President Trump has not prepared a concession speech despite vote counts that show him trailing Democratic nominee Joe Biden in key battleground states, CNN reported Friday.
The cable news network, citing people familiar with the matter, also reported that the president has told allies in recent days that he has no intention of conceding the election.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.
Trump has been ramping up his attacks on the election results ever since Tuesday, with calls for vote counts to stop in states where Biden is extending his lead. The Trump campaign has subsequently mounted legal challenges in key battleground states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia.
The lawsuits in Michigan and Georgia were both thrown out Thursday.
On Friday morning, Trump campaign general counsel Matt Morgan issued a statement saying, “This election is not over.”
“Once the election is final, President Trump will be reelected,” he added.
The president has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims that mail-in ballots are fraudulently costing him reelection. In remarks from the White House on Thursday, he insisted he won the election with “legal votes” and that the election was being stolen, but provided no evidence.
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the votes that came in late, we’re looking at them very strongly,” Trump told reporters.
Those close to the president have only bolstered his point of view, including his adult sons — Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump — who both called out the lack of support from GOP lawmakers.
During a visit to his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., on Election Day, President Trump indicated it would be tough for him to accept possibly losing the election.
“I’m not thinking about concession speech or acceptance speech yet,” Trump said Tuesday. “Hopefully we’ll be only doing one of those two. Winning is easy. Losing is never easy. Not for me it’s not.”
Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in statement Friday: “As we said on July 19th, the American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”
Biden took the lead over Trump in Pennsylvania and Georgia early Friday morning, moving the Democratic nominee closer to the presidency. A Biden win in Pennsylvania would secure the electoral votes needed to make him the 46th president of the United States.