Kellyanne Conway, former adviser and White House counselor to President Trump, acknowledged Joe Biden as the apparent winner of the presidential race in an interview that aired Friday.
“If you look at the vote totals in the Electoral College tally, it looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail,” Conway said in an interview with The 19th. “I assume the electors will certify that and it will be official. We, as a nation, will move forward, because we always do.”
Conway, Trump’s former 2016 campaign manager, acknowledged that the president is continuing to “exhaust all of his legal avenues” to challenge the results and said it was his right to do so.
But she also emphasized the need to have a peaceful transition of power, noting the General Services Administration’s decision last week to recognize Biden as the winner so that the transition could formally begin. Trump signaled his own approval of the move last week and also signed off on Biden receiving the President’s Daily Brief, a classified intelligence report delivered to the president on a daily basis.
“We want the engines of government to keep going,” Conway said.
Her public comments are notable because many of Trump’s allies have not acknowledged Biden’s victory as the president has challenged the results. Trump has repeated wild and baseless allegations about widespread voter fraud in the election and falsely claimed that he won states that he lost to Biden.
The Trump campaign has not produced evidence to back up his claims and its lawsuits have largely failed so far. Biden was projected the winner of the presidential race almost a month ago, and swing states where the president has mounted legal challenges have certified results showing a Biden win.
Conway’s remarks come after Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press this week that the Justice Department has not found evidence of widespread voter fraud that would overturn the results of the election. Trump expressed disappointment with Barr’s comments on Thursday, insisting that the election was “rigged” against him.
Conway was one of Trump’s longest serving advisers in the White House. She left her role as White House counselor at the end of August, saying she wanted to focus on family matters.