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WASHINGTON (AP) – US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, the closest he has come to granting the November 3 election, including when he repeated his unfounded claims of massive voter fraud. .
Speaking to reporters over the Thanksgiving holiday, Republican Trump said whether Democrat Biden – who must take the oath on January 20 – is certified as the winner of the elections by the Electoral College, will leave the White House.
But Trump said it would be difficult for him to give in under the current circumstances and declined to say whether he would attend Biden’s inauguration.
“This election was a fraud,” Trump insisted in a sometimes rambling speech at the White House, offering no concrete evidence of widespread voting irregularities.
Biden won the election with 306 votes in the electoral college – many more than the 270 required – to Trump’s 232, and voters are scheduled to meet on December 14 to formalize the result. Biden also leads Trump by more than 6 million in the popular vote count.
Trump has so far refused to fully acknowledge his defeat, although last week – with mounting pressure from their own Republican ranks – agreed to let Biden’s transition process officially proceed.
When asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden, Trump said: “I certainly will. I certainly will. And you know.”
“But I think a lot will happen between now and January 20. Many things, ”he said. “Massive fraud has been discovered. We are like a third world country. “
Desperate efforts by Trump and his aides to overturn the results in key states, either through lawsuits or pressuring state lawmakers, have failed and he is running out of options.
In the United States, a candidate becomes president by obtaining the most “electoral” votes rather than winning the majority of the national popular vote.
Voters, assigned to all 50 states and the District of Columbia largely based on their population, are party loyalists who pledge to support the candidate who won the popular vote in their state.
Biden and Trump stay close to home amid pandemic
Biden and Trump stayed close to home to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country.
Biden vacationed in the small seaside town of Rehoboth, Delaware, where he and his wife Jill have a vacation home. The Bidens will host their daughter Ashley Biden and her husband, Dr. Howard Kerin, for the holiday meal.
The former vice president, who appeared with his wife in a video message posted to his Twitter account on Thanksgiving, said his family usually holds a large gathering on Nantucket Island off Massachusetts, but would remain in Delaware this year “with just a little one gathering around our table for dinner” due to the pandemic.
In the presidential-style address to a nation that has lost more than 260,000 lives to the coronavirus, the Democratic president-elect said Americans were making a “sacrifice shared by the entire country” and a “statement of common purpose” by staying in. House. with their immediate relatives.
“I know this is not the way many of us expected to spend our vacations. We know that a small act of staying home is a gift to our compatriots, ”said Biden. “I know better days are coming.”
Trump often likes to celebrate the holidays at his Mar-a-Largo resort in Florida. But on Thursday he remained in the Washington area, spending part of the morning at his Trump National Golf Club in Virginia where he played a round of golf.
It was very different from last year when he made a surprise visit to Afghanistan, where he served turkey to American troops before sitting down to dinner with them on Thanksgiving.
This time, Trump spoke via video link from the White House to members of the military.
