Trump admits Biden 'won' but asserts election was 'rigged'

Washington, Nov 15: US President Donald Trump on Sunday finally acknowledge publicly that Democrat Joe Biden won the U.S. presidential election but asserted that it was "rigged".

"He won because the Election was Rigged.. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn't even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more!"Trump said on Twitter.

"All of the mechanical "glitches" that took place on Election Night were really THEM getting caught trying to steal votes. They succeeded plenty, however, without getting caught. Mail-in elections are a sick joke!" Trump further tweeted.

An hour later, Trump recanted, saying "I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go."

Democrat Joe Biden on Saturday defeated incumbent Republican US President Donald Trump in the closely-fought presidential election.

The 77-year-old former US vice president will become the 46th president of the United States. Biden secured more than the 270 votes in the Electoral College needed to take the presidency by winning Pennsylvania on Saturday after four tense days of counting, which was delayed by a surge in mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump has declined to concede the closely-fought November 3 presidential race to Democrat Biden and is mounting legal fights in several states, but there has been no evidence of voter irregularities or widespread fraud in the election -- billed as one of the most divisive and bitter in recent American history.

Trump's refusal to concede did not change the fact that Biden was the president-elect, but it has stalled the government's normal process of preparing for a new presidential administration.