- Trump has admitted that a new government will take office in a 20-minute farewell video on Tuesday.
- In the video, Trump congratulated the new administration without ever mentioning Biden’s name.
- “I want you to know that the movement we started is just beginning,” he added.
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President Donald Trump acknowledged that a new government would take office on Wednesday and congratulated them, but did not formally concede his election loss or explicitly say the name of President Joe Biden in a 20-minute farewell speech delivered on the White House YouTube channel has not been posted.
“This week we have inaugurated a new government and prayed for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous. We wish our best wishes and we also want them to be happy – a very important word,” Trump said. said at the beginning of his speech. on Tuesday.
Trump, who breaks the tradition, will not meet with Biden before the inauguration or attend his inauguration ceremony. Instead, Trump will hold his own departure ceremony at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday morning before flying to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
Read more: Here’s how Biden will destroy Trump’s legacy
The president thanked a number of his family members and top officials, including Vice President Mike Pence. Relations between Trump and Pence are strained after Trump attacked the vice president and put him under pressure, albeit unsuccessfully, to overthrow the outcome of the 2020 election. Pence does not have the power to do that.
The end of Trump’s presidency is overshadowed by the dark cloud of the January 6 uprising on the US Capitol, which threatened the lives of Pence and members of Congress. Five people were killed in the violence that erupted when a large crowd of the president’s supporters stormed the building, while a joint session of Congress confirmed Biden’s victory.
“All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated. Now, more than ever, we must stand together around our shared values and rise above the partisan uproar and forging our common destiny, ”Trump said of the violence he was accused of inciting.
President Donald Trump delivers a pre-recorded farewell speech
Screenshot via The White House / YouTube
Trump topped the spectrum of his administration’s biggest highs
Trump spent part of the nearly 20-minute video highlighting his administration’s key policy victories over the past four years.
Tax cuts, new trade agreements, the creation of a US space force, the appointment of three Supreme Court justices and the assassinations of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian general Qassem Soleimani are among those named.
The outgoing president also praised the rapid development of a COVID-19 vaccine and the trillions of dollars in the direction of coronavirus relief, but Trump cites the country’s death toll exceeding 400,000 on Tuesday, less than a year since the first case was reported. . in the USA.
“We are saddened by every lost life, and we promise to wipe out their terrible pandemic once and for all.”
He also said that the United States was “regaining our sovereignty” by withdrawing from various international trade transactions that the administration considered unfair, saying, “We have restored American power at home and the American leadership abroad. The world respects us again. Please do not lose that respect. “
Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo, however, planned to travel to Europe the week after the uprising in the Capitol, but was forced to cancel his plans because officials from Luxembourg and the European Union were reportedly too “embarrassed” to deal with to assemble him.
Luxembourg’s foreign minister publicly denounced Trump, calling him a ‘criminal’ and a ‘political pyromaniac’ who ‘had to be sent to the criminal court’ over the events at the Capitol.
Despite the local and global setback, Trump on Tuesday pointed out that this is not the last time people will hear from him.
“As I prepare to hand over to a new government on Wednesday afternoon, I want you to know that the movement we started has just begun. There has never been such a thing,” the president said. .
“I am leaving this majestic place with a loyal and joyful heart, an optimistic spirit and an extreme confidence that the best for our country and for our children is yet to come,” he added.