Trump finally concedes Biden will become president

President Donald Trump on Thursday admitted, for the first time in his own words, that President-elect Joe Biden’s administration would take charge on Jan. 20. Without mentioning Biden by name, Trump in a nearly three-minute video said “a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th.” Trump, who had repeatedly vowed never to concede to Biden, backed dozens of fruitless lawsuits and flooded his Twitter account with baseless claims of voter fraud.

His refusal to accept the election results culminated in a deadly riot on Wednesday, when swarms of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol and derailed congressional proceedings to tally electors’ votes and confirm Biden’s win. “Now tempers must be cooled, and calm restored. We must get on with the business of America,” Trump said in his first address to the nation following the riots that gripped Washington. “My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power,” the president added.

Biden’s victory was projected by all major news outlets in mid-November and confirmed by Electoral College votes in mid-December. The Republican president has falsely insisted he won in a “landslide,” asserting his reelection was stolen through massive electoral fraud. The president, who was blocked from Twitter for 12 hours on Wednesday, briefly spoke about the pandemonium at the U.S. Capitol.

“To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay,” Trump says in the video. Those rioters descended on the Capitol building directly after Trump, at a rally outside the White House, heaped pressure on Vice President Mike Pence and other Republicans to attempt to overturn the election results.

Trump finally concedes Biden will become president, CNBC, Jan 8