US President Donald Trump can be seen on TV from a video message released on Twitter, seen in an empty Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC on January 6, 2020.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump said early Thursday on Thursday that he was willing to allow an “orderly transfer of power” just minutes after Congress formally confirmed Joe Biden’s election as president.
A statement by the president on Twitter via Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Dan Scavino echoed unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud, but included the reversal.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts confirm me, there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. this represents the end of the greatest first 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 lockdown, and lawmakers seeking shelter.
Overnight, Congress reconvened and formally confirmed Biden’s election. The confirmation came after the House of Representatives and the Senate, in two separate ballots in both houses, overwhelmingly rejected attempts by some Republicans to object to the acceptance of election college victories for Biden in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Biden, a Democrat, and his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, got 306 votes in the Electoral College, 36 more than it took to secure the White House victory. Trump, a Republican, received 232 votes.
Trump has repeatedly refused to admit the election to Biden, making numerous unfounded allegations of voter fraud without providing evidence.
Meanwhile, the outgoing president was accused on Wednesday of encouraging chaos in Washington, DC, after urging his supporters to march to the Capitol.
Scenes of angry pro-Trump protesters gathered on the steps of the Capitol before pouring into the building and passing through the halls of Congress, sitting at lawmakers’ desks and posing for photos, draped in pro-Trump flags and merchandise , have shocked the world.
Biden, for his part, condemned the storming of the Capitol, saying he was “shocked and saddened” by what he described as an uprising.
“This is not dissent. It’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition and it must end now,” Biden said in a speech on Wednesday, calling on Trump to tell his supporters to go home.
Trump later tweeted a video telling his supporters “you have to go home now,” but again made false claims that the election had been stolen, temporarily blocking his Twitter account.
—CNBCs Dan Mangan, Jacob Pramuk and Kevin Breuninger contributed to the reporting of this story.