Trump snapped at a reporter quizzing him about his election defeat and said, ‘Don’t ever talk to the president that way’

NOVEMBER 27, 2020

President Donald Trump. – Getty

• President Donald Trump snapped at a White House reporter on Thursday and called him a “lightweight” after the reporter asked if Trump would concede to President-elect Joe Biden.
• “Don’t talk to me that way. You’re just a lightweight. Don’t talk to me that — I’m the president of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way,” Trump told the reporter Jeff Mason.
• The president also said that it would be a “very hard thing to concede” to Biden but that he would “certainly” leave the White House in January if the Electoral College voted for Biden next month.
• Trump tweeted on Monday that he had told the General Services Administration to begin the formal transition process but later said he would “never concede.”

President Donald Trump snapped at a White House reporter on Thursday and called him a “lightweight” after the reporter asked if Trump would concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden.

“Don’t talk to me that way. You’re just a lightweight. Don’t talk to me that — I’m the president of the United States. Don’t ever talk to the president that way,” Trump told Jeff Mason, a White House correspondent for Reuters.

—The Hill (@thehill) November 26, 2020

Mason asked the outgoing president whether he would concede when the Electoral College votes for Biden on December 14.

The president said that it would be a “very hard thing to concede” to Biden but that he would leave the White House in January if electors voted for Biden.

“Certainly I will. Certainly I will. And you know that,” Trump said.

Trump tweeted on Monday that he had told the General Services Administration to begin the formal transition process but later said he would “never concede.”

Trump reportedly allowed the transition to begin after aides assured him that he would never formally have to concede defeat to Biden.

The president has consistently refused to concede the election to Biden, citing baseless conspiracy theories suggesting the election was rigged against him.

Trump repeated those claims on Thursday, falsely saying that “massive fraud has been found” in the voting process and likening the US to a “third-world country.”

Biden won the election by 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. Biden is also projected to have won the popular vote by more than 6 million votes.