Donald Trump suggests for first time he might have lost election, saying 'who knows which administration it will be' in 2021

Donald Trump yesterday publicly acknowledged for the first time since the presidential election was called for his rival Joe Biden that he may not form the next US administration.

In telling comments in the White House’s Rose Garden, the US president let slip his uncertainty about remaining as president while discussing policy to tackle Covid-19.

Since Mr Biden was declared the election winner on Saturday Mr Trump has refused to concede, insisting he was the real victor and launching legal challenges to fight his case.

However on Friday afternoon in a press address on the pandemic that avoided discussion of the election Mr Trump nonetheless let his doubt show.

“Ideally we won’t go to a lockdown. I will not go, this administration will not be going to a lockdown,” Mr Trump said.

“Hopefully the, the, er, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be. I guess time will tell. But I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”

The “who knows” comment about the election winner was markedly less tub-thumping than the president’s tone on his Twitter feed, where he has claimed without evidence that the election was “stolen” from him.

The remark chimes with comments by Mr Trump’s friend Geraldo Rivera, a talk show host, who went public yesterday with details of a call he had with the president.

Mr Rivera said Mr Trump told him he was a “realist" who will do the "right thing" when it comes - an indication, perhaps, that Mr Trump will not attempt to cling to power once states certify the election result.

Mr Trump has refused to concede the election since Saturday morning when media outlets crunching the vote counts declared Mr Biden the winner.

During his Rose Garden press address Mr Trump, speaking at a public event for the first time since that declaration, did not concede. He also took no questions from reporters.

The speech was about roll-out plans for a Covid-19 vaccine and did not touch explicitly on the election result. It followed criticism of Mr Trump’s public silence throughout the week, beyond his tweets.

The president said that a vaccine could be publicly available to the general public as early as April and even sooner for vulnerable populations.

Mr Trump’s refusal to lock down comes despite the new Covid-19 case count in America surpassing 150,000 on Thursday for the first time in the pandemic.

Republicans break with Trump over transition

Republican senators have broken with Mr Trump and called for Mr Biden to be given intelligence briefings as the US president’s own government officials called the election the most “secure” in US history.

Normally loyal senators from Mr Trump’s own party including Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and Chuck Grassley backed calls for Mr Biden, the Democratic nominee who is now the president-elect, to get the briefings.

Many pointed to the fact that during the contested 2000 US presidential election both Al Gore and George W Bush were giving the daily briefings, which a president gets to understand the most pressing threats facing America.

James Lankford, the Republican senator for Oklahoma, even vowed to “step in” to make sure Mr Biden received the briefings, arguing even with legal challenges on-going it was important Mr Biden was “ready” to take office.

The calls cut against Mr Trump’s repeated insistence that he was the rightful victor.

There was a new blow to the president’s allegations when the US Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a statement defending the integrity of the vote.

“The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history,” read the start of the statement from members of the agency’s Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council (GCC) Executive Committee.

Another part read: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

The message directly contradicted a baseless claim the US president had made on Twitter hours earlier that a system which processes votes had “switched” some from himself to Mr Biden.

On Friday morning Mr Trump issued a tweet that appeared to both back up his government officials’ assertion that the election was the most secure in history while still insisting it had been “rigged”.

Mr Trump tweeted: “For years the Dems have been preaching how unsafe and rigged our elections have been. Now they are saying what a wonderful job the Trump Administration did in making 2020 the most secure election ever. Actually this is true, except for what the Democrats did. Rigged Election!”

The Trump campaign has failed to provide evidence to back up the sweeping allegation that the election was “rigged”.

Instead they have cited anecdotal evidence of irregularities in a small number of ballots, complained about election rules which allow postal ballots date-stamped before polls closed to arrive after election day and claimed poll watchers were not given full access to counts.

On Friday, Mr Biden defeated Mr Trump in the state of Georgia, while Trump won North Carolina, as the results of the final two states were called. This left the Democrat with 306 electoral college votes to Mr Trump's 232.

Trump appeals to his supporters

Mr Trump on Friday suggested that he may try to speak to thousands of supporters who are gathering in Washington DC on Saturday in what has been dubbed the 'Million MAGA March'.

Mr Trump tweeted that it was "heartwarming" to see the "tremendous support" across the country for him, saying of the Saturday gathering: "I may even try to stop by and say hello."

While Republican senators backed the calls for Mr Biden to receive intelligence briefings, few are yet to publicly declare the Democrat the election’s winner or call him to offer their congratulations.

Instead they insist the legal challenges launched by the Trump campaign should be allowed to run their course.

Barack Obama, the former US president, joined the chorus of criticism at Mr Trump’s failure to concede the election during an interview to run this weekend with 60 Minutes as he plugged his new biography.

Mr Obama said of Mr Trump’s claims of widespread fraud: "They appear to be motivated, in part, because the president doesn't like to lose and never admits loss.

“I'm more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this, are humouring him in this fashion.

“It is one more step in delegitimising not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally. And that's a dangerous path."