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Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post
Trump remains defiant and has again branded the election rigged.
US President Donald Trump says he will leave the White House if rival Joe Biden’s victory is confirmed next month.
But he promised to keep fighting to annul the elections he lost and said he may never give in.
“I certainly will, and you know it,” he said when asked if he would leave the White House if the US electoral college elected Biden.
Although advisers have long said he would leave on January 20, it was Trump’s first explicit commitment to vacate office if he didn’t get his way.
Trump said he planned to continue making allegations of fraud about the results and said, without evidence, that Biden could not have won nearly 80 million votes.
A key federal agency says Joe Biden is the “apparent winner” of the US election, paving the way for the start of the transition.
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His legal team has been widely mocked and he has lost nearly all claims in every state as officials certify Biden’s results.
“It’s going to be a very difficult thing to admit,” he said of the election.
Attendees have privately said that Trump will never budge.
When asked if he would attend Biden’s unveiling, he objected. “I know the answer,” he said, though he refused to give it.
Even when most of his lawyers have resigned and many campaign officials say the effort to roll back the election is going nowhere, Trump said it was going “very well.”
The president made the remarks in the diplomatic room of the White House after speaking with soldiers from around the world. The Thanksgiving session, an annual tradition for Trump, marked the first time he answered questions since the election.
Susan Walsh / AP
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump leave the White House rose garden.
He planned to have dinner with his family at the White House and spent much of the day at his golf club in Virginia.
The president also said he planned to campaign in Georgia for two Republicans in the Senate runoff scheduled for January.
The races are key so that the party remains with the majority. Trump said he could leave as soon as Saturday, though a White House spokesman later said he was referring to next Saturday.
Republicans close to Trump have said he was largely uninterested in the runoff until his appearance on Friday (NZT). He criticized Georgia officials, who he believes have not intervened enough as the state has counted the ballots and certified Biden’s results.
Trump’s continued rhetoric has worried Republicans working in the race, who fear his campaign against the election could discourage some supporters from voting.
“I’m very concerned about that,” Trump said, when asked if the Georgia Senate runoff would be legitimate.
Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post
Trump has continued to repeat unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
“It has a fraudulent system,” he said. He said his followers feared the race was illegitimate.
Trump went on to falsely claim that there was widespread voter fraud in his election, without offering proof.
Advisers say Trump has started discussing a presidential bid for 2024, but said on Friday (NZT) that he was still focused on 2020.
“I don’t think it’s right that he’s trying to pick a cabinet,” Trump said of Biden. Trump had blocked a presidential transition for several weeks, but relented this week and allowed his team to move on.
Trump also took a sidelong approach to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 250,000 in the United States, albeit mainly to show off.
“The vaccines, and by the way, don’t let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccine … Don’t let him take credit for the vaccines, because the vaccines was me,” he said.
The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on December 14 to confirm Biden’s victory. He will be sworn in on January 20.
