Trump concedes defeat ... or does he?
Trump backtracks after appearing to acknowledge Biden’s win in tweet that said election was ‘rigged’
Donald Trump appeared to acknowledge publicly for the first time that Joe Biden had won the election yesterday, before rapidly backtracking 90 minutes later as news of his apparent concession spread, and tweeting: “I concede NOTHING!” The president tweeted early yesterday morning that Mr Biden “won because the Election was Rigged” – a statement which, in the United States, was taken as a sign that he was gradually accepting his electoral defeat.
DONALD TRUMP appeared yesterday to acknowledge publicly for the first time that Joe Biden had won the election, before rapidly backtracking 90 minutes later as news of his apparent concession spread, and tweeting: “I concede NOTHING!”
The president tweeted early yesterday morning that Mr Biden “won because the election was rigged” – a statement which, in the United States, was taken as a sign that he was gradually accepting his electoral defeat.
He had previously refused to state that Mr Biden won, insisting the election remained undecided.
The tweet, which alleged among other things that election observers had been prevented from working, was flagged by Twitter as promoting disinformation. Poll watchers from both sides were present in every election site. However, Mr Trump soon backtracked on this caveated acknowledgement of his rival’s win.
An hour and a half later, as news spread that he had conceded, the 74-year-old clarified that his statement was not intended as a concession.
“I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!” he tweeted, adding that: “He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA.”
Ron Klain, Mr Biden’s chief of staff, said yesterday that Mr Trump’s tweets on the election were irrelevant. “Donald Trump’s Twitter feed doesn’t make Joe Biden president or not president,” he told political chat show Meet The Press. “The American people did that.”
However, observers worry that the tweets contribute to the climate of uncertainty and give Mr Trump’s supporters false hope that he could remain in the White House for another four years. They also stymie Mr Biden’s attempts to prepare to take over the country on Jan 20. The General Services Administration, the agency tasked with beginning the process, said it could not give him access to $9.9 million (£7.5 million) in transition funds, classified security briefings, and authorisation to work with federal agencies until Mr Trump accepted defeat.
Mr Biden has won 306 Electoral Coll ege votes, according to Edison Research, far more than the 270 needed to capture the presidency.
Mr Trump is attempting to challenge the results in court, but these efforts stand little chance.
On Saturday night, he named the five people who will comprise his legal team, headed by his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Among them are a husband-and-wife duo close to Mr Giuliani who are accused of trading in conspiracy theories, and were considered for a role on Mr Trump’s legal team to challenge the Mueller inquiry. When their
a ppointment in May 2 018 was announced, Mr Trump’s then-lawyer John Dowd quit in disgust.
The team also includes Sidney Powell, who was lawyer for the former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Powell is a former US district attorney who turned against the department of justice and became convinced that there was a
“deep state” of Obama-era officials working to undermine Mr Trump. She spelled out her theory in a 2014 book and became a darling of conspiracy theorists.
The Trump campaign’s legal adviser Jenna Ellis also joined the group. She was a deputy district attorney in Colorado before going into teaching and private practice, and said her evangelical beliefs led her to see law as a “ministry”.
The team will have their work cut out. On Friday, the Trump campaign abandoned its case in Arizona, realising it was unwinnable, and the law firm heading its efforts in Pennsylvania quit the case. Judges in Michigan and Philadelphia threw out their legal challenges on Friday.
Efforts will likely focus on Georgia – a state which was called for Mr Biden, but where a hand recount is taking place as only 14,000 votes separate the two men, representing 0.3 per cent of the vote. Their efforts to find fraud are believed highly unlikely to overturn 14,000 votes, however, and Mr Biden does not need the state to win the election.