Outgoing United States President Donald Trump, in his first television interview since the November 3 elections, on Sunday suggested that he will never concede to his Democratic rival Joe Biden and continued to claim, without evidence, widespread voter fraud.
“It’s not like you’re gonna change my mind,” Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “My mind will not change in six months.”
As the interviewer pointed out that the facts are out in the open, Trump responded, “This election was rigged. This election was a total fraud.”
During the 45-minute interview, the president said he is “going to use 125%” of his energy to contest the results through the courts and indicated that he would also be open to having a special counsel investigate the polls.
The Trump campaign and its supporters have tried and failed to convince judges of election irregularities in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, all of which are critical to Biden’s victory. A request for recount in Wisconsin also confirmed on Sunday that Biden had won the key swing state by a margin of about 20,600 votes, AP reported. Biden won the electoral college vote – the state-by-state competition deciding the winner – by 306 to 232.
In the interview, Trump leaned into claims, again without proof, that his election lawsuits had been unfairly blocked and questioned the judicial system of the country. “We’re trying to put the evidence in and the judges won’t allow us to do it,” Trump said. “We are trying. We have so much evidence.”
The Republican president also declared at one point that Biden did not win more than 80 million votes, spewing misinformation. He declined to answer on when he will stop his legal campaigns, saying “I’m not going to say a date”. On whether he saw a path to victory, he said: “I hope so”.
Trump has time till December 8 to challenge and resolve election disputes before the Electoral College meets on December 14 to formally declare the winner.
On November 23, Trump’s administration cleared the way for Biden to transition to the White House, giving him access to briefings and funding. Two days later, he had said he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden when it meets, the closest he has come to conceding the election.
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