Administration of Donald J. Trump, 2020

November 26, 2020

The President. Well, I'm thrilled to be online with heroic members of the United States military. Incredible people. I want to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving. We're going to have a great year. We have a year coming upâthe foundations are ready for one of the best years we've ever had.

We have with us six units deployed all across the world, representing every branch of the Armed Forces. Many of you are very far from home, but today we hope you know that millions of American families are praying in gratitude for the sacrifices you make and the incredibleâ absolutely incredibleâjob you do.

As President, I want to personally express my profound thanks to each and every one of you for your devoted service to our Nation. Our Nation is doing very well. It's the highest honor of my life to serve as your Commander in Chief.

Representing the Army today, I want to recognize Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Redhair and the United States Army 36th Infantry Division. Tremendous people. From your base in Kuwait, you support our fight against radical Islamic terrorism and help combat Iranian aggression. We salute you. Thank you very much. And you'll say perhaps a few words in a little while. We appreciate it very much, Timothy.

From the Marines, we have Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force based in Kuwait, which conducts crisis response throughout the Middle East. Colonel Andrew Priddy, your warriors bring the fight straight to the enemy so that American families can sleep soundly at home.

We've been building up our military. We spent $2.5 trillion in the last 3Â½ years. And we've never had anything like it, in terms of equipment and all of the elements that we put together.

Space Force, we're very proud of, brandnew. Nobody thought that could happen.

So we've spent 2Â½âthink of thatâ2Â½ trillion dollars. All new tanks and missiles and rockets. And everything is tippy top. Nobody thought we could ever get there. We've done it quickly. Most of the equipment is there; much of it is there. Most of it is coming. The rest of it is coming in over the next, I would say, 6 months to 12 months, all made in the U.S.A., which is very good.

But every American owes you a debt of thanks, and we appreciate it.

Also with us are men and women of the U.S. Navy aboard the USS *Winston Churchill*âit's a beautyâled by Commander Timothy Shanley. You're deployed in the Red Sea, where you deter terrorists, defend freedom of navigation, and escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Your magnificent ship is a powerful symbol of peace through strength. And that's what we have now is peace through strength. You look at what's going on: no wars. They're saying, "Wow." A Presidentâ4 years, no wars. We stopped wars. And we won, as you know, 100 percent of the ISIS caliphate in Syria and Iraq. We've done a job.

Welcome, as well, to everyone at Ali Al Salem Airbase in Kuwait, including Major Tommy Rutherford and the 386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron. Thank you very much, Tommy. Your missions support our soldiers on the ground and deliver precious cargo where it

needs to go, including transporting 18 tons of medical equipment during the China virus pandemic. Keep up the outstanding work. Great job you've done. I hear all about it. It's amazing work you do.

From the United States Spaceâand this is a very important thing to meâthe Space Forceâ because it's 75 years since the Air Force. This is the first one. New branch. The United States Space Force. We're joined by Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Lohmeier and the 11th Space Warning Squadronâthat sounds greatâat Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado. You keep watch around the world to detect missile launches, space launches, and nuclear detonations while providing critical intelligence. All of you are pioneers in the newest branch of our Armed Forces.

And again, it's very special to me, that new branch, and because that was something that I felt was necessary. And I never said it during the campaign; I said it after I became President. I saw what was happening with China and Russia and others. And it's really something, so we're very proud of it.

Finally, we have with us members of the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 308 under Captain Gennaro Ruocco. You're joined with us from Guantanamo Bay, where you secure our coastal waters, combat drug traffickers, escort vessels, and protect our forces in the region.

On American shores and beyond, the Coast Guard has always made America proud. I want to tell you, I was here 2 years ago in Texas; you saved thousands and thousands of people. That was incredible, the job the Coast Guard has done. And now we have all new ships coming to the Coast Guard. You had old ships, and they were as good as they could be, but they were very old. And now you have brandnew Coast Guard ships, and it's my honor to have gotten them for you.

Today I send you the love, gratitude, respect, and prayers of our entire Nation. Once again, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. You're doing an incredible job, and your country is doing well. We just set a record in the stock market: over 30,000 in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Over 30,000âthink of that. Nobody ever thought we were going to hit that during a pandemic.

The whole world is suffering this tremendous pandemic, not just usâthe world. And it doesn'tâyou wouldn't know that to listen to the news reports, but the whole world is suffering. And we'reâwe are rounding the curve. The vaccines are being delivered literallyâit will start next week and the week after. And it will hit the frontline workers and seniors and doctors, nursesâa lot of people are going to start, and we're going very quickly.

Two companies already announced a third one coming up and a fourth and fifth one coming up soon also. So it'sâsome people have called it a medicalâreally, a miracle. It could have taken 4 or 5 years to do this. Normally, it probably would have taken 4 or 5 years, just getting it through the FDA. We pushed it very hard.

But I want to thank you all. I want to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. And let'sâmaybe, if we could start. Anybody would like to raise their hand. Go ahead. We'll start with you.

36th Infantry Division Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Timothy J. Redhair, ARNG. Sir, sir, good evening, Mr. President. On behalf of Task Force Spartan, 36th Infantry Division Command Team, Major General Pat Hamilton, Command Sergeant Majorâ[inaudible]âI'd like to take this opportunity to say thank you for sticking with all of us, and happy Thanksgiving to you and yours as well. Soââ

The President. Thank you much.

Lt. Col. Redhair. If you don't mind, I'd likeâgo ahead, sir.

The President. Yes, go ahead, please. Please.

Lt. Col. Redhair. I was just going to take a couple minutes out to introduce some of the folks sitting around me that are here in Kuwait. Specialist Green, to my right, she's from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. PFCâ[inaudible]âdirectly behind me is from Sabine, Texas. Again, one of the most important people as a battalion commander is my command sergeant major, Daniel Castro directly behind me. And then, I've gotten Specialist Carr and Specialist Jimenez, and these soldiers are doing an outstanding job, sir.

The President. That's fantastic. And how is Kuwait doing?

Lt. Col. Redhair. It's doing well, sir. It's doing quite well. We just recently got here, and we're looking forward to continuing our mission.

The President. That's great. Well, you're doing a fantastic job and we appreciate it. And thank you very much, Colonel. Tremendous to be with you. Happy Thanksgiving. Say hello and a happy Thanksgiving to everybody, and we'll see you soon. Thank you for the job you do.

Lt. Col. Redhair. Yes, sir.

The President. Appreciate it.

Lt. Col. Redhair. Absolutely, sir. Thank you.

The President. Thank you.

Colonel, go ahead, please. Marine Corps. Thank you. Andrew, go ahead, please. You're ready. Does he hear me? Maybe not. Oh, there he is. Is that Andrew? Marine Corps.

13th Marine Expeditionary Unit Commanding Officer Colonel Andrew T. Priddy, USMC. Good afternoon, Mr. President, and happy Thanksgiving from Kuwait. As you saidâ [inaudible]âthe Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force deployed here fromâ [inaudible]. I've been here since May andâ[inaudible]âin February. We have marines in nine countriesâ[inaudible]âa responsibility here at CENTCOM, and it's truly an honor to serve. And I really wanted to take a quick moment to recognize Sergeant Romero Vasquez, who is sitting to my left. He's from Los Angeles, California and a great marine serving here in the MAGTF.

The President. Sergeant, go ahead, please.

Sergeant Romero Vasquez, USMC. It's an honor to meet you, Mr. President. Just talking to you in person, it's a really great honor. And it's a great place here in Kuwait. You know, I love what I do. I love serving my country.

The President. Thank you very much. Great job. We appreciate it very much.

Col. Priddy. Sir, thank you very much.

The President. Well, thank you very much. And good luck with everything. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody, please. Thank you. Thank you very much.

The Navy. Tim, go ahead.

USS Winston S. Churchill Commanding Officer Commander Timothy F. Shanley, USN. Hey, good evening, Mr. President. This is Commander Tim Shanley, CO of the USS Winston Churchill, currently patrolling the waters of the Middle East. On behalf of the 352 sailors that are assigned to our ship, I'd like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving, sir.

We've been underway since thisâyou know, we deployed earlier this summer, and we've got underwayâwe've traveled over 30,000 miles so far, through the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Red Sea, all the way to the Arabian Gulf and back. So we'veâwe've sustained some solid operations out here, conducting escort operations, overwatch, counterpiracy, counterâillicit trafficking.

And one of the things I wanted to highlight, sir, was the Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure Team that's right behind me. We've got Lieutenant J.G. Harris, OS2 Robinson, GM2â [*inaudible*]âGM2 Larkin, GM2 Ciprian, GM2 Menina, ICC Cordell, and we have RS3 Coleman. Directly to my right is my executive officer, Commander Brian Anthony. And to my left is Command Master Chief Juan Navarro.

It's our honor to be on this VTC, sir. We wish you a happy Thanksgiving, and it's great to be here.

The President. Well, I want to thank you very much. Is that the engines I hear behind you? That sounds like a powerful group. It sounds like waves crashing into the ship. But it's a beautiful sound. That's a beautiful sound.

Are you enjoying what you're doing, Tim?

Cmdr. Shanley. Absolutely. Yes, sir, Mr. President. It's aâit's so fulfilling being out here. I have, you knowâpeople say other things are "America's team," but I am in command of America's team out here, sir.

The President. Yes. Great. And your equipment is getting newer and newer, better and better. We're building a lot of ships right now, as you know, and you'll have them very soon. And I just want to congratulate youâeverybody. But I want to congratulate you. Great job with the Navy. We appreciate it very much, Tim. Thank you.

So the Air Force.

Cmdr. Shanley. Thank you, Mr. President.

The President. We'll do the Air Force. Please, please, Tommy.

386th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron Commander Major Tommy Rutherford, USAF. All right. Good afternoon, Mr. President. It's truly an honor to speak with you this afternoon. I was glad to hear you knew so much about our unit, so I won't talk too much about us. But I will tell you that also in this room today, we were able to invite up one of our sister units here, which is the 386 Expeditionary Security Forces. So we've got some folks here that represent 240 defenders here on the ground that protect 650â650,000âsorry, 100 joint coalition and contractor personnel here in Kuwait.

Also super proud to be able to, obviously, represent American interests out here and super excited to talk to you today as well.

Two folks I wanted to highlight who could not be here with us today: These two units lost individuals during this rotation, which was Sergeant Ouellette and Senior Airman Phan. Great Americans. One from each of the units that's represented here. And your conversation with us is a great morale boost, so much appreciated for you to be doing that, sir.

The President. Well, I appreciate it. I love doing it, actually. And I'm very proud of it because we've spent so much. You know, when we took over, our military was very depleted. You know that very well. You know it probably better than most with the Air Force, because the planes were old. They were tired. And now you have all brandnew Fâ35s coming and others. And your tankers, your bombersâthe whole thing. They're all coming. Hopefully, we never have to use it for war, but we're better prepared than we ever have been.

When I came in 4 years agoâhard to believe, almost 4 years agoâwe were in sad shape.

And now we're in phenomenal shape. Have you seen the difference in the equipment over the last couple of years?

Maj. Rutherford. Absolutely, sir. Definitely.

The President. Yes. We went from old planes to brandnew planes; from planes that were very visible to stealth, where you can't see them. Stealth helps. Do you agree with that?

Maj. Rutherford. Yes, sir. If you can't see it, you can't hit it.

The President. It's veryânow, I don't know much about what you do, but I know if you can see it, I like it better. Anyway, thank you very much.

And, Tommy, thank you for doing a great job. We appreciate it very much. Thank you.

Maj. Rutherford. Thank you, sir.

The President. So now we're going to a special place in my heart: Space Force. Because nobody even thought about Space Force. And I looked at it, and I said, "We're going to have to come upâwe're going to have to do something." Because I looked at what China was doing and Russia was doing and others are thinking about doing.

And I want to just thank you very much. Is Matt there? Matt?

11th Space Warning Squadron Commander Lieutenant Colonel Matthew L. Lohmeier, USSF. Mr. President, good afternoon and happy Thanksgiving. This is Lieutenant Colonel Matt Lohmeier, commander of the 11th Space Warning Squadron. You can't see everyone in the room, but we've got a number of others here. Grateful for the opportunity to wish you and the First Lady a happy Thanksgiving.

The President. Thank you.

Lt. Col. Lohmeier. And also want to thank youâyou've already said what we do, which is provide strategic and theater missile warning for the Nation and our alliesâbut want to thank you personally for your advocacy for an independent Space Force so that that could become a reality while we serve. We're very grateful for that. We're making great progress that I don't think we were able to necessarily make while we wereâwhile we belonged to the Air Force. But having our own independent service hasâwe've made great progress already in the first year.

So thank you for your advocacy for that. And on behalf of all of the missile warning operators here at the 11th Space Warning Squadron, we say happy Thanksgiving.

The President. That's good. Thank you very much, and you too. And I know the coordination with you and Air Force has been stellar. You're getting along great, and you're doing well together. And it really does work well together, but I thought that you should have separate.

And as years go by and as decades go by, people will see the importance of Space Force.

There's no question about it. So thank you very much. I appreciate it.

And Coast Guard, please.

U.S. Coast Guard Reserve Sector Puget Sound Commander Captain Gennaro Ruocco, USCG. Good afternoon, Mr. President. Just wanted to wish you and the First Lady and your entire family a happy Thanksgiving. I hope you're able to spend some quality time with them today and enjoy one another's company.

I just want to highlight a situation we went through during our predeployment workups in Mississippi, where we experienced a little outbreak of the coronavirus right around the Fourth of July timeframe. You know, we had a healthy respect of the virus and how it could affect our ability to train and meet our operational commitments. But as a unit, we had a greater confidence in the patriotism and professionalism of the wardrooms, chiefs, mess, and crew of PSU 308 right behind me, sir.

We were steadfast in our resolve to meet our operational commitments and relieve our sister unit on time and on schedule, sir. We did not back down, but rather we did not let fear or uncertainty dictate our actions.

Mr. President, the men and women at PSU 308 are proud and honored to stand the watch this Thanksgiving in defense of our freedoms.

From our unit, I want to wishâI want to wish you and the rest of the Trump family a merry Christmas, happy holidays, a safe and prosperous New Year; keep hitting them straight on the golf course, Mr. President; and Semper Paratus.

The President. [Laughter] Straight and long. That's right. Thank you very much. That's great. That's really great. What, are you a golfer? Do you play golf? You love it, right? Yes, that's good. It's pretty good. Thank you very much. It's the only form of exercise. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. And really, everybody, just congratulations.

And you know, I have to say, on the Army, we just made a tremendous purchase of equipment, as you know. I think Tim probably saw that, and youâyou have a lot of equipment coming into the Army, in particular. We really wentâwe went for top of the line, Tim. I guess you saw that. And you see it pouring in, and that's good. So it's an honor. We want to thank you very much, Tim. And thank you.

I will say this: The Coast Guardânothing and no stock has gone up higher than Coast Guardâthe stock in the Coast Guard, the reputation of the Coast Guardâthe job you've done on the hurricanes. And I think people didn't appreciate it as much as they do now, I can tell you that. It's gone very high. What you've done in Texas and in Florida, in particular; in Puerto Ricoâthe job you did in Puerto Rico. And you go out there in those monster waves andâyou know, are dangerous has can be. Even with the new boats and the new ships, nothing is meant for the kind of waves we saw, especially in Texas. And you went out there, and you did your job and you saved thousands of lives, as I said.

And I really am very proud of the Coast Guard, so I want to really call it out. Thank you very much. Very proud of you. Thank you.

Thank you all. Have a great Thanksgiving, and don't eat too much Turkey. Thank you. [*Laughter*] Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thanksgiving.

The President's Claims of Election Fraud/President-Elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Q. Mr. President, do you have any big plans for your last Thanksgiving at the White House?

The President. Well, we don't know what is last, if you look at what's going on. You have to really take a look at what's going on. They're finding tremendous discrepancies in the votes.

Nobody believes those numbers. Those numbers are incorrect numbers. A lot of numbers have already been reported that's incorrect.

You're going to see things happening over the next week or two that are going to be shocking to peopleâif you look at the numbers in Michigan, if you look at the numbers in Pennsylvania, if you look at fraudulent voting and fraudulent votes. So I can't say what's first and what's last, in terms of is this the last one or is this the first one of a second term? We'll see what happens.

Nobody wants to see the kind of fraud that this election has really come to represent. We are looking at things that are so bad in Georgia. They don't want to show us signatures. The reason they don't want to show us signatures is very simple: because we will find thousands and thouâ it's a very close race; it's hair-thinâbut we'll find thousands and thousands of discrepancies, fraud.

Why they aren't wanting to show those signatures is amazing. They're doing recounts. And even in the recount, they found thousands of votes that were off. But now we want to look at the signatures. And you will find tens of thousands of false ballots, fraudâforged ballots. You'll see it all over. You're going to see a lot of it.

And you go to Pennsylvania. You saw the meeting we had yesterday with Pennsylvania.

You saw people come upâhow they went to vote, and they said: "No, you can't vote. Somebody else already sent in a ballot." And a womanâbut this is happening tens of thousands of times.

Q. Butââ

The President. I think it was six hundred-and-some-odd thousandâ687,000 fraudulent votes cast in Pennsylvania. And I will tell you, theâif you look at the statehouse nowâthe Republican statehouseâthey're starting to see what's going on there. But they've really known it for a long time.

Then, you go to Michigan, and you look at what happened in Wayne County, in Detroit. I went through a list. I won almost every county, and you see it. Almost everyâby 78 percent, 72 percent, 68 percentâgoing through the list. Then, you get to Wayne, and something happened. Tremendous numbers.

You saw the canvassers. They refused to sign their document, because they said, "We can't sign a fraudulent document." Horrible things went on. That's in Wayne County, Detroit.

But you look at the votes that were just tabulated, and they were left today. Look at all the counties. I won almost all of them, except Detroit. It was so egregious. It was phony.

Look at what's going on in Wisconsin. Wisconsin, they're finding tremendous discrepancy.

You just take a look at that. Tremendous discrepancy. And elsewhere.

So we're going to see what happens, but you can't have somebody assume office, and already they want to get rid of "America first." I mean, they want to get rid of "America first." They don't want "America first." You know why? Because China doesn't want it. China expressed their wish: "Please get rid of 'America first.'" And the Biden administration said: "Oh, that's okay. We'll get rid of 'America first.'"

No, we don't want to get rid of "America first." We want to put America first. And other countries should put themselves first too, and I tell them that all the time. But we don't want to get rid of it.

So I don't know what is going to happen. I know one thing: Joe Biden did not get 80 million votes. And I got 74 million, but there were many ballots thrown away, so I got much more than that. But I got 74 million. Seventy-four million is eleven million more than I got last time. It's millions more than Ronald Reagan got when he won allâhe won 49 States, I guess. He won 49 States, yes. And it's millions moreâmillions more than Hillary Clinton got.

Joe Biden did not getâand, by the way, Joe Biden did not beat Barack Obama with the Black vote. He didn't beat him, okay? But they have him as beating him. And if you look at the numbers, the numbers are false. The numbers are corrupt. It was a rigged electionâ100 percentâand people know it. That's why you have people marching all over the United States right now: They know was a rigged election.

And look at what's happening in Georgia. A lot of things are being found in Georgia. And they are absolutely against showingâI mean, it's a sad thing. They don't want to show signatures. It can be solved if you show signatures.

But you're going to find out, the people that signed aren't the people that are supposed to be signing. You're going to find that the people that signed those envelopesâthey didn't do the ballots. Envelopes. And then, somebody said, "Maybe the envelopes were thrown out."

There's tremendous fraud here.

Dominion Voting Systems

Q. But, Mr. Presidentââ

The President. If you look atâwait, just one second. If you look at 10 o'clock in the evening, you saw what happened. Then you had these massive dumps. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.

You have Dominion, which is very, very suspect to start off with. Nobody knows the ownership. People say the votes are counted in foreign countries. No, no, theyâand much worse than that, by the way, with Dominion.

So, you know, Dominion is also partially based in Canada, but it's based in other countries too. And nobody knows where the votesâbut you know, Canada refuses to use Dominion.

Canada uses paper ballots.

So think of it: They're based in Canada, and Canada refuses to use them. They're smart. They use paper ballots, because paper ballots are the only thingâfrankly, the only thing that really you're going to get an accurate tab on, because those machines are fixed. They're rigged. You can press "Trump," and the vote goes to Biden. All you have to do is play with a chip, and it's downâit's shown all the time. All you have to do is play with a chip. And they played with a chip, especially in Wayne County, in Detroit. You take a look.

In Philadelphia, you take a look. We've had excellent meetings with senators from PennsylvaniaâRepublican Senators and others. And they're saying thingsâthey knew it was dishonest, but they didn't know it was this dishonest. No, and you'll see it all. You'll see it all. So we'll see.

Speaking of Georgia, I'll be going there.

Georgia Special Senatorial Elections in January/Georgia Election Results

Q. When?

The President. I spoke with the two great Senators. They're great Senators: Kelly and David.

I'll probably be going on Saturday. We're looking for a site. We're going to have a tremendous turnout, and we seem to always have a good turnout.

The people are very disappointed that we were robbed. We were robbed. I won that by hundreds of thousands of votes. Everybody knows it. You go down the streets; there are Trump- Pence signs all over the place. And we won that by hundreds of thousandsâGeorgia. So they're disappointed.

I don't want them to be disappointed. That will solve itself. We're finding the votes. Once we get to the signatures, we'll take over 100 percent. Once we get the signatures, 100 percent, we will take over Georgia, and we will get Georgia. But they have to show us the signatures.

Stacey Abrams pulled the wool over the secretary of state. I don't know who he is. But the secretary of stateââ

Georgia Secretary of State Bradford J. Raffensperger/2020 Presidential Election Results

Q. He said he donated to you.

The President. It doesn't matter. I mean, you know, he says that too, but I don't know him. I never met him. I have no idea who he is. All I know is that's the ultimateâyou know, heâ"I donated to Trump. I respect Trump. I love Trump. I think Trump is great." By the way, we're giving nothing. This guy got played like I've never seen anybody played.

Tell him if he donated to Trump, if he likes Trump, let us see the signatures. Why is he not letting us see? There's only one reason you can't see the signatures. That's because there's fraud all over the place.

And even without looking at signatures, as you know, we found thousands of wrong votes.

And by the way, always against me. It was not like 50/50; it was always against me.

The other thing: Take a look at Michigan. Take a look at what they did with respect to counties. Every countyâ78 percent, 72 percent, 76 percent, 59 percentâthe whole thing, one after another, after another. And then, you get to Detroit, and it's like more votes than people.

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. Dead people voting all over the place.

But, anyway, going back to Georgia, just for a second: So I'll be going there on Saturday night, and maybe I'll go twice. It's very important that we win those races. These are two great people. I know them both very well. They're both great people.

And I think the two peopleâyou know, I beatâthe one gentleman, he ran against a congressional candidate who was an excellent person, frankly. And he didn't even live in the right community, and that's how we won. So now I have to beat him again. He lost as a Congressman. He was going for Congress, as you remember. And nowâagainst Karen. And now he's running against David. He doesn't deserve to be there. He's a lightweight.

And the other one is either a Communist or Socialist; I can't figure that one out yet. But he's either a Communist or a Socialist. Probably a Communist. This is not for Georgia.

And I just want to tell my people: Don't be disappointed yet, because this race is far from over. But I'm going on Saturday night. I'll be in Georgia. We're going to have a tremendous crowd. They're looking for the right site. Probablyâwe'd love to take one of the big stadiums, but you can't because of the COVID. So we'll have an outdoor form ofâprobably an airport. Most likely, it's an airport. They're looking for the biggest space. And we'll have, you know, tens of thousands of people show up. But I think it's very important.

And then, I may go a second time. Depending on how they're doing, I may go a second time.

But they're twoââ

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

The President. They're two really good people.

Q. Mr. Presidentââ

The President. Yes. Yes, please go ahead.

The President's Claims of Election Fraud

Q. Mr. President, if the electoral college votes for Joe Biden on December 14, will you concede the election?

The President. Iâit's going to be a very hard thing to concede, because we know there was massive fraud.

Q. But will youââ

The President. So, as to whether or not I can get this apparatus moving this quicklyâ because time isn't on our side. Everything else is on our side. Facts are on our side.

This was a massive fraud. This should never take place in this country. We're like a third- world country. We have machines that nobody knows what the hell they're looking at. I mean, you take a look at all the mistakes they made. Look at even Georgia. Look at all the mistakes they made. And thatâall that was is a simpleâyou press a button.

Look at Georgia. All the votes they found just by goingâand I said they shouldn't even do it because it doesn't mean anything. They're doing a recount right now in Georgia that is meaningless. The only recount that matters in Georgia is to look at the signatures on the envelope, and you will find that those signatures do not match the people that wereâmany of themâ hundreds of thousands of them, hundreds of thousands. And I only lost by 12,000 votes.

I didn't lose. I didn't even like to say I lose. I onlyâI guess we're eleven or twelve thousand votes short. That's out of millions and millions of votes. They just got it over the line.

And one of the things that happened: I did so wellâand I was told this in two other Statesâ that they didn't know what to do. They panicked. Take a look at their drops at 3 o'clock and 3:42 in the morning on certain States. They did drops where you're going along like this, and then you have a spike that goes up to the ceiling and down. It's disgraceful. We can't let that happen.

And I will tell you, in Philadelphia, the Republicans thatâstatehouse Republicans are very, very upset. And it's sort of appropriate because Philadelphia has become very activist, if you look at what's going on. They don't want that to happen to Pennsylvania, to the State of Pennsylvania. And it was aâI don't even like to useâit was a rigged election.

Q. But, sir, just to be clear: If the electoral college votes for Joe Biden, will you concede?

The President. Well, if they do, they've made a mistake because this electionââ

Q. But will you concede?

The President. ââwas a fraud. Just so you understand, this election was a fraud.

I mean, they have Biden beating Obamaâon Obama's vote in areas that mattered in terms of the election, in swing States. And yet he's losing to Obama all over the place, but he's beating Obama in swing States, which are the States that mattered for purposes of the election.

So no, I can't say that at all. I think it's aââ

Q. You won't concede?

The President. ââit's a possibility they're trying toâlook, between you peopleââ

Q. Just answer the question about concession.

The President. Don't answerâdon't talk to me that way.

Q. I'm sorry, sir, I'm just asking you toââ

The President. You're just aâyou're just a lightweight.

Q. ââanswer the question about concession.

The President. Don't talk to me thatâdon't talk toâI'm the President of the United States.

Don't ever talk to the President that way.

Q. Sir, I'm just asking you to answer the question about concession.

The President. All right. I'm going to go with another question.

Go ahead.

The President's Claims of Election Fraud

Q. So, if the electoral college does elect President-Elect Joe Biden, are you not going to leave this building?

The President. Just so youâcertainly, I will. Certainly, I will. And you know that. But I think that there will be a lot of things happening between now and the 20th of January. A lot of things.

Massive fraud has been found. We're like a third-world country. We're using computer equipment that can be hacked. They talk about glitches: How many glitches did they find? So a glitchâ"Oh, gee. We had a glitch: 5,000 votes."

In all casesâright? In all cases, the votes went from Trump to Biden. They didn't go from Bidenâthe glitches were never from Biden to Trump.

So they had many glitches. And they said, "Oh, we had a glitch." Thatâa glitch is like: "The equipment is a little broken. We'll fix it up." No. A glitch is, in this case, we caught them cheating. We caught them stealing. We caught a fraudulent effort to get votes. And they said, "Oh, yes, it's true. Itâthere was, but"âand there were many of them.

But here's the problem: There were probably 10, 20, 30 times that didn't get caught. We just got lucky and caught numerous of them. But what that is, is very simple. If you look at the glitch, the glitch meansâright? It means: "Oh, we got caught. We got caught with the votes, and now let's just call it a 'glitch.'"

It wasn't the machinery. And by the way, the machinery, if you lookâjust take a look anywhere on the internet; you will see many, many people where they're experimenting with this stupid machineryâwhere, if you set it a certain way, the votes go from Trump to Biden.

If you look at these countiesâif you look at Arizona, where I was going to win very easily. I've had the biggest politicians in Arizona say there was no way you lost Arizona. There's no way I lost Pennsylvania, with his antifuel and with his antifracking and all of the things that they stand against. There was no way.

Now, Texasâyou all said that I was going to lose Texas by a lot: four points. I won Texas by eight or nine points, right? I won it very easily. In Wisconsin, you all said I was going to loseâor the polls saidâcertain polls: Washington Post, ABCâsaid I was going to lose by 17 points. Think of how dishonest. I thought I was going to win it. And essentially, I did win it. It's very, very close. It's very, very close. And we're going to win, because they foundâby the way, in Wisconsin, they have found massive discrepancy, just so you understand. Massive discrepancy. But they said I was going to lose by 17 points. And I won the State, okay? But it's very close. It shows very close. Whether you say win or lose, it shows very close.

But when you look at the massive discrepancy that we'll be revealingâthat's already been revealed. Everybody knows it. They just don't want to play it. Between Big Tech and the fake news media, you just put outâlike this little railroad train.

No, I think it's not right that he's trying to pick a Cabinet. But I can't imagineâwhether it's courts or legislatures, if you're going to catch hundreds of thousands of false ballotsâand I'm talking in each State.

And just so you understand: many, many more votes that we're talking about that we need. You understand. I'm not saying we caught 23 dead people, but where we're short 20,000 votes. No, no. We have tens of thousands votes more than we need in all cases. Okay? In all cases.

So I think you're going to see something. I mean, I think it's going to be a very big story. Yes, please.

Q. Yes, Mr.âyes, Mr. Presidentââ

The President. It's going to be not only a big story, it's the most important story of our time. Yes.

The President's Claims of Election Fraud/President-Elect Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Q. Yes. Mr. President, if Joe Biden takes over the White House on January 21, will you announce a candidacy for 2024?

The President. Well, no, I don't want to talk about 2024 yet.

Q. Will you run again inââ

The President. Because this is far from beingââ

Q. If and when Joe Biden takes overââ

The President. Look, look, lookââ

Q. ââwill you announce a candidacy in 2024?

The President. I and the people that work on this are very professional, and all of this stuff is coming. It'sâa lot of it came outâif you look at the Philadelphia meeting, if you look at the Pennsylvania meeting yesterday, a lot of it came out.

This has a long way to go. This has a long way to go. You're going to find tremendous fraud. You're going to find fraud of hundreds of thousands of votes per State. You're going to find fraud of many, many times the votes that I need.

Again, we're not talking about less votes, whereâyou know, 20 votes, but it doesn't turn the election. No, we're talking about thousands and thousands of votes beyond what we need to turn a State.

When you see that, I think it's very hard even for the media to say that, you know, Biden should win the State.

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. And there's no way that Biden got 80 million votes. By the way, the only way he got 80 million votes is through a massive fraud. There's no way that he got 80 million votes.

The President's Claims of Election Fraud

Q. Can you give us a timeline on when you're going to present this evidence of voter fraud you talk about?

The President. Well, it's happening now.

Q. But when can we actually seeââ

The President. I mean, we're in courts. We're in courts, but we're also in front of legislatures, and we're doing very well in front of the States.

Q. If you have the evidence, why not present it now?

Georgia Special Senatorial Elections in January/Georgia Secretary of State Bradford J. Raffensperger

Q. Mr. President, if you don't think that the Presidential election was legitimate, and if you think that it was stolen, what confidence do you expect voters in Georgia to have when they go to the polls to vote for, say, Loeffler or Perdue?

The President. Well, I told them today, "I think you're dealing in a very fraudulent system." I thinkâI'm very worried about that. They are tremendous people. Kelly Loeffler, David Perdue are tremendous people. They should be in the United States Senate. They're desperately needed.

But I told them today, I said: "Listen, you have a fraudulent system. You have a system where the flick of a switch or the putting in of a new chip can change the course of history, and you have to be very careful."

I read this morning where Stacey Abrams has 850,000 ballots accumulated. Now, that's called "harvesting." You're not allowed to harvest, but I understand the secretary of state, who is reallyâhe's an enemy of the people, the secretary of state. And whether he's Republican or not, this manâwhat he's done. Supposedly, he made a dealâand you'll have to check thisâwhere she's allowed to harvest, but in other areas, they're not allowed. What kind of a deal is that?

They're not allowed to harvest during the Presidential.

But how can she say she has 850,000 ballots? That would mean that she's got 850,000 ballots for her. That's not supposed to be happening. That's not an election. You know, an election should be a 1-day deal: You walk in and you vote. And if you can't do itâif, for some reason, you're not feeling well or there's a problemââ

But what they did is they use COVID in order to defraud the people of this country. And the whole world is watching, and the whole world is laughing at our electoral process. The whole world is watching. And it's a very sad thing. A very sad thing.

The President's Accomplishments/Coronavirus Vaccine Development/The President's Claims of Election Fraud/News Media

Q. But thenââ

The President. And you know what? I've done a lot of things that you just sawâSpace Force. And you've seen the tax cuts and theâthe regulation cuts and the way we've taken care of the vets and what we've done with ANWR and Alaska and all the different things we've done.

More than just about anybody's done inâeven though it's 4 years.

There are those that say what I'm doing right now is the single-most important thing I've ever done. And I think it may be true. It may be true.

The vaccinesâand by the way, don't let Joe Biden take credit for the vaccines. If Joe Bidenâyou know, Joe Biden failed with the swine flu, H1N1. Totally failed with the swine flu. Don't let him take credit for the vaccines because the vaccines were me, and I pushed people harder than they've ever been pushed before.

And we got that approved and through, and nobody has ever seen anything like it. And you got a big resistance in the FDA from years and years of people working thereâfor years and years, different administrations. But the vaccines areâthere are those that say it's one of the greatest things. It's a medical miracle. Don't let anyone try and take credit for it.

But with all of the things I've done, this could be the most important, because there's been voter fraud going on, but never at this scale. Tens of millions of ballots have been sent out to people that didn't even want them. Many peopleâand I know you've heardâmany people have received two, three, and four ballots. And many people have taken those two, three, and four ballots, and they voted them.

This election was a fraud. Thisâit was a rigged election. I mean, I hate to say it, but this was a riggedâat the highest level, it was a rigged election. So we have to figure it out.

And yes, I think it's very dangerous for the two people that are running against two totally unqualified people. And I think it's very dangerous for our Nation.

And I'll go a step further. I said today: Other than the fact that you have all of the eyes and earsâbut the media doesn't cover it properly, because the media wouldâif they saw something wrong, I'm convinced the media would not report it, because, you know, you have many things that you know are wrong and you don't report.

But if the media was honest in this countryâwhich, you know, for the most part, they're notâthis would never have happened. This has taken placeâthis fraud has taken place. If the media were honest, this would never ever have happened.

But you have a big election coming up. You have a woman or somebody announced 850,000 absentee ballots have already been collectedâ850. And I told David Perdue today, and I told Kelly yesterday, I said, "They're talking about having collected already 800,000 ballots against you." You can't do that. You can't do that. What kind of a race is that? You can't allow that to happen.

And I'm serious: If the media were honest and if Big Tech were honest, which it's totally notâit's a terrible thing. That whole section 230 is a disgrace that they even have it. But Big Tech is totally dishonest. If the media were honest and big tech was fair, this wouldn't even be a contest, and I would have won by a tremendous amount, a tremendous amount. And I did win by a tremendous amount, but it hasn't been reported yet.

But people understand what's happened. They know what happened. Yes, please. Go ahead.

The President's Claims of Election Fraud

Q. As you know, of course, it is tradition forââ

The President. Say it.

Q. You know that it's tradition for previous Presidents to go to the next President's Inauguration. So will you attend Joe Biden'sââ

The President. I don't want to say that yet.

Q. But he isââ

The President. I mean, I know the answer. I'll be honest, I know the answerââ

Q. Is it "yes"?

The President. ââbut I just don't want to say it yet. Look, a thing like this possibly has never happened before, but maybe people just didn't catch it. But we've caught it. We've caughtâ

â

Q. But why have your attorneysââ

The President. We've caughtâwe've caught hundreds of thousands of votes.

Q. If I may, sirââ

The President. Listen, excuse me. Excuse me.

Q. If I mayââ

The President. When they don't allow a poll watcher, which is a sacred person in our country. People don't know what a poll watcher is. A poll watcher isâit's considered sacred in our country. When they throw them out of roomsââ

Q. But that's not true. They didn't do that.

The President. Sure, it is.

Q. Your attorneysââ

The President. And when they put them in pensââ

Q. Your attorneys admitted they were in the roomââ

The President. Excuse me. No, they didn't. My attorneys did not admit anything. And it's all different places.

But where they throw them out of counting rooms; where they put them in what's called "pens," and they're 20, 30, 40 feet away, and, in some cases, 200 feet away; when things like that happenâwhen a woman walks in on November 3 to voteâa proud womanâand this is by the thousands, tens of thousandsâand she said, "I'm here to vote." And they said, "You've already voted, ma'am. I'm sorry." "No, I didn't vote. I wanted to vote on November 3. I want to cast my vote in person." "I'm sorry, ma'am. You've already voted. You voted by ballot." And then, they leave. This is a horrible thing. And we have tens of thousands of that happening. This is a horrible thing.

They gave Biden a lot of votes that he would never have gotten. This is not a candidate that could get 80 million votes. This is just not a candidate. This is not a candidate that beat Barack Hussein Obama with the Black voter, okay? This is not a candidate that beat Obama with the Black voter. This is not a candidate that beat Hillary Clinton to a pulp. It just doesn't work that way.

But when you look at the number, when you look at the data, and when you look at the things we have, we have affidavits from hundreds and hundreds of people. This election was a rigged election.

Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.

NOTE: The President spoke at 4:59 p.m. in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House. In his remarks, he referred to 2016 Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton; former President Barack Obama; 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former State Rep. Stacey Y. Abrams; Georgia senatorial candidate Jon Ossoff; former Rep. Karen C. Handel; and Georgia senatorial candidate Raphael Warnock. He also referred to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist organization. The transcript was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on November 27.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : U.S. servicemembers, video teleconference; Interviews With the News Media : Exchanges with reporters :: White House.

Locations: Washington, DC.

Names: Abrams, Stacey Y.; Abrams, Stacy Y.; Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Clinton, Hillary Rodham; Handel, Karen C.; Loeffler, Kelly; Loeffler, Kelly L.; Lohmeier, Matthew L.; Obama, Barack; Ossoff, Jon; Perdue, David A., Jr.; Priddy, Andrew T.; Raffensperger, Bradford J.; Redhair, Timothy J.; Ruocco, Gennaro; Rutherford, Tommy; Shanley, Timothy F.; Vasquez, Romero; Warnock, Raphael.

Subjects: Armed Forces, U.S. : Funding; Armed Forces, U.S. : Servicemembers :: Deployment; Armed Forces, U.S. : Servicemembers :: Meetings with President; Armed Forces, U.S. : Servicemembers :: Service and dedication; Communications : News media :: Accuracy and fairness; Diseases : Coronavirus, domestic prevention efforts; Dominion Voting Systems; Drug abuse and trafficking : Illegal drugs, interdiction efforts; Economy, national : Improvement; Elections : 2020 Presidential and congressional elections; Elections : Absentee ballot policies; Energy : Domestic production, promotion efforts; Georgia : Special senatorial elections; Government organization and employees : Federal regulations, review; Health and medical care : Research and development; Holidays and special observances : Thanksgiving; Holidays and special observances : Thanksgiving Day; Homeland Security, Department of : Coast Guard, U.S.; Iran : Regional involvement; Natural disasters : Response and recovery efforts; Taxation : Tax relief; Terrorism : Counterterrorism efforts; Terrorism : Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist organization; Veterans : Health and medical care.

DCPD Number: DCPD202000864.