President Donald Trump formally acknowledged the end of his term in the White House early Thursday morning, just minutes after Congress certified the Electoral College votes cast in favor of President-elect Joe Biden, stating that there would be an “orderly transition of power” on Jan. 20.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th,” Trump said in a statement shared by Dan Scavino, White House deputy chief of staff for communications, on Twitter. “I have always said we would continue our… fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
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Scavino shared Trump’s statement just before 4 a.m., as lawmakers’ attempt to certify the Electoral College votes for Biden’s victory earlier in the day was interrupted by a violent mob of pro-Trump supporters, who breached the U.S. Capitol, forcing the House and Senate to evacuate their chambers for safety reasons. Trump has yet to condemn the violence, and previously in the day had encouraged his supporters to march on Capitol Hill amid his futile attempt to prevent the vote certification.
“And after this, we’re going to walk down there, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down … to the Capitol and we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” Trump told the crowd, as per The New York Times. “And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter temporarily suspended Trump from his social media accounts after his messages about the pro-Trump mob violated platform guidelines by continuing to insist falsely he won the election, despite asking supporters to be peaceful and dissemble.
After the Capitol’s breach, a wide array of politicians, both Democrat and Republican, condemned Trump’s role in Wednesday’s chaos and urged him to commit to a peaceful transition of power. In a statement, Sen. Tom Cotton (R- Ark.) said the president should “quit misleading the American people,” as per The Hill, while one of Trump’s closest allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said that while he had tried to stand by the president, “enough is enough.” Graham said, “Trump and I, we had a hell of a journey. I hate it being this way. … All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough. … We’ve got to end it.”
