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President Donald Trump said Thursday he will leave the White House if the Electoral College formalizes President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, though he insisted such a decision would be a “mistake”.
He spent his Thanksgiving Day renewing unproven claims that “massive fraud” and dishonest officials in the battlefield states caused his electoral defeat.
“I certainly will. But you know, ”Trump said Thursday when asked if he would leave the building, allowing for a peaceful transition of power in January.
But Trump – answering questions for the first time since election day – insisted that “many things” would happen between now and then that could skew the results.
Trump has destroyed one convention after another over the past three weeks, including questions about whether or not he would leave office after losing his re-election.
While there is no evidence of the kind of widespread fraud Trump has claimed, he and his legal team have nonetheless worked to question the integrity of the election and try to overturn the will of voters in an unprecedented show that goes against democratic norms. .
Trump spoke to reporters in the White House’s elaborate diplomatic reception room after holding a conference call with U.S. military leaders stationed around the world. He thanked them for their service and jokingly warned them not to eat too much turkey, then turned to the election after finishing the call.
He repeated the grievances and angrily denounced officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two key states that helped Biden win.
Trump said, despite the results, that this may not be his last Thanksgiving at the White House. And he insisted that there had been “massive fraud,” even though state officials and international observers said there was no evidence and Trump’s campaign has repeatedly failed in court.
The Trump administration has already given the green light to initiate a formal transition, but the incumbent president has disputed Biden moving forward.
“I think it’s unfair that he’s trying to pick a government,” Trump said, despite officials from both teams already working together to get Biden’s team in motion.
Trump announced he will travel to Georgia to rally supporters ahead of two Senate ballot elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.
Trump said the rally for Republicans Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler will likely be held on Saturday. The White House later made it clear that it would be January 5.
One of the reasons Republicans stood by Trump and his unsubstantiated claims of fraud was to keep his loyal base energized ahead of those January 5 ballots. dampen Republican turnout.
“I think you are dealing with a very fraudulent system. I am very worried about that,” he said. “People are very disappointed that we have been robbed.”
As for the constituency, Trump has made it clear that he will likely never formally admit, even if he said he would leave the White House.
“It will be a very difficult thing to admit. Because we know there has been massive fraud, “he said, stressing that” time is not on our side “.
“If they do,” he votes against him, Trump added, “they’ve made a mistake.”
Asked if he would attend Biden’s inauguration, Trump said he knew the answer but didn’t want to share it yet.
But there were some signs that Trump was reckoning with his loss.
At one point he urged reporters not to give Biden credit for pending coronavirus vaccines. “Don’t let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they ever did before,” he said.
As for whether or not he intends to formally declare that his candidacy will restart in 2024 – as he discussed with his collaborators – Trump said he “doesn’t want to talk about 2024 yet.”
All states must certify their results before the Electoral College meets on December 14, and any challenges to results must be resolved by December 8. States have already started that process, including Michigan, where Trump and his allies have tried to delay the process without success. , Georgia and Pennsylvania.
Certification of the vote at the local and state levels is typically a ministerial task that receives little notice, but that changed this year with Trump’s refusal to concede and his unprecedented attempts to overturn the election results.
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