‘Time will tell’: TRUMP DIGS IN HEELS AS HIS FACADE BEGINS TO CRUMBLE
US ELECTION SPECIAL
US President Donald Trump suggested for the first time since Election Day that he might not have won another term but stopped short of conceding the race to Joe Bidean.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden on Friday about coronavirus vaccines, Trump vowed his administration would not “lock down” the country again but said another president could.
“This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully, the – whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell, but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown,” he said.
The event marked the president’s first public comments since November 5. He has remained mostly out of public view since news networks projected Biden as the winner last Saturday, but has tweeted a steady stream of unfounded claims that the election was “rigged” and that he was the real winner.
Trump’s reclusion has triggered a fresh round of criticism that he has failed to lead on the pandemic as cases surge nationwide. More than 10.6 million people in the United States have contracted the virus and more than 243,000 have died, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg.
The president’s failure to concede has also affected Biden’s transition planning, with advisers to the Democrat barred from making official contact with government health experts about their efforts. That interaction will not be allowed to take place until the administrator of the General
Services Administration, Emily Murphy, makes an ascertainment that Biden is the president elect.
VACCINE MILESTONES In his comments, Trump recapped milestones in the race for a vaccine but offered little new information. Earlier this week, Pfizer Inc, said its shot was 90 percent effective in a late-stage trial while Moderna Inc said it reached a key study benchmark and would soon have data on its vaccine’s effectiveness. The president indicated that regulators would quickly authorise the shots, and that US citizens would have broad access to them by spring.
Trump criticised New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, apparently over concerns he has raised about the vaccine. Cuomo, a Democrat, had said the state would independently review any vaccine out of concern the approval process was tainted by politics.
Trump said: “He wants to take his time with the vaccine he doesn’t trust where the vaccine is coming from.” The president added, “We can’t be delivering it to a state that can’t be giving it to its people immediately.”
Trump didn’t take questions from reporters, who asked why he has not conceded to Biden.
After Trump’s event, Vicepresident Mike Pence tweeted that the legal challenges over balloting would continue. But he allowed that he and Trump might not prevail. “Whatever the outcome: We Will Never Stop Fighting to Make America Great Again!” Pence wrote.