The unrealistic prediction from the president, published in the Friday edition of Washington Examiner correspondent Byron York’s newsletter, represented some of Trump’s first remarks to a member of the news media since Biden was declared the winner of the election last weekend.
In his interview with York, Trump argued he was still competitive in several key swing states where Biden had already emerged victorious, saying he was “going to win Wisconsin” — a state called for Biden last Wednesday where Trump is currently trailing by more than 20,000 votes.
In Arizona, which was also called for Biden as early as last Wednesday, the race will “be down to 8,000 votes,” Trump said, even though he is behind by more than 11,000 votes there. “If we can do an audit of the millions of votes, We’ll find 8,000 votes easy. If we can do an audit, we’ll be in good shape there,” he said.
Trump went on to say he was “going to win” Georgia, where Biden has a lead of more than 14,000 votes and which was called for him Friday afternoon. Georgia’s top election official announced Wednesday that the state would conduct a hand recount of every ballot cast in the presidential race.
“Now we’re down to about 10,000, 11,000 votes, and we have hand counting,” Trump told York, incorrectly stating his vote deficit in Georgia. “Hand counting is the best. To do a spin of the machine doesn’t mean anything. You pick up 10 votes. But when you hand count — I think we’re going to win Georgia.”
Trump also asserted that he would win North Carolina, which was called for him Friday afternoon and where he is ahead of Biden by more than 71,000 votes, and said his campaign’s litigation could result in him picking up both Michigan and Pennsylvania — two states that were called for Biden last week where Trump trails by more than 146,000 votes and more than 60,000 votes, respectively.
Trump was less certain about the timeline for his campaign’s various legal actions, speculating that he may be able to overturn the election results in “probably two weeks, three weeks.” And despite his rosy assessments of the race, the president revealed that he entertained the prospect of losing his reelection bid at some point last week.