President Trump told tens of thousands of supporters Wednesday that he’ll “never concede” the election to President-elect Joseph R. Biden and called on Vice President Mike Pence to send the Electoral College results back to states for re-certification.
“We never give up, we will never concede,” Mr. Trump said on a stage with the White House framed in the background. “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. We will ’stop the steal.’ This was not a close election. We didn’t lose. We will not let them silence your voices.”
If Congress certifies Mr. Biden’s victory on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said, “You will have an illegitimate president, that’s what you’ll have. We can’t let that happen.”
The president vowed to personally lead a march to the Capitol at the end of his address. The crowd roared its approval and chanted “Fight for Trump!”
The president again called on Mr. Pence, who is presiding over a joint session of Congress Wednesday to count the Electoral College results, to intervene and stop Mr. Biden from winning. Federal law and the Constitution do not grant a vice president those powers, in the view of most constitutional experts.
“I hope Mike is going to do the right thing,” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “If Mike does the right thing, we win the election. States want to re-vote. They want to re-certify. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to re-certify, and we come president, and you are the happiest.”
He said, “Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. If he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country.”
He said he spoke to Mr. Pence before taking the stage at the “Save America” rally.
“I just spoke to Mike. I said Mike, ’That [halting certification] doesn’t take courage’,” the president said. “What takes courage is to do nothing. That takes courage, and then we’re stuck with a president who lost the election by a lot, and we have to live with that for four more years. We’re just not going to let that happen.”
Mr. Trump said the election was corrupt, and that “weak” Republicans in Congress are allowing it to happen.
“Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for the integrity of our elections,” he said, and “whether or not they stand strong for our country.”
The president urged the crowd to “primary the hell out of” Republicans in Congress who do not fight for him.
“A year from now, you’re going to start working on Congress,” Mr. Trump said. “We gotta get rid of the weak congress-people, the ones that aren’t any good — the Liz Cheneys of the world.”
It was a reference to Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a member of the House GOP leadership and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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