Just In: Trump Finally Speaks on Transition of Power To President-elect

President Trump acknowledged the end of his first term as president early Thursday morning saying there would be an “orderly transition of power” on Jan. 20 minutes after Congress formally certified the Electoral College votes in favor of President-elect Joe Biden.

Trump’s statement was shared through the Twitter account of senior aide Dan Scavino. Facebook and Twitter temporarily suspended Trump out of his account after he posted about a pro-Trump mob that overran the Capitol on Wednesday.

“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our… fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

The message came just before 4 a.m. on Thursday, minutes after lawmakers formally tabulated the Electoral College votes. The certification dragged into the early morning after the process was interrupted just an hour into debate on Wednesday when Trump supporters breached the Capitol.

Earlier in the day, Trump told the crowd of supporters he would “never concede” and had put pressure on Republicans to challenge the election certification.

But the president has faced pressure to both concede and commit to a peaceful transfer of power, including from members of his own party.

On Wednesday, following the violent scenes at the Capitol Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) called on Trump to concede, saying he should “quit misleading” the American people.

“It’s past time for the president to accept the results of the election, quit misleading the American people, and repudiate mob violence,” Cotton said in a statement Wednesday evening, before the election was certified by Congress.

Trump’s multiple attacks on the integrity of the election, which officials have repeatedly denied and which have been rejected in court, were linked on Wednesday to the chaos at the Capitol.

The Hill