President Donald Trump indicated yesterday that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden was formally confirmed as the next president of the United States.
But, answering reporters’ questions for the first time since losing the 3 November vote, Trump insisted that ‘this race is far from over’. He has declined to concede to Biden, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
Biden leads Trump by 306 electoral college votes to 232, far above the 270 needed to win. The college of electors is expected to meet on 14 December to formalise the result. The new president is due to be sworn in on 20 January.
According to the BBC, Trump responded to a question on whether he would agree to leave the White House if he lost the electoral college vote: ‘Certainly I will, certainly I will and you know that.’
He added, however, that ‘if [the electors] do [elect Joe Biden], they made a mistake’.
‘It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud.’
He has yet to offer proof of this claim.