'Don't ever talk to the president that way!' Trump blasts reporter who interrupts him to ask if he will concede - but admits he WILL leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden
President Trump blasted a White House correspondent during a testy exchange on Thursday, branding the reporter ‘lightweight’ for speaking over him to ask if he would concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.
‘I’m the President of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way,' Trump told Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason on Thursday during a heated question-and-answer session in the White House.
Trump later said it's a 'very hard thing to concede' the election, but admitted he would leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden.
But he stopped short of admitting that meant he had lost - despite Biden's huge lead in Electoral College votes and refused to say if he would attend the inauguration.
The meeting was the first time the president had taken questions from the press since Election Day.
Trump spoke to reporters in the White House’s ornate Diplomatic Reception Room after holding a teleconference with members of the US military stationed across the globe.
He thanked the troops for their service and jokingly warned them not to eat too much turkey, then turned to the election after ending the call.
Earlier during the Thanksgiving holiday, the president spent time playing golf at his club in Sterling, Virginia, before going on a Twitter rant that took aim at the election results, kneeling NFL players, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the news media, including his once-favorite cable news network, the Fox News Channel.
President Donald Trump is seen above on Thursday snapping at a White House reporter during a question-and-answer session.
In his 25 minute back-and-forth with the media, Trump didn't concede his loss and insisted his legal arguments would go ahead. He argued he has time until the inauguration - which is 55 days away - but admitted it's ticking fast.
He reiterated unproven conspiracy theories about voting machines changing votes for him to Biden, complained the election was 'rigged' and alleged Biden only got his record 80 million votes through 'massive fraud.'
The president grew angry with Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason (pictured above in 2017), who interrupted Trump while he was giving his answer about whether he would concede if the Electoral College voted for Joe Biden on December 14
Trump is trying to over throw the election results by going to court in battleground states but his legal cases have been going nowhere. States are in the process of certifying their results and the electoral college meets in about two weeks to name the winner.
'Time isn't on our side,' the president conceded.
Mason asked the president if he would consider offering a proper concession after the Electoral College meets on December 14. That is when Biden’s victory will be made official.
Trump, however, said that the Electoral College should not confirm Biden’s win.
‘Well if they do, they made a mistake, because this election was a fraud,’ the president said in response to Mason’s question.
‘Just so you understand, this election was a fraud,’ he continued.
Trump said it was inconceivable that Biden won, since the former vice president captured more votes in key swing states than Barack Obama did in his election victories.
‘[Biden] is beating Obama in swing states, which are the states that mattered for purposes of the election,’ the president said.
‘So no, I can’t say that [I will concede] at all. I think it’s a possibility… they’re trying to, look, between you people…’
At this point, Mason interrupts the president and begins to ask his next question before Trump finished giving his response.
‘Don’t talk to me that way,’ Trump snapped at Mason. ‘You’re just a lightweight. Don’t talk to me that way. Don’t talk to… I’m the President of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way.’
Trump then pivoted, saying: ‘Alright, I’m going to go with another question.’
In his 25 minute back-and-forth with the media, Trump didn't fully concede his loss and insisted his legal arguments would go ahead
The president reiterated unproven conspiracy theories about voting machines changing votes for him to Biden, complained the election was 'rigged' and alleged Biden only got his record 80 million votes through 'massive fraud'
Earlier during the Thanksgiving holiday, the president spent time playing golf at his club in Sterling, Virginia
It is not the first time the president has clashed with Mason.
Last month, Trump mocked Mason in the Oval Office for wearing a mask just weeks after the White House hosted an event in which several attendees, including the president himself, would later test positive for COVID-19.
On October 23, Mason attempted to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a question in the Oval Office. 'This is Jeff Mason,' Trump explained to Netanyahu, relaying Mason's question. 'He's got a mask on that's the largest mask I think I've ever seen.'
In early September, Trump held a news conference at the White House during which he demanded that Mason remove his face covering while asking a question.
Mason started speaking when Trump cut him off and said: 'You're going to have to take that off, please. You can take it off. How many feet are you away?'
The reporter declined to remove his mask and politely raised his voice again, asking: 'Is that better?'
Trump rolled his eyes and responded: 'It's... better, yeah.'
And during a briefing back in May, the president asked Mason to remove his covering and then accused him of trying to be 'politically correct' for refusing.
While a concession speech may not be in the offing, the president did say on Thursday that he would leave the White House if Biden is confirmed as the next president by the Electoral College.
When asked whether he would vacate the building, allowing a peaceful transition of power in January, the president said: ‘Certainly I will. But you know that.'
But Trump renewed his unproven claims that ‘massive fraud’ and crooked officials in battleground states caused his election defeat.
He insisted that ‘a lot of things’ would happen between now and then that might alter the results.
‘This has a long way to go,’ Trump said, even though he lost.
Trump's administration has already given the green light for a formal transition to get underway.
But Trump took issue with Biden moving forward.
‘I think it’s not right that he’s trying to pick a Cabinet,’ Trump said, even though officials from both teams are already working together to get Biden's team up to speed.
And as he refused to concede, Trump announced that he will be traveling to Georgia to rally supporters ahead of two Senate runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.
Trump said the rally for Republican Senators David Perdue and Sen Kelly Loeffler would likely be held on Saturday.
The White House later clarified he had meant December 5.
Earlier on Thursday, the president played a round of golf at his Sterling, Virginia, club during which he grew angry while struggling at one particular hole
One of the reasons Republicans have stood by Trump and his baseless claims of fraud has been to keep his loyal base energized ahead of those runoffs on January 5.
But Trump, in his remarks, openly questioned whether that election would be fair in a move that could dampen Republican turnout.
‘I think you're dealing with a very fraudulent system. I'm very worried about that,’ he said.
‘People are very disappointed that we were robbed.’
As for the Electoral College, Trump made clear that he will likely never formally concede, even if he said he would leave the White House.
‘It’s gonna be a very hard thing to concede. Because we know there was massive fraud,’ he said, noting that, ‘time isn’t on our side.’
Asked whether he would attend Biden's inauguration, Trump said he knew the answer but didn't want to share it yet.
When asked if he'd go to Biden's inauguration on January 20th, Trump replied: 'I don't want to say that yet. I mean I know the answer, I'll be honest, I know the answer, but I just don't want to say it yet.'
He warned that 'a lot of things happening between now and January 20th' and the election results have a 'long way' to go.
But there were some signs that Trump was coming to terms with his loss.
At one point he urged reporters not to allow Biden the credit for pending coronavirus vaccines.
‘Don't let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they’ve ever been pushed before,’ he said.
Trump wouldn't say if he would attend rival Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20th
As for whether or not he plans to formally declare his candidacy to run again in 2024 - as he has discussed with aides - Trump he didn't ‘want to talk about 2024 yet.’
All states must certify their results before the Electoral College meets on December 14, and any challenge to the results must be resolved by December 8.
Trump's last hope could be January 6, 2020, which is when Congress meets to formally certify the results of the electoral college.
But the transition process has already begun.
The General Services Administration, led by a Trump appointee, announced this week that federal agencies and the Biden Transition Team could start communicating. The president elect is starting to name his cabinet.
In his remarks on Thursday, Trump repeated a conspiracy theory pushed by members of his legal team that votes from Dominion Voting Systems machines lost votes for him or switched votes from him to Biden.
Dominion said there was no problem with their machines nor is there any evidence of what Trump alleges.
'We're using computer equipment that can be hacked,' the president complained about the election.
'We're like a third world country. We have machines that nobody knows what the hell they're looking at. I mean you take a look at all the mistakes they made,' he said.
'This election was a fraud, just so you understand this election was a fraud,' he said.
He said there was proof of what he was talking about on the internet.
'If you look, just take a look anywhere on the internet. You will see many, many people where they're experimenting with this stupid machinery. Wherever you send it a certain way the votes go from Trump to Biden,' Trump said.
President Donald Trump on Thursday took his first questions from reporters after the election
President Trump made his remarks after he spoke to U.S. troops for the Thanksgiving holiday
President Trump started his Thanksgiving with a round of golf
And he challenged Biden's vote tally.
'I know one thing Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes,' he said. 'The only way he got 80 million votes is through massive fraud.'
The current tally of the popular votes stand at: 80,045,066 (51%) for Biden and 73,897,658 (47%) for Trump. Additionally,
'You have to really take a look at what's going on. They're finding tremendous discrepancies in the votes, and nobody believes those numbers those numbers are incorrect numbers,' he said of the vote tallies.
He provided no evidence of his claim. State officials have said they've found no evidence of election fraud in the November contest.
'I thought I was going to win it, and essentially I did win it. It's very very close, it's very very close,' he said.
The election results are not close. Biden has 306 electoral votes and only needs 270 to win the presidency. Trump has 232.
Trump played coy when asked about his own Thanksgiving plans for his last one at the White House, saying he 'can't say what's first or last.' He added that it might be the 'first one of a second term.'
President Trump said he would go to Georgia on Saturday, December 5, to campaign for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue
President Trump's motorcade arrives at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va, on Thanksgiving Day
Specifically, Trump complained about results in states he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in November, specifically calling out Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
'You will find tens of thousands of false ballots,' he promised.
He alleged voters in Pennsylvania who tried to vote were told they already had, said he was winning in Wayne County in Michigan but then said canvassers wouldn't certify for him, claimed there were 'tremendous discrepancies' in Wisconsin, and faulted Democrat Stacey Abrams for his loss in Georgia.
Trump accused Abrams, who worked on voter registration in Georgia, with harvesting votes.
'Ballot harvesting', as it's called, is when a third party collects an individual's legal vote and turns it into state officials. The practice is legal
'You're not allowed to harvest,' Trump said.
He also railed against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who led a hand recount of the state that certified Biden's win, an 'enemy of the people.'
'I understand the Secretary of State, who is really an enemy of the people, the Secretary of State, and whether it's republican or not,' Trump complained.
Georgia officials are doing another recount at Trump's request.
Biden became the first Democrat to carry the state of Georgia since 1992 and many Democrats credited Abrams' get-out-the-vote operation in the state for his victory there.
Trump is going to Georgia on Saturday, December 5, to campaign for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The two candidates are in a January 5th runoff election. Republicans need to win both seats in order to maintain their control of the Senate.
The president said he spoke to them about his concerns about Georgia's voting.
'I told them today I said listen you have a fraudulent system, you have a system with the flick of a switch or the putting in a new chip can change the course of history,' he said.
President Trump faulted Democrat Stacey Abrams for his loss in Georgia
Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, an 'enemy of the people' - Raffensperger presided over a hand recount that confirmed Biden's victory
President Donald Trump called into a hearing-style event in Pennsylvania where lawyer Rudy Giuliani leveled charges of voter fraud on Wednesday
In Pennsylvania Trump's legal team is trying to stop certification of the state's 20 electoral votes for Biden.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney who is leading the charge in trying to overturn the election, testified at a Republican-led hearing of sorts on Wednesday, which Trump called into to implore GOP officials in the state to find he won Pennsylvania.
'This election has to be turned around. We won Pennsylvania by a lot and we won all of these swing states by a lot,' Trump said via a cellphone his attorney Jenna Ellis held up to a microphone.
Trump also tried to subvert results in Michigan. He met with two state lawmakers at the White House to discuss the election.
But, despite his efforts, the two men said they haven't seen any evidence that would change the fact that Biden won their state.
'We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan's electors, just as we have said throughout this election,' Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield said in a joint statement after their meeting with President Trump last week.
In Wisconsin, Republicans filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to block certification of the presidential election results as a recount is ongoing. The state is supposed to certify its results on Tuesday, December 1.
