President Donald Trump on Wednesday disclosed to a rally of his supporters outside the White House that he would never concede that he lost the election, as Congress prepares to certify Joe Biden’s victory.
“We will never give up,” Trump told thousands of cheering supporters on a grassy expanse near the White House called the Ellipse. “We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”
Trump’s fellow Republicans were poised to lose their majority in the Senate, both chambers of Congress were due to formally certify Biden’s victory in the Nov. 3 election in proceedings that could stretch past midnight.
In a joint session of the Republican-led Senate and Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, Trump’s allies plan to challenge the results from a handful of states won by Biden.
Biden won the election by 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College and by more than 7 million ballots in the national popular vote, but Trump continues to falsely claim there was widespread fraud and that he was the victor.
State and federal reviews have debunked Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud even as increasingly desperate legal efforts by his campaign and allies on the right to overturn the election have failed in numerous courts all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Biden is due to take office on Jan. 20.
During his speech, Trump praised the Republican lawmakers seeking to challenge the election as “brave” and called members of his party who oppose the effort “weak” and pathetic.”
Pence is set to preside over the proceedings in the Capitol. Despite pressure from Trump to help overturn his election loss, Pence will stick to his ceremonial duties and not block the congressional certification of Biden’s victory, advisers said. Pence, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump’s tumultuous presidency, has no plans to intervene and has told Trump he lacks the power to do so, they said.
“All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertifiy and we become president,” Trump told his supporters. “Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. And if he doesn’t, it’ll be sad day for our country,” he added.