President Donald Trump has promised an “orderly transition” of power after President-elect Joe Biden won the majority electoral college vote on January 6, 2021.
The outgoing President, who has repeatedly accused the Democrats of orchestrating a coup against him and stealing the November 2020 election, issued a statement on Thursday.
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20,” Trump confirmed.
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again.”
Trump released the statement through his deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino’s Twitter account at 3:50 am ET Wednesday.
Trump spoke to his followers via his official accounts on conservative social media platforms GAB.com and Parler.com late Wednesday.
Trump’s personal Twitter account was locked for 12 hours after he shared tweets and a video telling MAGA protesters to go home amid riots and bloodshed in Washington, D.C.
Earlier in the day, MAGA protesters forced their way into the Capitol building and broke through doors leading to the offices of Congressional lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Activists scrawled notes on Pelosi’s desk and one protester walked off with her lectern.
DC police sprayed tear gas at the protesters. One lawmaker reportedly suffered chest pains during the assault on the Capitol building.
Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, of Ocean Beach, Calif., was shot in the face by a DC police officer when she and others forced their way through a locked door.
Babbitt, 37, was unarmed and on the other side of a locked door when the officer shot her through the door. The officer has not been identified. Babbitt was later pronounced dead.
Prior to the incident, Trump addressed his followers, who gathered maskless on the Ellipse near the White House: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. We’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering, so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong.”
After Vice President Mike Pence refused Trump’s direct order to block the electoral college vote by Congress, Trump called Pence a traitor and locked Pence’s chief of staff out of the White House.
Trump was widely condemned on social media, with calls to have Trump removed from office by impeachment or through the invocation of the 25th Amendment.
