Donald Trump says he will leave the White House if Electoral College confirms Biden victory

Trump continued to claim there was “massive fraud” in the recent election and refused to confirm he would attend Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president.

Donald Trump has said he will leave the White House if Joe Biden’s victory is certified by the US Electoral College next month. Trump’s admission was yet another signal he is prepared to accept defeat, albeit very reluctantly, in the US presidential election, after he gave the go-ahead for the formal transition of power to the Biden administration earlier this week. Under the electoral college system used to elect presidents in the United States, Joe Biden has far surpassed the tally of 270 required to win the election, leading Donald Trump by 306 to 232. Biden also leads Trump in the popular vote by a margin of over six million. Electors are set to meet to formalise Biden’s victory on 14 December and when asked by reporters on Thanksgiving on Thursday if he would agree to leave the White House if his defeat was confirmed, Trump responded: "Certainly I will, certainly I will and you know that." Trump, however, continued to make what have so far been baseless claims of electoral fraud, said the election of Biden would be “a mistake" and suggested that his defeat in the election would “a very hard thing to concede”. "If they do (elect Biden), they made a mistake," Trump said. "It's (the election) going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud." Trump also refused to confirm whether or not he would attend the inauguration of Joe Biden, which is scheduled to take place on 20 January.