U.S. President, Donald Trump, has said that he would leave the White House if the Electoral College declared Joe Biden the election winner.
Trump said that said that he was not prepared to concede defeat and repeated false claims that he won.
While telling reporters on a press call that he would “certainly” leave the White House if the Electoral College voted for Biden, he also repeated claims of “massive fraud” in the election, without providing supporting evidence.
Trump further stated that an Electoral College appointment of Biden would be a “mistake.”
Trump said, according to reporters who dialed in:
I know one thing, Joe Biden didn’t get 80 million votes.
Asked what he will do if the Electoral College elects his Democratic opponent, Trump said:
It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede.
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Biden, according to forecasts by the U.S. media, has secured 306 electoral college votes, significantly more than the majority of 270 votes necessary to win.
Each state must officially certify their vote tallies before deadlines in early December.
The Electoral College vote and the ultimate declaration of the winner by Congress on Jan. 6 are usually symbolic events, but since Trump has declined to concede, they may take on more significance this time.
In the national popular vote count – a metric to gauge popularity but with no legal meaning – Biden leads Trump, with about 80 million votes to some 73.9 for the incumbent.
The US President is pursuing numerous court cases to try to stop Biden from being declared the winner.