Trump loyalist accepts Biden's victory in US election, stresses 'country should move on'

US President Donald Trump's top confidant, who was so far backing the unfounded claims of election fraud by the Republican leader, has indicated that Joe Biden won the presidential polls. Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, while speaking to Axios, said his comments about the election fraud were based on keeping in mind the national interest, adding that "the outcome is very certain today, and the country should move on". 

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The Financial Times had reported that days after the US polls concluded, Schwarzman participated in a roundtable conference of business leaders who defended President Donald Trump's reaction and response to the result. Schwarzman reportedly believed in Trump's alleged "election fraud" claims and was ready to support him. 

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But, the billionaire Republican supporter, who was a loyalist of Trump during his four years at the White House, has now changed course into recognising Biden's win. Schwarzman says he is ready to back the former vice-president and his team in confronting the COVID-19 challenge and building a post-pandemic economy. 

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Trump's refusal to acknowledge defeat

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is yet to concede defeat to Biden and keeps making "disputed" claims on Twitter regarding the US election. The Trump campaign has filed lawsuits in several states challenging the results, while Republican canvassers have on multiple occasions tried to block the certification of ballots. 

Despite the major US media outlets projecting Biden as the clear winner of the presidential election, Trump has alleged that poll officials "illegally" counted ballots that arrived after 8 pm on the final voting day. However, so far, the incumbent president has only suffered setbacks in his attempt to denounce the election as illegitimate and just last week, one of his lawsuits in Pennsylvania was dismissed by the judge who ruled the votes were legally treated. 

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(Image Credit: AP)