U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on television from a video message posted on Twitter, seen in an empty Brady information room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 6, 2020.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said early Thursday that he was willing to allow an “orderly transition” of power, just minutes after Congress formally confirmed the election of Joe Biden as president.
A statement from the president on Twitter through Deputy Cabinet Communications Director Dan Scavino reiterated unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud, but included reversal.
“While I totally disagree with the outcome of the election and the facts confirm me, there will nevertheless be an orderly transition on January 20. I have always said that we would continue our struggle to ensure that only legal votes were counted. “While this represents the end of the first major term in presidential history, it is only the beginning of our struggle to make America great again.”
The statement followed dramatic scenes on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, with pro-Trump supporters storming the building, forcing a closure and lawmakers seeking refuge.
During the night, Congress met again and formally confirmed Biden’s election. The statement came after the House of Representatives and the Senate, in two separate votes in both houses, overwhelmingly rejected the efforts of some Republicans to oppose the acceptance of the Electoral College’s victories. for Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Biden, a Democrat, and his running mate, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, garnered 306 votes in the Electoral College, 36 more than needed to secure a victory in the White House. Trump, a Republican, received 232 votes.
Trump has repeatedly refused to grant the election to Biden, making numerous unfounded allegations of election fraud without producing evidence.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the outgoing president was accused of animating the chaos scenes in Washington, DC, after urging his followers to march on the Capitol.
Scenes of pro-Trump protesters gathered on the steps of the Capitol before pouring into the building and sweeping the hallways of Congress, sitting at lawmakers’ desks and posing for photos, surrounded by flags and pro-Trump goods, have impacted the world.
For his part, Biden condemned the assault on the Capitol, saying he was “surprised and saddened” by what he called an insurrection.
“This is not dissent. It’s disorder. It’s chaos. It limits sedition and it must end now,” Biden said in a speech Wednesday as he asked Trump to tell his supporters to return home.
Trump later tweeted in a video telling supporters “you have to go home now,” but repeated false allegations about the election theft, which caused his Twitter account to freeze. temporarily.
—CanBC’s Dan Mangan, Jacob Pramuk, and Kevin Breuninger helped report this story.