Hopeful of continuing as US President, says Donald Trump

PTI, Dec 9, 2020, 9:33 AM IST

Washington: Days before the official certification of the November 3 US presidential elections in favour of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, President Donald Trump claimed that he would continue to hold the position as he has won the elections.

Trump has been making unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud and electoral malpractice in the presidential polls. State election officials and the media have denied any such fraud. Election officials have declared Biden as the President-elect as he received more than the required 270 of the 538 electoral college votes.

The elections are officially scheduled to be certified next week. However, Trump is continuing his legal efforts to upend Biden’s victory. He has allowed the official start of Biden’s transition to power but has not yet conceded defeat. The Trump campaign has filed multiple lawsuits in several states, most of whom have been dismissed so far.

“Hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration, a continuation — which has led us to the highest stock markets we’ve ever had, the best employment numbers we’ve ever had, a rebuilt military,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday during a vaccine summit.

Trump was responding to a question on why he did not invite members of the Biden transition team to the meeting, which deliberated on his plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccine in the US.

“We’re going to have to see who the next administration is — because we won in those swing states, and there was terrible things that went on. So we’re going to have to see who the next administration is. But whichever the next administration is, will really benefit by what we’ve been able to do with this incredible science, the doctors — all of the people that came up — the lab technicians. The work that’s been done is incredible, and it will be incredible for the next administration,” he said.

“And hopefully the next administration will be the Trump administration, because you can’t steal hundreds of thousands of votes. You can’t have fraud and deception and all of the things that they did, and then slightly win a swing state. And you just have to look at the numbers. Look at what’s been on tape. Look at all the corruption. And we’ll see. You can’t win an election like that,” the president said.

Trump said that because of the “great work” he did, he was “rewarded” with a victory.

“Now, let’s see whether or not somebody has the courage — whether it’s a legislator or legislatures, or whether it’s a justice of the Supreme Court or a number of justices of the Supreme Court. Let’s see if they have the courage to do what everybody in this country knows is right,” he said.

The president said that he has received almost 75 million votes, the highest number of votes in the history of the country for a sitting president, which is 12 million more than the 63 million he received four years ago.

“President (Barack) Obama received three million less in his second term, and he won easily. I received 12 million more, which, by the way, is a record. Twelve million more…If somebody has the courage, I know who the next administration will be. I’ll tell you what: Life will be much easier for this country because of what we’ve done right now and because of a lot of the people in this room. The job you’ve done on the vaccine, together with a lot of others, has been a modern-day miracle, and it’s really been acknowledged as such,” Trump said.