Donald Trump Stops Short Of Acknowledging Incoming Biden Administration At Rose Garden Presser
During a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House Friday, President Donald Trump came close to acknowledging the incoming Joe Biden administration.
As a video clip tweeted by The Hill showed, while arguing against the concept of coronavirus lockdowns, the president seemed about to utter the words “Biden administration,” but he quickly stopped himself, apparently suggesting that it still remains unclear who won the 2020 presidential election.
“This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the — the, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell — I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”
Journalists and other public figures were quick to note that this was the closest the commander-in-chief ever came to admitting defeat.
“Watching him almost say ‘the Biden administration’ and seeing the panic for a moment as he realized what he was about to say was totally worth having to sit through one more of these,” tweeted Tom Nichols of The Lincoln Project.
“Pres Trump came super close to acknowledging that the Biden administration may be in power by the time the COVID vaccine is being distributed,” PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor noted in a tweet
CNN’s fact-checker Daniel Dale suggested the same, noting in a Twitter message that Trump never came closer to acknowledging the possibility of leaving the White House on January 20.
Greg Miller, The Washington Post‘s national security correspondent, made a similar observation, tweeting that Trump almost conceded that Biden will most likely take his place next year.
As Vox journalist Aaron Rupar reported via Twitter, at what was his first press conference in days, Trump focused on the progress being made in COVID-19 vaccine development.
Notably, the commander-in-chief appeared to take credit for Pfizer’s vaccine, saying that it was part of his government’s operation Wrap Speed.
Trump has not yet officially conceded the race, despite the fact that he seems to have no path to victory, with Biden ahead by comfortable margins in several key states. Virtually all media organizations have declared Democrat the winner of the 2020 election and dozens of world leaders have already sent congratulatory messages.
Trump has alleged widespread electoral fraud, with his campaign filing lawsuits in a number of battleground states. However, Trump’s legal team has failed to provide concrete evidence of fraud.
Earlier on Friday, as The Inquisitr reported, the Trump campaign dropped its lawsuit in the state of Arizona. At the hearing, attorney Kory Langhofer seemingly admitted that the number of allegedly illegitimate ballots does not point to irregularities.
