President Donald Trump got one step closer to the concession and fought with journalists at a Thanksgiving press conference on Thursday, signaling he would leave the White House and accept defeat if the Electoral College confirms President-elect Joe Biden as the next commander-in-chief. .
Speaking to the White House press camp, Trump doubled his complaints about the election process, but also said he would “surely” leave the Oval Office when his democratic rival was inaugurated in January.
The President also announced that he would hold a meeting in Georgia over the weekend, an intervention that could prove important ahead of the Senate election scheduled for January 5th.
Here are five takeaways from the president’s press conference with a tense Thanksgiving.
Trump is moving toward the concession
President Trump has indicated that he will finally allow the Biden election on Thursday, even if he claims it would be a “mistake” for the Electoral College to confirm the elected president as the next commander-in-chief.
Asked if he would allow himself in such circumstances, Trump replied, “Well, if you did, you made a mistake because the election was a fraud. Just to understand, the election was a fraud.”
He later told another reporter he would “definitely” leave the White House when the Electoral College confirms Biden’s elected president’s victory.
“Of course I will. Of course I will, and you know it,” Trump told the reporter, who asked if he planned to dismiss the Oval Office for his democratic successor.
“Never talk to the president like that”
When he responded to his willingness to accept, Trump continued his attempts to question the integrity of the election and lined up with a reporter who interrupted him while speaking.
“Don’t talk to me like that, you’re just a lightweight,” Trump said as he pointed to the reporter. “I’m the president of the United States. Never talk to the president like that.”
At the time of writing, clips of the event have been viewed a million times on social media, with a clip seen more than 4 million times on Friday morning.
After warning the reporter of the interruption, Trump went on to ask another reporter.
Trump presents Georgia Rally plans
The commander-in-chief also announced he would hold a demonstration in Georgia on Saturday night ahead of the January Senate election after Vice President Mike Pence made a similar appearance in the state last week.
“I’m going on Saturday night, I’m going to be in Georgia, we’re going to have a huge crowd,” Trump told reporters. “They’re looking for the right place. We want to go to one of the big stadiums, but it can’t be because of COVID.”
He added that his team will probably have to hold a demonstration outside, most likely at an airport hangar, which will repeat his re-election campaign before the November 3 vote.
Georgia’s senate election will determine whether the GOP will retain a thin majority in the upper house for the first two years of the incoming Biden rule. If any Republican incumbent retains his seat, Republicans will maintain a majority of at least 51-49 in the Senate.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP with Getty Images
The president is doubling his claims on Pennsylvania
Noting that his team was frustrated with election fraud in several states, Trump doubled his complaints about the alleged treatment of Pennsylvania pollsters – the key state that confirmed Biden’s election results earlier this week.
“In Hungary, an observer of public opinion polls is considered sacred,” Trump said. – When they are thrown out of the rooms –
A reporter then interrupted that polling station observers had not been thrown out of the polling stations. “Your lawyers admitted they were in the room,” he added.
“My lawyers have not confessed,” the President replied. – And it’s all in different places. He then complained that Republican pollsters could not get closer to the counting tables to observe the votes.
Trump can break with the tradition of initiation
While questioning his complaints about the election process in Pennsylvania, Trump was also asked if he would keep the traditions and attend the inauguration of President-elect Biden, which is due to be held on January 20th.
“I don’t want to say that yet, I mean I know the answer, I know the answer,” Trump told reporters. “I’ll be honest, I know the answer, I just don’t want to say it yet.”
The Daily Beast reported earlier this month that Biden’s team feared Trump would overthrow his successor, along with a large crowd of sympathetic protesters.
President Trump’s inauguration was followed by protests, but his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, traditionally attended the ceremony.
