President Donald Trump seemed to deny the notion that he would prematurely declare himself the winner of the election on Tuesday.
During Trump’s interview on “Fox and Friends,” Fox News anchor Steve Doocy brought up concerns that the President would claim victory without waiting for the full results if the early vote count leans in his favor.
“At what point will you declare victory?” Doocy asked.
“When there’s victory. If there’s victory,” Trump replied. “I think we’ll have victory. I think the polls are suppression polls. And I think we’ll have victory.”
“But only when there’s victory,” he continued, circling back to Doocy’s question. “There’s no reason to play games.”
The President, sounding noticeably low-energy after staying up until about 2:30 to thank his supporters on Twitter, didn’t express the usual blustering confidence of his reelection prospects during the interview.
“I don’t know what the chances are. I don’t know how they rate the chances,” he told the Fox anchors. “But I think we have a very solid chance of winning. And I think a lot of that has to do with the tremendous crowd size.”
Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger, is reportedly prepared to immediately address the country as president-elect if he is declared the winner despite whatever litigation Trump will bring on to contest the election results, as the President has promised to do.
Listen to Trump below:
Trump says he'll declare victory "only when there’s victory": "There’s no reason to play games." pic.twitter.com/vhpp62EvCr
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) November 3, 2020
