Published 09:33 IST, November 27th 2020
Donald Trump says he will leave White House if Electoral College declares Biden's victory
US President Donald Trump said that he would certainly leave the White House if the Electoral College declares President-elect Joe Biden as the winner
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US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he would leave the White House if the Electoral College declares President-elect Joe Biden as the winner of the election. However, he continued his attack on the Democrats and pushed the voter fraud claim again in his latest press briefing. In his address, while maintaining his stance on the situation he said a lot could happen before January 20.
"Certainly I will (leave the White House) and you know that. But I think that there will be a lot of things happening now till January 20. Massive fraud has been found. We are like the third-world country -- we are using computer equipment that could be hacked," said Trump, when asked whether he would leave the White House if the Electoral College certifies Biden as President.
The outgoing US President interacted with media for the first time since losing to his Democratic opponent Biden in the recently concluded elections. He, however, said it would be a mistake if the electoral college elected Biden as the President, adding that it would be a "very hard thing" to concede. Yet again, Trump claimed that the presidential elections were rigged, as the results showed Biden winning majority of the seats in certain key areas that "mattered in terms of elections" (referring to swing states). On the contrary, Trump said, Biden has lost many seats in other states, even compared to former President Barack Obama.
'Fraud at the highest level'
"This election was a fraud at the highest level. It was a rigged election. The results showed Biden beating Obama in key areas (swing states) that mattered in terms of elections, and yet he lost to Obama in other places," the President said.
When asked whether he would attend Biden's inauguration in January 2020, Trump said that he preferred not to answer the question. He further lashed out at the US media for not being "fair" to him and claimed to have won the election by a large amount. "I would have won by a tremendous amount and I did win by a tremendous amount. It hasn't been reported yet but people have been understanding what's happening and they know what happened, he added.
Trump refuses to concede
Trump on Wednesday told the Pennsylvania Republicans that he has all the evidence to prove that the result is his favour and urged the Grand Old Party to "turn the election over". This came even as Trump authorized the General Services Administration to initiate a formal transition to Biden's administration while continuing to question the validity of the election and refusing to concede. Biden has been projected as the winner of the US elections ever since he clinched Pennsylvania which took him past the required 270 electoral college vote mark.
(With inputs from agency)
09:33 IST, November 27th 2020