President Donald Trump rejected declarations from the Associated Press and Fox News that Former Vice President Joe Biden had won the presidential election Saturday, arguing his campaign has “legitimate” ongoing legal challenges.
Trump also pointed to states such as Georgia that are headed for mandatory recounts. Contrary to his Tweet earlier on Saturday, Trump did not claim to have won the election nor did he again make unsubstantiated accusations of widespread voter fraud. Instead, he said his campaign intends to carry on with its lawsuits on Monday.
“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” Trump’s statement read. “Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”
US President Donald Trump speaks in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC on November 5, 2020. (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
“This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our election. It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters,” the statement continued. (RELATED: We Spent Election Night Inside Trump’s White House Extravaganza — Here’s What It Was Like)
The statement came minutes after the AP, Fox News, CNN, CBS and other outlets declared Biden president-elect. Trump was reportedly golfing at the time of the call.
Trump and his campaign allege that GOP poll watchers were denied entry to vote counting areas and that when they were allowed in, they were forced to stand so far away from the actual counting that they could not provide any “meaningful” observation. The campaign has sued to allow poll watchers to stand closer to vote counters and to force the recounting of any votes counted without proper observation.
Trump’s Saturday statement presents a somewhat different tone from his previous statements on the integrity of the election. In the days since November 3, Trump has routinely made vague and unsubstantiated accusations of widespread fraud at the polls. This statement forgoes those direct accusations and points only to the ongoing lawsuits and imminent recounts.
