The United States President Donald Trump has taken a massive step towards admitting defeat in the country’s last presidential election Monday night by saying he was allowing the transition to Joe Biden to begin – but immediately claimed he could still overturn his defeat at the hands of voters.
MailOnline reports that General Services Administration Chief, Emily Murphy, told President-elect Biden in a letter that he could start accessing federal resources to begin the presidential transition process early Monday evening.
READ ALSO:
AfDB Tasks African Leaders on Industrialisation towards Transforming the Continent’s Economies
Murphy, in a letter to Biden, announced the move, but dedicated a considerable portion to defending her own reputation and claiming she had been threatened and harassed.
Her letter, notably, does not go so far as “ascertain” that Joe Biden is the winner of the election, despite networks calling the race 16 days ago, numerous states certifying their tallies, and Biden winning 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. She also called him “Mr.” instead of president-elect or vice president.
It came just over an hour after Michigan certified that Biden had won the state, putting another nail in the coffin of Trump’s bid to overturn the election result.
The move ends much of the controversy over Trump’s refusal to concede and means that a concession would be purely symbolic.
READ ALSO:
Nigerian Government Acquires More Fighter Aircraft to Combat Insurgency
It allows Biden to get the same intelligence briefing as Trump, order FBI background checks on his picks for office and talk to senior officials in key roles – most notably, Dr. Tony Fauci.
But Trump tweeted defiantly that he had ordered Murphy to start the transition “for the sake of the country” and claimed he was sure he would win “the good fight.”
Idowu Sowunmi with agency reports
