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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has worked to resume apparent recognition that Joe Biden won the White House and it was clear that he would continue to try to overturn the election result.
Trump’s earlier comments on Sunday had given some critics and supporters hope the White House was ready to start working on a transition with Biden’s team. Not so fast, Trump quickly assured.
Trump, without using Biden’s name, said “he won” in a tweet that made baseless statements about a “rigged” election. But as the Republican president saw how his comments were interpreted as his first public recognition of a Biden victory, he quickly turned the tide.
“He only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA,” Trump then tweeted. “I’m not conceding ANYTHING! We have a long way to go. It was a RIGGED ELECTION!
There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 elections. In fact, election officials from both political parties have publicly stated that the election went well and international observers have confirmed that there is no had no serious irregularities. Trump’s campaign tried to mount legal challenges across the country, but many of the lawsuits were dismissed and none included evidence that the outcome could be reversed.
Biden, a Democrat, defeated Trump by reclaiming a trio of battlefield states: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and surpassed the 270 electoral vote threshold to clinch the presidency. Biden has 78.8 million votes so far, the highest number ever awarded by a winning candidate, compared to 73.1 million for Trump.
“If the president is ready to start acknowledging this reality, that’s a good thing,” Biden’s new chief of staff Ron Klain said“Meet the Press” told NBC. Still, Klain said, “Donald Trump’s Twitter thread doesn’t make Joe Biden president or non-president. The American people did this.
Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas said it “was good, actually” to see Trump’s tweet Biden won. “I think this is the start of recognition. … We want to make sure there is a smooth transition, ”Hutchinson said on NBC.
Almost two weeks after polling day, Trump has neither called Biden nor made any formal concessions, and White House officials have insisted they are preparing for a second term.
Former President Barack Obama, in an interview conducted and broadcast on CBS’s “60 Minutes” Sunday, said he would remind Trump that as president he is a public servant and a temporary occupant of the office.
“And when your time is up, it’s your job to put the country first and think beyond your own ego, your own interests, and your own disappointments,” Obama said. “My advice to President Trump is that if at this late stage of the game you want someone to be remembered who put the country first, it’s time for you to do the same.”
Obama also criticized those Republicans for agreeing with Trump’s false claims about widespread voter fraud.
“I’m more troubled that other Republican officials who clearly know better are okay with this, are making him happy that way. This is one more step in the delegitimization not only of the new Biden administration, but of democracy in general. And it is a dangerous path, ”he said.
In recent days, Trump seemed to move closer to acknowledging the reality of his loss. In comments in the rose garden on Friday about a coronavirus vaccine, Trump said his administration “would not go to a lockdown” to slow the spread of COVID-19, and added that “whatever happens in the future, who knows what administration it will make it be? I guess time will tell.
Trump on Sunday renewed his baseless attacks on an election technology company, Dominion Voting Systems, without evidence of serious irregularities. Dominion stated that it “denies the allegations of any voting changes or any suspected software issues with our voting systems.
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, a federal agency that oversees US electoral security, said in a statement last week that “the November 3 election was the safest in American history.. The agency said: “There is no evidence that a voting system suppressed or lost votes, altered votes or was compromised in any way.”
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, said it was important for Republican Party leaders to explain to voters that Trump has lost and that his allegations of electoral fraud are baseless. Bolton left the administration last year. He says he resigned; Trump says he fired Bolton.
“I think as each day goes by it is more and more clear that there is no proof. But if Republican voters only hear Donald Trump’s false statements, it’s no surprise they believe him, ”Bolton told ABC“ This Week ”. “It is essential for other Republican leaders to stand up and explain what really happened. Donald Trump has lost what, according to all the evidence we have so far, was a free and fair election.
Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer who helps lead Trump’s national legal front on the election challenge, had none of these things. In a TV appearance Trump watched on Twitter after his morning tweets, Giuliani denied that Trump had conceded – “No, no, no, far from it.
“I guess,” Giuliani told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” “you’d call that sarcastic.”
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Associated Press editors Will Weissert in Wilmington, Delaware, and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.
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