President Donald Trump appeared to suggest Tuesday that he doesn’t plan on declaring victory until he is certain that he has won.
The president spoke with the hosts of “Fox & Friends” by phone to kick off Election Day, and he said that he felt confident that he would win reelection. (RELATED: Trump Races To The Finish, Holding 10 Rallies In 2 Days)
Fox News reporter Steve Doocy asked whether Trump might, as some have suggested, get out ahead of the official results and declare victory for himself if the early numbers were breaking in his favor.
“At what point will you declare victory?” Doocy asked.
“When there is victory. If there is victory, I think we will have victory. I think the polls are, you know, suppression polls. And I think we will have victory. But only when there is victory. I mean, you know, there is no reason to play games. And I think we will have victory,” Trump replied.
The president went on to say that he felt like the massive turnout at multiple rallies made it clear that there was a lot of support for him, and he expected to see a lot of that support materialize at the polls throughout the day.
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Co-host Brian Kilmeade began the segment with a comment from Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign manager about how they intended to handle the results.
“I was kind of shocked to see this quote from Jen O’Malley with the Biden campaign when she was asked on a conference call about the results tonight, she said, ‘Under no scenario will Donald Trump be declared a victor on election night we think that’s really fundamental to how we want to approach tomorrow, meaning today. What the — How do you take that statement?” Kilmeade asked.
“That was a weird quote. I agree with you,” Trump replied, saying that he wasn’t sure what she had meant but that he understood it to mean that they wanted to wait for states to finish counting ballots that were accepted late or for court decisions regarding the final counts. “It allows for chaos, frankly. And so maybe she is talking about that. Maybe you can blow out Pennsylvania so you don’t have to go through it. I cannot imagine what that quote meant. That was a strange quote.”
“It doesn’t intimidate you?” Kilmeade pressed. (RELATED: ‘You’re Shameful’: Donna Brazile Scolds Tammy Bruce While Brian Kilmeade Struggles To Maintain Control)
“No. I think I have gotten to a point where I don’t get too intimidated,” Trump said, prompting a laugh from Kilmeade. “I have no idea who she is. She has something to do with his campaign, I guess.”