Former president Donald Trump appeared to make a confession that had eyebrows shooting up as he admitted that he did not in fact win the 2020 presidential election.
"I didn't win the election," he said at some point in a discussion with Julian Zelizer, a Princeton professor and editor of 'The Presidency of Donald Trump: A First Historical Assessment', which was later posted by The Atlantic.
This remark does not quite accord with Trump's claims of "election fraud", even though the former president called the 2020 vote "rigged and lost" later in the interview. Last week, Trump reiterated the claim that he was the 2020 victor during his rally in Michigan, saying that his team "won by a lot, not just a little".
The sudden step away from the "election fraud" claims prompted some excitement on Twitter, with people suggesting that Trump might have changed his rhetoric because he fears a possible indictment that may follow the House Select Committee's investigation into the Capitol Riot.
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© Photo : Twitter / @TeaPainUSA
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© Photo : Twitter / @JackieParshall
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© Photo : Twitter / @Alyssafarah
Trump's apparent concession comes shortly after his daughter and ex-senior adviser, Ivanka, decided to testify before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, which the former president was accused of instigating. He denied any wrongdoing and blasted the investigation by the "Unselect Committee", as he put it, as a witch hunt.
The January 6 panel said its goal is to determine the course of events that led to the Capitol riot and clarify whether Trump's actions at the time are enough to prosecute him.