‘Don’t talk to the president like that!’: Irritable Trump criticizes journalist

US President Donald Trump has had an irritable exchange with a White House correspondent during a press conference in which the “light” reporter spoke about him after asking if he would grant the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

“Never talk to the president like that,” Trump told Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason during a question and answer session at the White House.

Trump spoke to reporters in the White House Diplomatic Reception Room after conducting a teleconference with US military leaders stationed around the world.

In his 25-minute exchange with the media, Trump did not fully acknowledge his loss and insisted that his legal arguments would go ahead. He argued that he has time until the inauguration, which is 55 days away, but admitted that it is passing quickly.

He said he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, even as he insisted such a decision would be a “mistake,” as he spent his Thanksgiving renewing unsubstantiated claims that “massive fraud” and corrupt officials . in the states of the battlefield it caused their electoral defeat.

“I certainly will. But you know,” Trump said Thursday when asked if he would vacate the building, allowing for a peaceful transition of power in January. But Trump, answering questions for the first time since Election Day, insisted that “a lot of things” would happen between now and then that could alter the results.

“This has a long way to go,” Trump said, though he lost.

The fact that a sitting US president would even have to address whether or not he would leave office after losing re-election underscores the extent to which Trump has crushed one convention after another in the past three weeks.

While there is no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud that Trump has been alleging, he and his legal team have been working to cast doubt on the integrity of the election and trying to override the will of the voters in an unprecedented violation of the rules. Democrats.

Trump spoke to reporters in the ornate White House Diplomatic Reception Room after conducting a teleconference with US military leaders stationed around the world. He thanked them for their service and jokingly warned them not to eat too much turkey, then moved on to the election after ending the call.

He reiterated complaints and angrily denounced officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two key states that helped Biden win.

Trump claimed, despite the results, that this may not be his last Thanksgiving in the White House. And he insisted there had been “massive fraud,” even though state officials and international observers have said there is no evidence of that and that the Trump campaign has repeatedly failed in court.

The Trump administration has already given the green light for a formal transition to get underway. But Trump disagreed with Biden moving forward.

“I think it’s not okay for him to be trying to pick a cabinet,” Trump said, even though officials from both teams are already working together to bring Biden’s team up to speed.

And because he refused to budge, Trump announced that he will travel to Georgia to rally supporters before two Senate runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.

Trump said the rally by Republican Senators David Perdue and Senator Kelly Loeffler will likely take place on Saturday. The White House later clarified that it was referring to December 5.

– Additional reporting AP