Trump Acknowledges Biden Win, But Won't Concede: 2020 Election

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump has acknowledged the presidential election victory by his challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, but made it clear in a series of tweets he will still seek to overturn the unofficial election result in court.

Trump, without using Biden's name, tweeted that "He won," something Trump had not said before publicly, though he said the Democrat's victory was only "in the eyes" of the media. Biden defeated Trump by winning back a trio of Midwestern battleground states: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, and topped the 270 electoral vote threshold to clinch the presidency. Biden so far has 77.5 million votes, the most ever by a winning candidate, to Trump's 72.3 million.

"If the president's prepared to begin to recognize that reality, that's positive," Biden's incoming chief of staff, Ron Klain told NBC's "Meet the Press." Still, Klain said, "Donald Trump's Twitter feed doesn't make Joe Biden president or not president. The American people did that."

In court, the Trump campaign and its Republican surrogates were dealt another series of losses in battleground states at the end of last week, lessening the current president's chances of turning the Nov. 3 election in his favor.

The legal blows began when a federal appeals court rejected an effort to block about 9,300 mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day in Pennsylvania, according to The Associated Press. The ruling involved a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision to accept mail-in ballots through Friday, Nov. 6, citing the pandemic and concerns about postal service delays.

Republicans have also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the issue, though it's not likely to change the outcome in Pennsylvania — President-elect Joe Biden won the state by about 60,000 votes.

In Michigan, a judge Friday refused to stop the certification of Detroit-area election results, rejecting claims the city had committed fraud and tainted the count with its handling of absentee ballots.

The case marked the third time a judge declined to intervene in a statewide count that shows Biden up by more than 140,000 votes.

Finally, in Arizona, a judge dismissed a Trump campaign lawsuit seeking the inspection of ballots in metro Phoenix after the campaign’s lawyers acknowledged the small number of ballots at issue wouldn’t change the outcome of how the state voted for president.

The Trump campaign had hoped to postpone Maricopa County’s certification of election results until ballots containing overvotes — instances in which people voted for more candidates than permitted — were inspected.

On top of the court losses, a law firm leading the most broad challenge in Pennsylvania — perhaps the most significant state for Trump's post-election fight — dropped out.

"The Trump campaign keeps hoping it will find a judge that treats lawsuits like tweets," Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor and elections law expert, told CNN on Friday. "Repeatedly, every person with a robe they've encountered has said, 'I'm sorry, we do law here.'"

On Friday, Biden was projected to win Georgia's 16 electoral, cutting into President Donald Trump's support in the South and boosting Democrats' hopes that they'll be able to pick up a pair of U.S. Senate seats in Georgia's January runoff election.

Georgians haven't voted for a Democrat for president since 1992, when Bill Clinton won his first term.

Trump, meanwhile, was projected as the winner of North Carolina's 15 electoral votes.

The results, along with a projection Thursday that Biden had won traditionally Republican Arizona's 11 electoral votes, end any suspense in the rancorous 2020 presidential election — save a surprise, which isn't expected, in a flurry of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign to overturn the results in battleground states called for Biden.

Trump has yet to concede the election and has blocked Biden's access to classified national security briefings, and his General Services Administration director hasn't allowed the transition to move forward. Biden transition spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a conference call with reporters Friday the team has no interest in "having a food fight" with the GSA.

Getting access to the intelligence briefings is a more urgent matter “so that we can prepare to govern,” Psaki said.

Biden has yet to speak with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has humored Trump's dogged refusal to accept the outcome of the election. The two have known each other for years and have what Psaki called "a long-standing relationship."

"Whenever they do engage," she said, "they won't have to play a lot of catch-up."

Biden plans to spend a few days with his family in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and then will have more staffing announcements to make, Psaki said.

Former President Barack Obama said in an interview with "60 Minutes" that Republicans appear to be unwilling to stand up to Trump because he "doesn't like to lose and never admits loss."

"I'm more troubled by the fact that other Republican officials who clearly know better are going along with this, are humoring him in this fashion," Obama said. "It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration but democracy generally. And that's a dangerous path."

CBS News will air the full interview Sunday on "60 Minutes."

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Law Firm To Trump: Find New PA Attorneys

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The Associated Press contributed reporting.