'Don't ever talk to the president that way!' Touchy Trump blasts 'lightweight' reporter who interrupted him and asked whether he will concede - but he admits he WILL leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden
President Trump was visibly annoyed with a White House correspondent during a testy exchange on Thursday in which the ‘lightweight’ reporter spoke over him after asking if he would concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.
‘Don’t ever talk to the president that way,’ Trump told Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason on Thursday during a question-and-answer session in the White House.
Trump spoke to reporters in the White House’s ornate Diplomatic Reception Room after holding a teleconference with US military leaders stationed across the globe.
He thanked them for their service and jokingly warned them not to eat too much turkey, then turned to the election after ending the call.
In his 25 minute back-and-forth with the media, Trump didn't fully concede his loss and insisted his legal arguments would go ahead. He argued he has time until the inauguration - which is 55 days away - but admitted it's ticking fast.
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President Donald Trump is seen above on Thursday snapping at a White House reporter during a question-and-answer session.
The president grew angry with Reuters correspondent Jeff Mason (pictured above in 2017), who interrupted Trump while he was giving his answer about whether he would concede if the Electoral College voted for Joe Biden on December 14
The crew that got President Trump to answer his first questions in over three weeks. Proud to be part of it. Happy Thanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/1H1uBdxdG9
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) November 26, 2020
The crew that got President Trump to answer his first questions in over three weeks. Proud to be part of it. Happy Thanksgiving! pic.twitter.com/1H1uBdxdG9
He reiterated unproven conspiracy theories about voting machines changing votes for him to Biden, complained the election was 'rigged' and alleged Biden only got his record 80 million votes through 'massive fraud.'
Trump is trying to over throw the election results by going to court in battleground states but his legal cases have been going no where. States are in the process of certifying their results and the electoral college meets in about two weeks to name the winner.
'Time isn't on our side,' the president conceded.
Mason asked the president if he would consider offering a proper concession after the Electoral College - the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to meet every four years to elect a president and vice president - meets on December 14.
That is when Biden’s victory will be made official.
Trump, however, said that the Electoral College should not confirm Biden’s win.
‘Well if they do, they made a mistake, because this election was a fraud,’ the president said in response to Mason’s question.
‘Just so you understand, this election was a fraud,’ he continued.
Trump said it was inconceivable that Biden won since the former vice president captured more votes in key swing states than Barack Obama did in his election victories.
‘ is beating Obama in swing states, which are the states that mattered for purposes of the election,’ the president said.
‘So no, I can’t say that I will at all. I think it’s a possibility… they’re trying to, look, between you people…’
At this point, Mason interrupts the president and begins to ask his next question before Trump finished giving his response.
‘Don’t talk to me that way,’ Trump snapped at Mason. ‘You’re just a lightweight. Don’t talk to me that way. Don’t talk to…
‘I’m the President of the United States.
‘Don’t ever talk to the president that way.’
On October 23, Reuters' Jeff Mason tried to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a question during an Oval Office pool spray when Trump mocked him for wearing 'the largest mask I think I've ever seen'
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Trump then pivoted, saying: ‘Alright, I’m going to go with another question.’
Last month, Trump mocked Mason in the Oval Office for wearing a mask just weeks after the White House hosted an event in which several attendees, including the president himself, would later test positive for COVID-19.
On October 23, Mason attempted to ask Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a question during the Oval Office pool spray.
Netanyahu was participating in the chat via conference call where there were roughly 40-50 people in the Oval Office, according to the White House pool report.
'This is Jeff Mason,' Trump explained to Netanyahu, relaying Mason's question. 'He's got a mask on that's the largest mask I think I've ever seen.
'So I don't know if you can hear him,' he added before telling the prime minister what he thought of the situation in the Middle East.
Many in the Trump administration snickered at the remark. Several people in attendance could be seen not wearing masks, Mediaite reported.
In early September, Trump held a news conference at the White House during which he demanded that Mason remove his face covering while asking a question.
Mason started speaking when Trump cut him off and said: 'You're going to have to take that off, please. You can take it off. How many feet are you away?'
Mason offered to speak louder, at which point Trump interjected: 'Well, if you don't take it off, you're very muffled, so if you would take it off, it would be a lot easier.'
The reporter declined to remove his mask and politely raised his voice again, asking: 'Is that better?'
Trump rolled his eyes and responded: 'It's... better, yeah.'
Throughout the exchange Mason's voice was very easy to understand, despite his face covering to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
But Trump - who has sparred with reporters on numerous occasions in the past, including about masks - was visibly irritated by Mason's refusal to take his off.
At another point in the briefing when another reporter took off his mask to ask a question, Trump replied: 'You sound so clear.'
Trump demanded that Reuters reporter Jeff Mason take off his mask to ask a question at a White House news conference on September 7
Jeff Mason of Reuters had just begun speaking when Trump cut him off and said: 'You're going to have to take that off, please. You can take it off. How many feet are you away?'
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This isn't the first time Trump has ridiculed Mason specifically for wearing a mask.
During a briefing back in May, the president asked Mason to remove his covering and then accused him of trying to be 'politically correct' for refusing.
While a concession speech may not be in the offing, the president did say that he would leave the White House before Biden officially takes his place after he is sworn in on January 20.
Trump said on Thursday that he will leave if the Electoral College formalizes Biden's victory.
Still, the president spent his Thanksgiving renewing baseless claims that ‘massive fraud’ and crooked officials in battleground states caused his election defeat.
‘Certainly I will. But you know that,’ Trump said Thursday when asked whether he would vacate the building, allowing a peaceful transition of power in January.
But Trump - taking questions for the first time since Election Day - insisted that ‘a lot of things’ would happen between now and then that might alter the results.
‘This has a long way to go,’ Trump said, even though he lost.
Trump's administration has already given the green light for a formal transition to get underway.
But Trump took issue with Biden moving forward.
‘I think it’s not right that he’s trying to pick a Cabinet,’ Trump said, even though officials from both teams are already working together to get Biden's team up to speed.
And as he refused to concede, Trump announced that he will be traveling to Georgia to rally supporters ahead of two Senate runoff elections that will determine which party controls the Senate.
Trump said the rally for Republican Senators David Perdue and Sen Kelly Loeffler would likely be held on Saturday.
The White House later clarified he had meant December 5.
One of the reasons Republicans have stood by Trump and his baseless claims of fraud has been to keep his loyal base energized ahead of those runoffs on January 5.
But Trump, in his remarks, openly questioned whether that election would be fair in a move that could dampen Republican turnout.
‘I think you're dealing with a very fraudulent system. I'm very worried about that,’ he said.
‘People are very disappointed that we were robbed.’
As for the Electoral College, Trump made clear that he will likely never formally concede, even if he said he would leave the White House.
‘It’s gonna be a very hard thing to concede. Because we know there was massive fraud,’ he said, noting that, ‘time isn’t on our side.’
Asked whether he would attend Biden's inauguration, Trump said he knew the answer but didn't want to share it yet.
When asked if he'd go to Biden's inauguration on January 20th, Trump replied: 'I don't want to say that yet. I mean I know the answer, I'll be honest, I know the answer, but I just don't want to say it yet.'
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Trump wouldn't say if he would attend rival Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20th
He warned that 'a lot of things happening between now and January 20th' and the election results have a 'long way' to go.
But there were some signs that Trump was coming to terms with his loss.
At one point he urged reporters not to allow Biden the credit for pending coronavirus vaccines.
‘Don't let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me and I pushed people harder than they’ve ever been pushed before,’ he said.
As for whether or not he plans to formally declare his candidacy to run again in 2024 - as he has discussed with aides - Trump he didn't ‘want to talk about 2024 yet.’
All states must certify their results before the Electoral College meets on December 14, and any challenge to the results must be resolved by December 8.
His last hope could be January 6, 2020, which is when Congress meets to formally certify the results of the electoral college.
But the transition process has already begun.
The General Services Administration, led by a Trump appointee, announced this week that federal agencies and the Biden Transition Team could start communicating. The president elect is starting to name his cabinet.
In his remarks on Thursday, Trump repeated a conspiracy theory pushed by members of his legal team that votes from Dominion Voting Systems machines lost votes for him or switched votes from him to Biden.
Dominion said there was no problem with their machines nor is there any evidence of what Trump alleges.
'We're using computer equipment that can be hacked,' the president complained about the election.
'We're like a third world country. We have machines that nobody knows what the hell they're looking at. I mean you take a look at all the mistakes they made,' he said.
'This election was a fraud, just so you understand this election was a fraud,' he said.
He said there was proof of what he was talking about on the internet.
'If you look, just take a look anywhere on the internet. You will see many, many people where they're experimenting with this stupid machinery. Wherever you send it a certain way the votes go from Trump to Biden,' Trump said.
President Donald Trump on Thursday took his first questions from reporters after the election
President Trump made his remarks after he spoke to U.S. troops for the Thanksgiving holiday
President Trump started his Thanksgiving with a round of golf
And he challenged Biden's vote tally.
'I know one thing Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes,' he said. 'The only way he got 80 million votes is through massive fraud.'
The current tally of the popular votes stand at: 80,045,066 (51%) for Biden and 73,897,658 (47%) for Trump. Additionally, Biden has 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.
The president spoke to reporters after he made a Thanksgiving teleconference call with troops serving overseas.
'You have to really take a look at what's going on. They're finding tremendous discrepancies in the votes, and nobody believes those numbers those numbers are incorrect numbers,' he said of the vote tallies.
He provided no evidence of his claim. State officials have said they've found no evidence of election fraud in the November contest.
'I thought I was going to win it, and essentially I did win it. It's very very close, it's very very close,' he said.
The election results are not close. Biden has 306 electoral votes and only needs 270 to win the presidency.
Trump played coy when asked about his own Thanksgiving plans for his last one at the White House, saying he 'can't say what's first or last.' He added that it might be the 'first one of a second term.'
President Trump said he would go to Georgia on Saturday, December 5, to campaign for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue
And he criticized Biden for moving ahead in forming a new government.
'I think it's not right he's trying to pick a Cabinet,' Trump said of Biden.
He also refused to talk about the next presidential contest, which associates have said he's considering running in.
'I don't want to talk to 2024 yet,' he said.
Specifically, Trump complained about results in states he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in November, specifically calling out Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Georgia.
'You will find tens of thousands of false ballots,' he promised.
He alleged voters in Pennsylvania who tried to vote were told they already had, said he was winning in Wayne County in Michigan but then said canvassers wouldn't certify for him, claimed there were 'tremendous discrepancies' in Wisconsin, and faulted Democrat Stacey Abrams for his loss in Georgia.
Trump accused Abrams, who worked on voter registration in Georgia, with harvesting votes.
'Ballot harvesting', as it's called, is when a third party collects an individual's legal vote and turns it into state officials. The practice is legal
'You're not allowed to harvest,' Trump said.
He also railed against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who led a hand recount of the state that certified Biden's win, an 'enemy of the people.'
'I understand the Secretary of State, who is really an enemy of the people, the Secretary of State, and whether it's republican or not,' Trump complained.
Georgia officials are doing another recount at Trump's request.
Biden became the first Democrat to carry the state of Georgia since 1992 and many Democrats credited Abrams' get-out-the-vote operation in the state for his victory there.
Trump is going to Georgia on Saturday, December 5, to campaign for Republican Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. The two candidates are in a January 5th runoff election. Republicans need to win both seats in order to maintain their control of the Senate.
The president said he spoke to them about his concerns about Georgia's voting.
'I told them today I said listen you have a fraudulent system, you have a system with the flick of a switch or the putting in a new chip can change the course of history,' he said.
President Trump faulted Democrat Stacey Abrams for his loss in Georgia
Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, an 'enemy of the people' - Raffensperger presided over a hand recount that confirmed Biden's victory
President Donald Trump called into a hearing-style event in Pennsylvania where lawyer Rudy Giuliani leveled charges of voter fraud on Wednesday
In Pennsylvania Trump's legal team is trying to stop certification of the state's 20 electoral votes for Biden.
Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal attorney who is leading the charge in trying to overturn the election, testified at a Republican-led hearing of sorts on Wednesday, which Trump called into to implore GOP officials in the state to find he won Pennsylvania.
'This election has to be turned around. We won Pennsylvania by a lot and we won all of these swing states by a lot,' Trump said via a cellphone his attorney Jenna Ellis held up to a microphone.
Trump also tried to subvert results in Michigan. He met with two state lawmakers at the White House to discuss the election.
But, despite his efforts, the two men said they haven't seen any evidence that would change the fact that Biden won their state.
'We have not yet been made aware of any information that would change the outcome of the election in Michigan and as legislative leaders, we will follow the law and follow the normal process regarding Michigan's electors, just as we have said throughout this election,' Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield said in a joint statement after their meeting with President Trump last week.
In Wisconsin, Republicans filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking the state Supreme Court to block certification of the presidential election results as a recount is ongoing. The state is supposed to certify its results on Tuesday, December 1.
President Donald Trump spent time on his call with U.S. troops bragging about his own record, noting the record stock market high this week and claiming COVID vaccines will start being delivered in the next week or two.
At least three COVID vaccines show remarkable efficacy, a promising result as America sees more than 12.9 million infections and more than 263,000 deaths for the virus.
The candidates are in Phase 3 clinical trials, the last step before seeking the go-ahead from the Food and Drug Administration.
Trump said distribution will begin soon with frontline workers and high risk populations.
'We are rounding the curb,' he said on a call with troops stationed overseas. 'The vaccines are being delivered literally starting next week and week after, and the frontline workers and seniors and doctors, nurses, a lot of people going to start getting.'
President Donald Trump said COVID vaccines will start going out next week with healtcare workers and at-risk populations getting them first
President Trump made his announcement on his traditional Thanksgiving call with troops
The FDA is meeting Monday to talk to Pfizer about giving an emergency authorization for its vaccine to be used.
Trump said the rapid development of the vaccine was a 'medical miracle.'
'Some people call that a medical miracle really a miracle. It could have taken four or five years to do this normally. It probably would have taken four or five years, just getting it through the FDA. We pushed it very hard,' he said.
Gen. Gustave Perna, who is leading Operation Warp Speed's effort to distribute coronavirus vaccines nationwide, told ABC News that he believes the FDA's authorization, which he calls 'D-Day,' could occur between Dec. 10 and Dec. 14. Once it's authorized, he said, '24 hours later, vaccines are on the street.'
Trump, in his overseas call, also bragged about Tuesday's record achievement in the stock market: the Dow hit 30,000 points for the first time.
'You're doing an incredible job and your country is doing well. We just set a record in the stock market over 30,000 in the Dow Jones industrial average,' he said.
The president spoke with different members of service stationed around the world.
'Don't eat too much turkey,' he told them.
'How is Kuwait doing,' he said in his conversations with Army, Marine, and Air Force personnel stationed in Kuwait.
He also spoke with Navy service members on the USS Winston S Churchill in the Red Sea, members of the Space Force in Colorado and Coast Guard forces in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
On the teleconference, all the service members wore face masks. Trump did not wear one.
Pfizer is meeting with the FDA on Monday to discuss emergency use authorization of its COVID vaccine
President Trump led a round of applause for the troops when he finished his call with them
When one of the commanders thanked him for doing the call, saying it raised morale during the holiday, Trump replied: ''I love doing it and I'm so proud of it.'
He also said repeatedly the military is in better shape after his four years in the White House, claiming its equipment is in 'tippy-top' shape.
'Your equipment is getting newer and newer and better and better,' he told crew members of the Churchill.
'On the Army, we just made a tremendous purchase of equipment,' he said.
And he praised one service man who said he was a golfer. The 'only exercise there is,' said the president who had played a round before speaking with them.
The president spoke from the Diplomatic Room of the White House.