing the terrible pandemic will be a top priority for Biden, and the United States has recorded record numbers of COVID-19 cases in recent days. More than 245,000 people in the country have died from the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
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