US President Donald Trump, who is yet to acknowledge his loss in the US presidential elections, considered refusing to leave the White House on inauguration day in January next year, according to reports.
Trump has reportedly told some of his advisers that he won’t leave the White House when Joe Biden takes the oath of office on 20 January. These claims panicked some of his aides, but they believe he may not follow through on his plan.
An adviser said: He’s going to leave. He’s just lashing out,” reported CNN. There is no precedence of an American head of state refusing to relinquish power in the nation’s history and it has led experts to debate possible responses in case of such an event.
Some of his advisers have reportedly been trying to convince the president to start thinking about his plans for a potential 2024 run for the presidency again – a possibility that Trump has highlighted several times over the past weeks.
On 14 December, the Electoral College confirmed the victory of Democrat Joe Biden with 306 votes compared to 232 for Trump. The confirmation of the victory followed a series of failed legal challenges across the US where the Trump campaign couldn’t substantiate its allegations of voter fraud.
Post this confirmation, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell also for the first time acknowledged Biden as president-elect – the senior-most Republican to do so to date.
The breaking away of a once close ally certainly angered Trump who continues to peddle voter fraud conspiracy theories. “Mitch, 75,000,000 votes, a record for a sitting President [by a lot]. Too soon to give up. Republican Party must finally learn to fight. People are angry!” Trump tweeted.
Biden had also asked Trump to accept his clear victory after the Electoral College vote but so far it has failed to cut ice.
Trump on Wednesday tweeted: “Perhaps the biggest difference between 2016 and 2020 is [Fox News], despite the fact that I went from 63,000,000 votes to 75,000,000 Votes, a record 12,000,000 Vote increase. Obama went down 3,000,000 votes, and won. Rigged Election!!!”
Source: Agencies
