In broadcast remarks at the Rose Garden, incumbent U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to recognize -- for the first time -- the possibility of Biden's upcoming administration, although he stopped short of conceding defeat in the U.S. presidential election and did not mention the name of his Democratic opponent.
Trump said he would never place the country into a pandemic lockdown but stressed that "time will tell" if another president takes office in January, coming very close to conceding defeat as he talked about a COVID vaccine.
Just moments before a Friday media briefing in the Rose Garden, the networks tallied the remaining states, showing president-elect Joe Biden with a commanding 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.
During his first public remarks since Biden was widely anticipated last Saturday to win the U.S. election, Trump said he expects a COVID treatment to be available for the entire nation as soon as April 2021, in the wake of a surge in new virus infections that have pushed daily case numbers to record highs.
Widespread criticism of the Trump administration's handling of the crisis, which has claimed the lives of more than 235,000 Americans, became a battle cry for Democrats in the run-up to the elections.
In a tweet by Daniel Dale, he said Trump came as close as he ever has to "publicly acknowledging his defeat, saying 'this administration' won't do a lockdown, adding that hopefully, whatever happens... time will tell, there won't be a lockdown."
With infections climbing more rapidly than at any time in the ongoing global health crisis, Trump talked of his administration's hard work to come up with a coronavirus vaccine faster than it normally would take.
According to Trump, Operation Warp Speed is unparalleled anywhere in the world, and that the coronavirus treatment will be given approval "very, very quickly, I hope." He talked of the promising results from Pfizer -- which has said it expects to post the mandated safety data in the next few days and apply for an emergency use authorization (EUA).
Since the November 3 polls, Trump has persisted with baseless allegations of rampant cheating in the ballots. But while he has continued to assert his claims on social media, he steered clear of them during his public remarks Friday.
Trump's continued push to challenge the outcome in courts in a number of states has so far produced no strong evidence of systemic vote fraud and judges have junked most of the cases.
