Extract from ABC News
US President Donald Trump has tweeted that president-elect Joe Biden "won" the 2020 presidential election only because "the election was rigged" — reiterating false claims of widespread voting fraud.
Key points:
- Donald Trump has refused to concede he legitimately lost the US election
- Mr Trump has repeatedly voiced false claims about a "rigged" election process
- His refusal to concede has denied President-elect Joe Biden from starting a formal transition process
Mr Biden defeated the incumbent President by winning back a trio of Midwestern battleground states: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and topped the 270 electoral vote threshold to clinch the presidency.
The Democratic former vice-president so far has 77.5 million votes, the most ever by a winning candidate, to Mr Trump's 72.3 million.
But in a series of tweets on Sunday local time, Mr Trump repeatedly alleged, without evidence, the 2020 US election was "rigged".
"All of the mechanical 'glitches' that took place on Election Night were really THEM getting caught trying to steal votes," Mr Trump wrote.
The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency — a US federal agency that oversees election security — said the "November 3rd election was the most secure in American history" in a statement last week.
Election officials of both parties have also said there is no evidence of major irregularities.
But in recent days, Mr Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits seeking to overturn the results in multiple states, though without success, and legal experts say the litigation stands little chance of altering the outcome of the election.
Democrats and other critics have accused Mr Trump of trying to delegitimise Mr Biden's victory and undermine public confidence in the US electoral process.
John Bolton, Mr Trump's former national security adviser-turned-critic, told ABC America it was "very important" for the Republican Party to explain that "Mr Trump had lost the election and his claims of election fraud were baseless".
'Donald Trump's Twitter feed doesn't make Joe Biden president or not president'
Before the election, Mr Trump had refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power.
Now more than a week after election day, Mr Trump has neither called Mr Biden nor made a formal concession, and Trump White House officials have insisted that they are preparing for a second term.
Mr Trump reiterated this stance in another tweet.
"I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go," he wrote.
In an interview with American broadcaster NBC, Mr Biden's incoming chief of staff Ron Klain said it was "positive" if Mr Trump was "prepared to begin to recognise" the reality of the election result.
Mr Trump's refusal to concede will not prevent Mr Biden becoming president in January, but it has stalled the US's longstanding process of presidential transition.
The Trump Administration's decision not to recognise Mr Biden as the winner has prevented his team from gaining access to government office space and to funding normally afforded to an incoming administration to ensure a smooth transition.
The federal agency in charge of providing those resources, the General Services Administration, has yet to recognise Mr Biden's victory.
Mr Klain called on the agency to formally recognise the incoming Biden Administration, as he said it was critical to ensure Mr Biden receives intelligence briefings before taking office, and coordinate with the White House coronavirus taskforce.
"That has to be a seamless transition."
The incoming president has spent days huddled with advisers while weighing Cabinet appointments, fielding congratulatory calls from world leaders and mapping out the policies he will pursue after being sworn in on January 20.
He is expected to continue meeting with advisers in private on Sunday.
AP/Reuters
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