Trump says he will leave White House if Electoral College votes for Biden

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday (local time) that he will leave office if the Electoral College votes for Joe Biden on December 14. The comment is garnering attention as this is the first time he expressed his willingness to concede and it also suggests the timing of concession.

“Certainly I will, and you know that,” President Trump said when asked by a reporter about leaving the White House if Biden is declared the winner by the Electoral College on December 14. Under the U.S. election system that combines both direct and indirect election systems, public voters in 50 states voted on November 3 for the Electoral College members who support a certain candidate. Now, it is the Electoral College’s turn to vote for the next president on December 14. President-elect Joe Biden and President Trump have earned 306 and 232 Electoral College votes, respectively, out of 538 votes available.

However, he repeated his claim of a fraudulent election by saying that there was massive fraud and Biden did not win 80 million votes. It seems to be his plan to continue election-related litigations until the day of the Electoral College vote while securing an exit plan when his defeat is confirmed. He did not answer the question asking if he will attend the inauguration ceremony of the president-elect.

The president also announced that the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by U.S.-based Pfizer and Germany-based BioNTech will be released either next week or the week after that with priority to front-line workers, medical workers, and the elderly. “Don’t let him (Biden) take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me,” he added.


Jae-Dong Yu jarrett@donga.com