Trump told his ally that he is delaying the transition to get revenge on Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of the 2016 polls.


President Donald Trump told an ally that he knows he lost but is delaying the transition process and is aggressively trying to cast doubt on the election results to get revenge on Democrats for questioning the legitimacy of his own election in 2016. , especially with the Russia investigation, a source familiar with the president’s thinking told CNN on Thursday.

The president’s refusal to budge, as CNN previously reported, stems in part from his alleged complaint that Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama undermined their own presidency by saying that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and could have affected the outcome. , the people around him have. said.

Trump continues to hold a grudge against those who he said undermined his election by pointing to Russia’s interference efforts, and has suggested that it is fair game not to recognize Joe Biden as president-elect, despite Clinton granting the night of the elections in 2016 and Trump’s transition could begin immediately.

Trump also continues to process the emotional scars of losing to a candidate who repeatedly said during the campaign that he was an unworthy opponent whose victory would amount to humiliation. Again he made no public appearances on Thursday, skipping the first coronavirus briefing of the task force at the White House in more than six months. He plans to participate in a virtual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit on Friday, a senior administration official told CNN.

Trump has heard from a crowd of friends and business partners who have urged him to at least let the transition begin, even if he doesn’t want to give in, another source who is also familiar with the president’s thinking told CNN. His answer: No. You are wrong. “Absolutely wrong,” according to one source.

When Trump has been told to remove Rudy Giuliani and other members of his legal team from the case, the president disagreed. He wants to continue the fight, and those close to the president have even raised concerns that he is buying into Giuliani’s false claims that his legal efforts may change the outcome of the elections. He has shown no signs of backing down, even as those around him continue to signal that the end is near. Those allies have expressed concern that a sizeable faction in the country thinks the election was stolen from Trump and that Biden is not receiving national security reports.

Friends and associates, this source said, have been imploring the president to think ahead. You have been told that you are making it harder for yourself, that it will be difficult for you to get people to stay in your hotels, or even to borrow money if you continue this behavior. It will damage your brand, you have been told. The president thinks that is wrong.

His answer is that he had more than 70 million people voting for him, which he believes conveys the utmost power and authority, and the White House should as well. Biden leads by nearly 6 million votes, with 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232.

“The most important thing to keep in mind is that Donald is in a unique position for him,” said Mary Trump, the president’s niece who wrote a damning account of his family life. “Never in his life has he been in a situation where he can’t get out of using someone else’s money, using connections, using power. And he’s not only in a unique position, he’s in a loser position, which in my Family, certainly, as far as my grandfather was concerned, it was the worst it could be. “

Trump is listening to his friends, this source said, but quickly ends the talks because he disagrees. You don’t want to hear what you don’t believe.

Inside the White House, it seems that many people have decided to let this play out, either because they want to or because they have no other choice. Son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner is acting calm, this source said, while his daughter Ivanka Trump has practically turned away from this, as CNN reported last week.

Ivanka is well aware that she has a business she might want to return to, or even a future political life, the source said.

The president, said this source, “does not see” how bad the consequences of all this could be for the country and for democracy itself. As usual, he is focused on himself, no COVID-19, nor the transition.

Trump has even been told that there is no need to compromise and to let the transition continue. Not logged, at least not yet.

In another week or 10 days, this source said, it could be a different story.

But he is not yet ready now, if ever, to concede.

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