US1 min(s) read
Published 16:28 16 Nov 2020 GMT
Barack Obama has told CBS' 60 Minutes that it is "absolutely" time for President Donald Trump to concede his projected election defeat and think beyond his "own ego".
The former president also said that Trump should have conceded "the day after the election" and that it was time for him to "put the country first".
"When your time is up then it's your job to put the country first and think beyond your own ego and your own interests, and your own disappointments," said Mr. Obama.
This is the moment Barack Obama says "it's time" for Donald Trump to concede the election:
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"My advice to President Trump is, if you want at this late stage in the game to be remembered as somebody who put country first, it's time for you to do the same thing," Trump's predecessor continued.
When Mr. Obama was asked by the CBS host if it was time for Mr. Trump to accept defeat, he said: "It is, absolutely. I think it was time for him to concede probably the day after the election."
Mr. Obama also shared his disapproval of Republican politicians who have "humored" Mr. Trump's unfounded claims of voter fraud.
Watch more of the CBS interview with Mr. Obama below:
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"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," he said.
"It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally," he added." And that's a dangerous path. The president doesn't like to lose and never admits loss."
On Sunday, November 15, Mr. Trump admitted for the first time that Mr. Biden had essentially "won" the election - but only because it was "rigged".
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Mr. Trump wrote of the former vice president: "He won because the election was rigged.
"NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a radical left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn't even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!"
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He later tweeted: "He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA," Mr. Trump subsequently tweeted. "I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!"
On Saturday, November 7, Mr. Trump became the first president since 1992 to fail to get a projected re-election, after it was announced that Biden had won the states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia.
