2020 election: Donald Trump appears to concede: then doesn’t

Donald Trump briefly admits Joe Biden ‘won’ the election before saying he’s conceding ‘nothing’ as his legal challenge falters.

Donald Trump returns to the White House from playing golf in Washington. Picture: AFP.

Donald Trump briefly admitted that Joe Biden had “won” the election before backtracking to say he was conceding “nothing” as his legal challenge to the result begins to falter and run out of time.

The president’s legal team needs to find examples of major election fraud this week before key states start to certify their results, making it impossible for Mr Trump to overturn Mr Biden’s win.

Mr Trump’s team has so far failed to persuade courts across six states that any fraud was committed but Mr Trump claimed on Monday (AEDT) there was still “a long way to go”.

With the Biden team – and much of America – awaiting a concession from Mr Trump, he appeared to give it briefly when he tweeted: “He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed.”

He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more! https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

But when others began to see the tweet as an admission of a Biden victory, Mr Trump backtracked and tweeted:

“He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA, I conceded NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION.”

He later tweeted; “WE WILL WIN.”

He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020

Mr Biden’s incoming White House chief of Staff Ron Klein said; “If the president’s prepared to begin to recognise that reality, that’s positive. Donald Trump’s Twitter feed doesn’t make Joe Biden president or not president, the American people did that.”

Faced with a president who refuses to admit election defeat – halting the formal transition process – the Biden team said it would reach out to vaccine makers to discuss plans to roll out a vaccine when one becomes approved.

The move comes as the coronavirus surges to record levels across the US, with more than 180,000 new infections a day and daily deaths rising to more than 1,300.

“We’re going to start those consultations this week,” Mr Klain said, citing Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies. “We need to be talking to them as quickly as possible. It’s great to have a vaccine, but vaccines don’t save lives: vaccinations save lives. And that means you’ve got to get that vaccine into people’s arms all over this country. It’s a giant logistical project.”

The Trump administration is coming under increasing pressure to agree to let the Biden transition team prepare properly for taking office despite the president’s refusal to accept the result.

Trump’s refusal to concede the election means the formal transition process for Mr Biden’s team – including briefings, access to classified information, access to agencies like the Pentagon and State Department etc – cannot take place.

“What we really want to see this week is the General Services Administration issue that ascertainment (that Biden has won),” Mr Klain said. “Meet with these vaccine officials, kind of get the intelligence briefings for the president-elect, the vice president-elect. That’s really the measure of how this is moving forward this week, I think.”

Senior Republicans have called for the 77-year-old president elect to be given access to intelligence briefings but so far Mr Trump has not agreed.

Courts last week handed down numerous defeats for Mr Trump’s legal team in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Arizona, rebuffing their claims of electoral fraud.

On November 23, both Pennsylvania and Michigan are due to certify their results so unless the Trump team can persuade a court to delay that process, Mr Biden will be declared the winner.

The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, a federal agency that oversees U.S. election security, has described the election as being “the most secure in American history.” “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” the agency said.

Mr Trump appears to be edging closer to an admission of defeat. On Saturday (AEDT), when discussing the issue of coronavirus-related lockdowns he said “whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell.”

Mr Biden won 306 electoral college votes to 232 for Mr Trump after flipping Pennsylvania Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Georgia.

Mr Biden won the popular vote by more than five million votes.

(Cameron Stewart is also US Contributor for Sky News Australia)