Melania's 'stern message to Trump' as he refuses to concede defeat

As Donald Trump refuses to concede defeat to Joe Biden, reports suggest his top advisers and wife Melania are urging him to accept his fate.

Biden secured the presidency by winning the key battleground state of Pennsylvania and crossing the 270 threshold of electoral votes.

However, Trump has refused to concede, instead using Twitter to spread disputed claims about election fraud and take a jab at the “Lamestream Media”.

“Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be?” Trump tweeted on Monday.

“We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!”

However, sources from inside the White House claim those closest to Trump have urged him to accept he has lost.

Trump’s wife, Melania, tweeted on Monday about protecting democracy and echoed Trump’s rhetoric about illegal votes.

“The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal – not illegal – vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency,” the first lady tweeted.

However, according to a source, the first lady’s private actions contradict what she is saying publicly, CNN reports.

The source told CNN she has advised the president to accept he has lost the election, and has given her opinion privately.

"She has offered it, as she often does," the source told CNN.

ABC’s Jonathan Karl said during a live cross he had been told there had been conversations which involved the First Lady on how to have Trump exit the White House gracefully.

“There have been conversations, conversations that I am told include the first lady about how to convince him to make something of a graceful exit,” Karl said.

Two other sources told CNN Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior advisor and his son-in-law, has also told Trump to concede.

However, an anonymous offical told the New York Times, Kushner had abided by Trump’s wish to try and fight the results in court.

Another one of Trump’s senior advisers has refuted CNN’s claims on Twitter.

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“This story is not true,” Jason Miller tweeted, along with CNN’s article detailing what the unnamed, inside sources had to say.

“Given undetermined electoral outcomes in multiple states and serious voting irregularities and lack of transparency in others, Jared has advised @realDonaldTrump to pursue all available legal remedies to ensure accuracy.”

Sources say Trump has privately almost accepted election result

CNN said the network stands by their claims.

Sources also told CNN though Trump has publicly denied the results of the election, he has not denied the outcome in private.

Trump has made it abundantly clear he has no intention of publicly accepting the results of the election.

“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” Trump said in a statement released by his campaign.

“Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.”

Trump and his advisers have presented no evidence of their claims of election fraud.

Elections officials in states across the country have said there was no evidence of significant fraud.

Trump's campaign has already lost court rulings in closely contested states including Georgia and Nevada.

However, the campaign scored a win in Pennsylvania on Friday, when a court ordered election officials to set aside provisional ballots cast on Election Day by voters whose absentee or mail-in ballots were received on time.

Republicans fundraising for Trump’s legal challenges

The president's allies and advisers privately admitted that the former New York businessman's chances of overturning the election results and staying in the White House were slim.

While preparing for an eventual concession, they called for time to let the legal challenges run their course.

"He should allow the recounts to go forward, file whatever claims there are, and then if nothing changes he should concede," said one Trump aide.

Republicans are trying to raise at least $60 million to fund legal challenges in several states, alleging foul play and seeking donations, sources told Reuters.

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Trump is the first incumbent president to lose a re-election bid in 28 years and top Republicans in Congress on Sunday still had not acknowledged former vice president Joe Biden as the winner.

One of Trump’s tweets from 2016 is doing the rounds and has spectacularly backfired on him.

“Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: "In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity." So true!” Trump tweeted in December 2016.

With Reuters

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