In a tweet Sunday, President Donald Trump continued to spread false claims about the election but also appeared to publicly acknowledge for the first time that President-elect Joe Biden won the contest.
Trump has repeatedly ― and falsely ― declared victory in the election, despite virtually all major media networks projecting Biden as the winner. Multiple world leaders and Republican lawmakers have congratulated Biden on his win as the Democrat’s team has begun the transition process.
“He won because the Election was Rigged,” Trump wrote in his tweet Sunday, referring to Biden.
Though Trump has repeatedly claimed the election was “rigged” and has pushed baseless allegations of voter fraud and ballot-counting irregularities, his campaign has failed to produce any evidence of widespread issues.
In his tweet, Trump falsely claimed election observers weren’t allowed at polling places. Both Republican and Democratic election observers were permitted inside polling places, as lawyers for the president’s reelection campaign have admitted.
Trump also suggested that Dominion Voting Systems Corp., a company that sells electronic voting software, manipulated ballots or inaccurately tabulated votes. But election experts and officials in several states have rejected the president’s claim.
Twitter quickly slapped a warning on Trump’s tweet, noting his claim about election fraud is “disputed.”
“WE WILL WIN!” Trump wrote in a subsequent tweet Sunday.
Trump later tweeted that he concedes “NOTHING” and that Biden had “only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA.”
Tump’s public acknowledgment of Biden’s victory comes on the heels of a massive pro-Trump rally in Washington on Saturday in which attendees echoed the president’s claims of a rigged election.
The rally, dubbed the “Million MAGA March” by participants, drew thousands of Trump supporters as well as counter-demonstrators. Violent clashes between the two parties erupted after nightfall on Saturday, leading to at least one stabbing and more than a dozen arrests.
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