Five takeaways from Donald Trump’s Thanksgiving press conference

President Donald Trump moved closer to the concession and fought with reporters at a Thanksgiving press conference on Thursday, saying he would leave the White House and accept defeat if the Electoral College confirmed the president-elect Joe Biden as the next commander-in-chief. .

Speaking to the White House press pool, Trump doubled down on some of his complaints about the electoral process, but also said he would “definitely” leave the Oval Office when his Democratic rival is inaugurated in January.

The president also announced that he would organize a rally in Georgia this weekend, an intervention that could prove important before the second round of the Senate scheduled for January 5.

Here are five takeaways from the president’s tense Thanksgiving press conference.

Trump heads for the concession

President Trump said he would eventually concede the election to Biden on Thursday, even as he said it would be “a mistake” for the Electoral College to confirm the president-elect as the next commander-in-chief.

When asked if he would concede under the circumstances, Trump replied, “Well, if they do, they made a mistake, because this election was a fraud. Just so you understand, this election was fraud.”

He later told another reporter that he would “definitely” leave the White House when the Electoral College confirmed President-elect Biden’s victory.

“Definitely I will. Definitely I will, and you know it,” Trump told the reporter, who asked if he was planning to leave the Oval Office of his Democratic successor.

“ Never talk to the president like this ”

While answering questions about his willingness to concede, Trump continued his attempts to question the integrity of the election and got into an argument with a reporter who interrupted him while he was speaking.

“Don’t talk to me that way, you’re just a light weight,” Trump said, pointing to the reporter. “I am the President of the United States. Never speak to the President in this way.”

As of this writing, clips of the incident have been viewed millions of times on social media, with one clip having been viewed more than 4 million times as of Friday morning.

After berating the reporter for interrupting, Trump moved on to answer a question from another reporter.

Trump unveils his Georgia rally plans

The Commander-in-Chief also said he would hold a rally in Georgia on Saturday night ahead of the Senate second round in January, following similar appearances in Vice President Mike Pence’s state last week.

“I’m leaving on Saturday night, I’ll be in Georgia, we’re going to have a great crowd,” Trump told reporters. “They’re looking for the right site. We’d love to take one of the big stages, but you can’t because of COVID.”

He added that his team would likely have to hold a rally outside, possibly in an airport hangar, replicating the rallies from his re-election campaign staged ahead of the November 3 vote.

Georgia’s second-round Senate elections will decide whether the GOP retains its slim majority in the Upper House in the first two years of the new Biden administration. If either incumbent Republican retains their seat, Republicans will retain at least a 51-49 majority in the Senate.

President Doubles Pennsylvania Claims

When asked about his team’s claims about electoral fraud in several states, Trump doubled down on his complaints about the alleged treatment of poll observers in Pennsylvania – a key state that certified its election results for Biden earlier this week.

“A poll observer is considered sacred in our country,” Trump said. “When they throw them out of the rooms …”

A reporter then interrupted to say that the observers had not been kicked out of the polling stations. “Your lawyers admitted they were in the room,” she added.

“My lawyers have not admitted anything,” replied the president. “And these are all different places.” He then complained that Republican poll observers could not approach the count tables to observe the tally.

Trump could break with inauguration tradition

As he doubled down on his complaints about the Pennsylvania electoral process, Trump was also asked if he would keep the tradition and attend President-elect Biden’s inauguration, which is scheduled to take place on January 20.

“I don’t want to say that yet, I mean I know the answer, I know the answer,” Trump told reporters. “I’ll be honest, I know the answer, I don’t want to say it yet.”

The Daily Beast reported earlier this month that Biden’s team feared Trump would crush his successor’s inauguration, with a large crowd of sympathetic protesters.

President Trump’s inauguration was met with protests, but his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, attended the ceremony in keeping with tradition.