President Trump said he’ll leave the White House peacefully if he loses this November’s presidential election, addressing concerns he would try to hold onto power after a defeat.
“Certainly, if I don’t win, I don’t win,” he said in an interview that aired on Fox News Friday, adding that if he lost, he’d “go on, do other things.”
Trump has never given any indication that he would defy the results of an election that showed him losing to former Vice President Joe Biden, though his remarks Friday appear to be the first public comments he’s given on the subject.
However, Trump still maintained that it would “be a very bad thing for our country” if he lost.
The comments come after Biden and other Democrats have suggested Trump could try to cling to power, citing his admiration for strongmen across the globe as evidence he would reject the results of an election.
Biden said in an interview this week that Trump could “try to steal this election” by attempting to suppress voting, pointing to his unsubstantiated allegations that mail-in voting could bring massive fraud, and saying that he had given thought to the prospect of Trump refusing to leave office.
“I was so damn proud to hear that four chiefs of staff coming out and ripping the skin off of Trump,” Biden said this week in an interview on “The Daily Show.” “I promise you, I am absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch.”
The White House fired back at Biden, saying he was spreading a conspiracy theory over his claims that Trump would “steal” the election.
“I think that’s a ridiculous proposition,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said this week on “America’s Newsroom” on Fox News.
“This president’s looking forward to November,” she continued. “This president’s hard at work for the American people, and leave it to Democrats to go out there and grandstand and level these conspiracy theories.”
Trump has used the speculation over his departure from office in the past to troll critics, joking at rallies and on social media that he would stay for several consecutive terms in violation of the 22nd Amendment.
The back-and-forth comes as polling shows Trump’s reelection bid on rocky ground and trailing Biden in a number of crucial swing states.