WILMINGTON, DELAWARE – “No, it’s not over,” Trump told Fox News in an interview broadcast early Sunday, even as dozens of court challenges have been decided against the president’s claims that he was defrauded of another four-year term.
“We keep going, and we’re going to continue to go forward. We have numerous local cases. We’re, you know, in some of the states that got rigged and robbed from us. We won every one of them. We won Pennsylvania. We won Michigan. We won Georgia by a lot.”
State election officials have decided otherwise, however, and electors meeting in state capitals throughout the country Monday are expected to certify that Biden, a former U.S. senator for 36 years and for eight years vice president under former President Barack Obama, won 306 electoral votes, more than the 270 needed to win.
The president-elect, in a Monday evening address — expected to be broadcast live by major cable television news channels — from Wilmington, Delaware, will speak “on the Electoral College vote certification and the strength and resilience of our democracy,” according to a statement from his transition team.
Trump, on Sunday, visited his private golf club in northern Virginia and made repeated unfounded claims on Twitter that the presidential election was corrupt.
Biden made no comment Sunday about Trump’s remarks.
The final count in the Electoral College is expected to favor Biden by a 306-232 advantage, the same margin Trump won by over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016, when the Republican declared it a landslide victory.https://projects.voanews.com/us-election-map-2020/?lang=en
The Electoral College determines U.S. presidential elections, not the national popular vote, although Biden leads there, too, by more than 7 million votes.
The electors are drawn from all 50 states and the national capital city of Washington, with the biggest states holding the most sway and mirroring their representation in Congress.
Congress is set to review and finalize the Electoral College outcome on January 6. Some House Republicans, led by Congressman Mo Brooks of Alabama, are planning to attempt to use the legislative tallying of the electoral results to tip the outcome to Trump.
“We have a superior role under the Constitution than the Supreme Court does, than any federal court judge does, than any state court judge does,” Brooks told the New York Times. “What we say, goes. That’s the final verdict.”
No Congress has invalidated a state’s electoral votes since the 19th century, and it is unlikely to occur next month as the Democrats control the House.
Two weeks after the Congressional certification, Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated at the U.S. Capitol at noon on January 20.
Federal and state courts have rejected more than 50 lawsuits by Trump and his allies seeking to upend the election results in battleground states Biden won by varying margins.
Trump, on Friday, lost what he called “the big one,” when the Supreme Court refused to consider a Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate results in four states — Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin – that Biden won.
The high court ruling all but terminated the president’s attempt to overturn the election outcome through the courts although a handful of lawsuits is still pending. Trump nevertheless remains combative and has signaled he is not giving up.
“How do states and politicians confirm an election where corruption and irregularities are documented throughout? A Swing State hustle!” Trump tweeted Sunday.
“Most corrupt election in U.S. history!” he claimed using all capital letters, offering no evidence.
Despite the court rulings against Trump, only a small percentage of Republican lawmakers have acknowledged Biden as president-elect and 106 Republicans in the House of Representatives, although none in the Senate, signed on to support Trump in the Texas lawsuit rejected by the Supreme Court.
One top House Republican, Congressman Steve Scalise of Louisiana, told Fox News on Sunday that he would not commit to acknowledging Biden’s victory even after the Electoral College votes.
“Let the process play out,” Scalise said.
Trump applauded thousands of his most ardent supporters as they gathered Saturday in Washington to march and chant for him to remain in office. Similar demonstrations occurred in several states where Trump’s legal team has unsuccessfully challenged Biden victories.
Sporadic street clashes broke out between Trump backers and opponents in the national capital. Four people were taken to the hospital with stab wounds and 23 people were arrested, according to Washington’s police department.
VOA’s Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report from Washington.
