US President Donald Trump has broken his silence today, but show no sign of conceding, six days after Joe Biden won the US election.
Photo: AFP
Trump made a statement from the White House's Rose Garden this morning NZT, talking about Operation Warp Speed, the Covid-19 vaccine development and delivery programme.
He spoke of the vaccine and said there would be no lockdown "under any circumstances" while his administration ws in charge.
He falsely claimed the research and development of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine was funded by Operation Warp Speed.
Trump said he expected a coronavirus vaccine to be available for the entire US population as soon as April, amid a crush of new infections of the deadly disease that has pushed daily case counts to record highs.
Trump also said he expected an emergency use authorization for Pzifer's vaccine "extremely soon."
Coronavirus cases in the US have passed 11 million today.
Trump said "time would tell" who would be in the White House after January, despite having almost no chance of overturning the result.
"I will not go - this administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the... whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell."
Trump did not take questions from reporters.
It was the first time Trump has spoken on camera since the election was called for Biden.
While Trump has yet to concede the election, he has been active on Twitter with claims of voter fraud.
However, this morning Biden's win was solidified after the state of Georgia went his way, leaving Trump little hope of reversing the outcome through legal challenges and recounts.
Edison Research, which made the call, also projected that North Carolina, the only other battleground state with an outstanding vote count, would go to Trump, finalising the electoral vote tally at 306 for Biden to 232 for Trump.
The numbers gave Biden, a Democrat, a resounding defeat over Trump in the Electoral College, equal to the 306 votes Trump, a Republican, won to defeat Hillary Clinton, a 2016 victory that Trump called a "landslide."
While Trump had yet to concede, Biden officials reiterated they were moving ahead with transition efforts regardless.
Although the national popular vote does not determine the election outcome, Biden was ahead by more than 5.3 million votes, or 3.4 percentage points. His share of the popular vote, at 50.8 percent, was slightly higher than Ronald Reagan's share of the vote in 1980 when he defeated Jimmy Carter.
Trump, a Republican, has claimed without evidence that he was cheated by widespread election fraud and has refused to concede. State election officials report no serious irregularities, and several of his legal challenges have failed in court.
To win a second term, Trump would need to overturn Biden's lead in at least three states, but he has so far failed to produce evidence that he could do so in any of them. States face a 8 December "safe harbor" deadline to certify their elections and choose electors for the Electoral College, which will officially select the new president on 14 December.
Biden's legal team in Georgia said on Friday they do not expect a hand recount of votes in the state to change the results there.
A Michigan state court rejected on Friday a request by Trump's supporters to block the certification of votes in Detroit, which went heavily in favor of Biden. And lawyers for Trump's campaign dropped a lawsuit in Arizona after the final vote count rendered it moot.
Federal election security officials have found no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, "or was in any way compromised," two security groups said in a statement released on Thursday by the lead US cybersecurity agency.
- RNZ/Reuters
