'Time will tell': Trump comes closest yet to admitting defeat
US President Donald Trump came close but stopped just short on Friday of acknowledging he lost the November 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden and said "time will tell."
Trump, who has refused to concede he lost the election, was speaking at a briefing at the White House on the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Ideally we won't visit a lockdown," he said. "I'll not go. This administration will never be likely to a lockdown.
"Hopefully, the, the whatever happens later on, who knows which administration it will be, I assume time will tell but I can let you know this administration won't visit a lockdown," Trump said.
Trump then stood by while other speakers addressed the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic which has left more than 243,000 persons dead in the usa.
Trump then left the event in the White House Rose Garden without giving an answer to reporters who were shouting questions such as for example, "When will you admit you lost the election, sir?"
The remarks were Trump's first since November 5, when he falsely claimed to have won and said the election was "rigged" against him.
US networks projected on Friday that Biden won the state of Georgia, giving him 306 votes in the Electoral College that determines the White House winner. Trump finished with 232. - AFP
