It is time for Trump to concede: Obama

It's time for US President Donald Trump to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, as re is scenario to reverse outcome of election, his predecessor Barack Obama has said.

Trump, who is refusing to concede, has 232 electoral college votes. He has challenged election results in various states including Pennsylvania, Neva, Michigan, Georgia and Arizona. He h demanded a recount in Wisconsin.

In all se states, he alleged re were massive voters’ fraud and electoral malpractice.

Biden has 306 of 538 electoral college votes, well above halfway mark of 270.

“Absolutely,” Obama told 60 Minutes of CBNS News in an interview aired Sunday when asked if in his view, it is time for Trump to concede.

“Well, I mean, I think it was time for him to concede probably-- day after election-- or at latest, two days after election. When you look at numbers objectively, Joe Biden will have won handily. re is scenario in which any of those states would turn or way, and certainly t eugh to reverse outcome of election,” Obama said.

More than courtesy of a concession, Trump White House is declining to free up usual funds and facilities for incoming ministration. President-elect Biden is t receiving secret national security briefings as Trump did when he was president-elect, Obama alleged.

Asserting that a president is a public servant, Obama said that y are temporary occupants of office, by design.

“And when your time is up n it is your job to put country first and think beyond your own ego, and your own interests, and your own disappointments. My vice to President Trump is, if you want at this late st in game to be remembered as somebody who put country first, it's time for you to do same thing,” he said.

Responding to a question, Obama said that America's versaries have seen country weakened, t just as a consequence of this election, but over last several years.

“We have se cleavs in body politic that y're convinced y can exploit. re's an old that partisan politics should stop at water's edge, right? That, when it comes to our foreign policy, that it is United States of America, t divided states of America,” Obama, whose latest book " Promised Land" hits market later this week, said.

“We have gone through a presidency that disregarded a whole host of basic institutional rms, expectations we h for a president that h been observed by Republicans and Democrats previously. And maybe most importantly, and most disconcertingly, what we've seen is what some people call truth decay, something that's been accelerated by outgoing President Trump, sense that t only do we t have to tell truth, but truth doesn't even matter,” he said.

When asked about Trump's allegations of widespre election fraud, Obama said that president doesn't like to lose and never mits loss.

“I'm more troubled by fact that or Republican officials who clearly kw better are going along with this, are humouring him in this fashion. It is one more step in delegitimising t just incoming Biden ministration, but democracy generally. And that's a dangerous path,” he said.

“We would never accept that out of our own kids behaving that way if y lost, right? I mean, if my daughters, in any kinda competition, pouted and n accused or side of cheating when y lost, when re was evidence of it, we'd scold 'em. I think that re has been this sense over last several years that literally anything goes and is justified in order to get power,” he said.

“And that's t unique to United States. re are strong men and dictators around world who think that, 'I can do anything to stay in power. I can kill people. I can throw m in jail. I can run phony elections. I can suppress journalists.' But that's t who we're supposed to be. And one of signals I think that Joe Biden needs to send to world is that, ', those values that we preached, and we believed in, and subscribed in-- we still believe'," said former president.

Obama hoped that new president can set a new tone.

“That's t gonna solve all gridlock in Washington. I think we're gonna have to work with media and with tech companies to find ways to inform public better about issues and to-- bolster standards that ensure we can separate truth from fiction. I think that we have to work at a local level,” he said.

Observing that re are a set of tritions that US has followed in peaceful transfer of power, Obama said that outgoing president congratulates incoming president, instructs government and ncies to cooperate with new government coming in.

“You invite president-elect to Oval Office And n on inauguration day, president invites president-elect to White House and re's a small reception. And n you drive to inauguration site, and outgoing president sits re and is part of audience as new president is sworn in,” he said.

“And at that point, outgoing president is a citizen like everybody else and owes new president chance to do ir best on behalf of American people. Wher Donald Trump will do same thing we'll have to see. So far, that's t been his approach. But you kw hope springs eternal. re's a promised land out re somewhere,” Obama said. PTI LKJ RS RS